Belbin helps identify your strengths
As a Belbin team roles consultant, I help assess Product Managers’ competencies. Competencies, however, are not the only thing that makes a good product manager – it is also their behavioral strengths and weaknesses. Belbin in combination with a Product Management Skills audit and Coaching helps you get a holistic overview of where you are and whether you might want to stay the course or change direction.
Belbin for teams and individuals
The Belbin team roles Individual reports, Team reports, Working relationship reports and Job reports help us identify just that – how you team, based on the strengths and weaknesses, would best work together. I specialize in empowering product and engineering teams.
I am an accredited Belbin team roles consultant and Belbin has helped me help many Product Managers find the perfect role within the team. Working with teams helps (as Belbin puts it) “give teams the skills they need to collaborate, communicate and work towards shared business objectives. Help them to establish meaning, trust and psychological safety.” I specialize in empowering product and engineering teams.
9 Belbin team roles
The Belbin Team Roles model identifies nine distinct roles, each with its own set of strengths and “allowable weaknesses” – weaknesses that are generally acceptable as they are often a flip side of their strengths. Here they are:
Plant:
- Strengths: Creative, imaginative, free-thinking. Generates ideas and solves difficult problems.
- Allowable Weaknesses: Might ignore incidentals and be too preoccupied to communicate effectively.
Resource Investigator:
- Strengths: Outgoing, enthusiastic, communicative. Explores opportunities and develops contacts.
- Allowable Weaknesses: Might be over-optimistic and can lose interest once the initial enthusiasm has passed.
Coordinator:
- Strengths: Mature, confident, identifies talent. Clarifies goals, delegates effectively.
- Allowable Weaknesses: Can be seen as manipulative and might offload personal work.
Shaper:
- Strengths: Challenging, dynamic, thrives on pressure. Has the drive and courage to overcome obstacles.
- Allowable Weaknesses: Prone to provocation, and may offend people’s feelings.
Monitor Evaluator:
- Strengths: Sober, strategic, discerning. Sees all options and judges accurately.
- Allowable Weaknesses: Sometimes lacks the drive and ability to inspire others.
Teamworker:
- Strengths: Cooperative, mild, perceptive, and diplomatic. Listens and averts friction.
- Allowable Weaknesses: Can be indecisive in crunch situations and tends to avoid confrontation.
Implementer:
- Strengths: Practical, reliable, efficient. Turns ideas into actions and organizes work that needs to be done.
- Allowable Weaknesses: Somewhat inflexible and slow to respond to new possibilities.
Completer-Finisher:
- Strengths: Painstaking, conscientious, anxious. Searches out errors and omissions. Delivers on time.
- Allowable Weaknesses: Inclined to worry unduly, and reluctant to delegate.
Specialist:
- Strengths: Single-minded, self-starting, dedicated. Provides knowledge and skills in rare supply.
- Allowable Weaknesses: Contributes only on a narrow front and dwells on technicalities.
Find your perfect role in a team
Shaper and Coordinator roles are highly beneficial for a product manager, providing the essential skills of leadership, organization, and motivation that are key to driving projects forward effectively. These roles embody strengths in strategic planning and team management, crucial for overseeing a product's development from concept to completion. On the other hand, the Completer-Finisher and Monitor-Evaluator roles would make one an ideal analyst. The Completer-Finisher's keen attention to detail and focus on meeting deadlines, combined with the Monitor-Evaluator's ability to analyze information critically and objectively, ensures thorough and accurate analysis, essential for high-quality, data-driven decision-making.
There are many more combinations that could benefit you or hinder you in your role. It all depends on how you use your strengths and weaknesses. Fill the test today and let me help you figure it out!
There are many more combinations that could benefit you or hinder you in your role. It all depends on how you use your strengths and weaknesses. Fill the test today and let me help you figure it out!