Belbin Teamwork Essay

Having reliable and motivated staff is a critical component of managing a successful play setting. Of course two fundamental characteristics for any childcare team are team members who genuinely enjoy and care about working with children and young people, as well as hold a belief in the principles that underpin their work (such as the playwork principles). It stands to reason that the role of any team is to both support and enable children and young people in fulfilling their potential, whatever that looks like (i.e. their age, developmental stage, personal attributes, individuals needs, and so on). Managers play a vital role in facilitating and managing this process and ensuring team and organisation/setting objectives are being met successfully. It is essential that any manager has a solid understanding of teamwork and leadership.
As a manager, you work alongside a variety of colleagues, ranging from different levels in the workplace hierarchy. You will have a line manager whom you yourself report to (often this is the business owner or else someone in management who liaises with managers across all branches if it is a setting with more than one establishment); as well as colleagues who report to you and for whom you are the line manager. You will also of
course work and communicate with those working at your level, who are in fact a valuable resource and support for you to have – and as such building an effective working relationship with is of great importance. That being said, every working relationship you as manager will establish and maintain is of great importance and should be valued and invested in accordingly.
There are many theories regarding team work and what enables a team of people to work effectively together.
One of the first, and perhaps most well-known, theories is that of Meredith Belbin and his team role theory. Belbin believes that there within a functioning team there are nine various team roles that are significant for most team’s success. These nine roles can be used to identify people’s behavioural strengths and weaknesses in the workplace. It is often the case that people will identify with two or three team roles and feel most comfortable with these, but they can manage to cover a few other roles if necessary, while the remaining roles they prefer not to take on at all. (Belbin Associates,
2012.)
Of course not all teams are made up of nine or more members; some are much smaller, consisting of only two or three people. Therefore it might be that your team does not require all the roles that Belbin describes in order to be successful, but his theory is an interesting one and you might recognise the role(s) you adopt yourself. As manager, one way of effectively working alongside your colleagues is to help them identify their strengths and weaknesses – and the role(s) they are most comfortable to play within the team. Then you can help them to build upon these strengths and they should thrive when performing a role or roles most suited to them. Being aware or any team skills your existing team does not currently have is also very helpful, both in recruiting (interview questions can be drafted accordingly) and perhaps staff development.