It’s a great day at the office when a work group gels, when team members work in the roles they are most suited for, and when the team achieves the goals it set out to accomplish. It’s not such a great day when a team bogs down and trips over hurdles it wasn’t prepared to clear. But when the human resources department knows how to build effective teams and can pass along that knowledge to other leaders, the organization enjoys more great days. 
Assembling an effective team is part science and part art, according to Cara Parker, president and founder of C Parker Consulting, Inc. Organizations need to know the science—the roles data shows are necessary for a team to be productive. And organizations need to understand the art—how to mix a variety of personalities to achieve results.
Parker, who conducted a Business and Legal Resources webinar in April 2015 titled “Building Effective Teams: How to Coach, Motivate and Train Employees to Work as a Unit,” explains that high-performing teams don’t form by accident. Instead, studies by British researcher Dr. Raymond Meredith Belbin show that nine distinct team roles are present on successful teams.
Parker says that doesn’t mean every team needs nine people, each one taking on one role. Instead, it means all nine roles need to be covered by various team members. When putting together teams, leaders need to realize each role brings both strengths and weaknesses to the team. The nine roles are broken into three basic categories: thinking, action, and people roles.
Thinking
The thinking category consists of a plant, a monitor evaluator, and a specialist.
A brief description of the Belbin chart shows that the plant is a team member who is creative and generates ideas but who also may ignore incidentals and be too preoccupied to fully communicate.
The monitor evaluator is one who sees all options and judges accurately but also lacks drive and may be overly critical.
The specialist is self-starting and provides rare knowledge but contributes on a narrow front.
Action
The action category consists of a shaper, an implementer, and a completer finisher.
The shaper has the drive to overcome obstacles and thrives on pressure but may offend other people.
The implementer is efficient and able to turn ideas into actions but also is somewhat inflexible and slow to respond to new possibilities.
The completer finisher is conscientious, able to find errors, and is the one to polish and perfect work but also is inclined to worry and reluctant to delegate.
People
The people category includes the coordinator, the team worker, and the resource investigator.
The coordinator is one to identify talent, clarify goals, and delegate effectively but also can be seen as manipulative and one who offloads his or her own share of work.
The team worker is cooperative and diplomatic but also indecisive in crunch situations.
The resource investigator is enthusiastic and the one to explore opportunities and develop contacts but also is quick to lose interest after the initial phase.
Getting the right mix of people
A review of Belbin’s theory shows that “diversity is essential and that all nine roles will be needed at some point,” Parker says. Also, Belbin’s research shows that individuals may be capable of performing several different roles while they’re comfortable in two or three but especially successful in just one.
In forming teams, employers need to examine why a team is formed. “A team should not convene just for the sake of convening,” Parker says. “A team has to have a purpose, that shared vision.”
So in assembling teams, employers need to be aware of the risks of having too many people of the same type on the team. “For example, too many plants – all brainstorming and no action. Too many monitor evaluators – analysis paralysis,” Parker says.
In striving for the right mix of personalities, individuals putting together teams need to think about how to leverage the strength of various kinds of people without labeling individuals as belonging in just one category, Parker says. Managers have to remember that employees can be flexible and carry out a variety of roles.