Belbin Team Roles are an excellent way of understanding the behavioural strengths, weaknesses, and team dynamics for each individual within a professional environment. Utilising the nine roles will inevitably contribute to the overall effectiveness of a team’s makeup.
If you haven’t read our blog from last week, “The Fellowship of the Ring: A Team Building Adventure”, I highly encourage you to as a prologue to this week’s. The story of The Lord of the Rings shares striking similarities to the challenges faced by professional teams in today’s world – but what if we took the nine Belbin Team Roles and applied them to the characters of the Fellowship?
Meet the team below!
Resource Investigator – Peregrin (Pippin) Took
Resource investigators are outgoing and enthusiastic individuals, often extroverted. They have a natural tendency to explore new opportunities and develop contacts, but on the downside, may be overly optimistic every now and then.
This rings true with Pippin. An enthusiastic Hobbit who was not afraid to share his ideas, especially when it came to second breakfast! He was never afraid to face a challenge, although he did sometimes find himself quite homesick.
Team Worker – Samwise Gamgee
When you think of team workers, you think of the glue that holds everybody together, somebody who offers their support and happily takes on any task assigned to them. They often act in the role of negotiator for a team, and this is exactly what Sam does when he and Frodo recruit the help of Gollum.
Sam provides spirit and speaks up for Frodo when he is not able to. Sometimes he gets stuck in the middle of disagreements, but he always puts other people’s needs above his own.
Coordinator – Gandalf the Grey
Coordinators are akin to team leaders, yet they put much more focus on the people rather than the task in hand. Coordinators are fantastic listeners and recognise the value that each member of the team brings.
Gandalf often acts as the voice of reason throughout the trilogy, always remaining faithful in the members of the Fellowship. He remains calm in challenging situations and is a natural for identifying who is the best for fit for which role – remember it was he who chose Bilbo as the burglar for the dwarves and entrusted Frodo as ringbearer.
Plant – Merry Brandybuck
Plants tend to be absent minded and forgetful but are excellent at problem solving in unconventional ways. They are creative, imaginative, free-thinking and fantastic at navigating difficult situations – much like the Hobbit, Merry Brandybuck.
As creative as they may be, Plant’s can sometimes be a touch impractical, ignoring certain particulars of the task at hand.
Monitor Evaluator – Aragorn
Monitor Evaluators are the logical thinkers of the team. They weigh up all options presented to them and evaluate which one will have the best outcome. This role correlates to none other than Aragorn.
Like a true Monitor Evaluator, he is open to all options presented to him throughout the Trilogy. He trusts others with their decisions, displaying no contention with the likes of Boromir or Elrond, despite their fundamentally different views.
Specialist – Legolas
Specialists offer in-depth knowledge and skills in very particular areas. They are usually recruited into a team to solely focus on one field of expertise. Specialists may have a limited input because of this, but their work will always focus on quality over quantity.
As the only Elf of the Fellowship, Legolas highly out skilled his companions with his advanced sight, hearing and agility – not to mention his mastery of the bow.
Shaper – Boromir
Shapers are full of pride and the determination to carry on and complete any given task. They push on when others may have hit a wall and are often seen to challenge their team members – although this can be misconstrued as argumentativeness.
Boromir had his heart in the right place when suggesting using the One Ring for good – determined to power through the groups feats in order to do the right thing. He wanted to see Gondor rise up once again – ultimately what he thought was best for Middle Earth.
Implementor – Frodo Baggins
Practicality, efficiency and reliability – all of the best traits of an Implementor (and also of a Hobbit). Frodo is the person the Fellowship look to in order to get things done. He works in a practical manner, both highly organised and efficient in his processes.
Frodo does not rely on anyone other than Samwise once he embarks on his quest to Mordor – rather everybody else relies on him.
Completer Finisher – Gimli
Complete Finishers are the proof-readers of a team. They make sure that all the I’s are dotted and T’s are crossed. Very particular in their ways, they scan for errors throughout tasks and makes sure that the work submitted is up to standard.
Gimli’s meticulous nature drives him to pay attention to every detail, ensuring that tasks are not only completed, but completed to the highest standard achievable.
Let us know in the comments which Lord of the Rings Character you would be! To learn more about team roles and different personality types, read our blog on the Myers Briggs Type Indicator.