To bake the perfect cake, grease the pan like.. Tammy the BELBIN Teamworker
Jaishankar B
Fascinated by how behaviors influence performance @ work. Leveraging BELBIN to transform performance of people and teams. ICF PCC Mentor Coach.
Team Sugar Rush, the baking legends, have conquered the IBL (International Baking League) for the fourth year in a row. They weren’t the favorites this year. Add to that, they had anti-incumbency blues fight off.
How did they pull it off? Their story is hot cake for their Chairman Richard. Listening in are CEO Rimi, People Officer Lily and Team Performance Partner Dr Ramsay. Vice-Chairman Robin walked into the meeting a while ago. He is glad Richard called him over. Intrigued by Lily’s summary on the white board, he can’t wait for the next twist in the tale.
“Now” announced Lily, “It’s the turn of Tammy, the Teamworker. He was the one who took meticulous care of every team member. Smoothening ruffled feathers, he worked selflessly to make Sugar Rush the well-oiled winning machine, that it is now.
Tammy smiled broadly as he came forward …
Tammy: "Hey Guys. I am delighted to hear all of you. Here is my story. I used to get uncomfortable whenever I saw people get into a heated argument. When I tried to make peace, I was told "Why do you interfere?" or "Mind your business". I thought people didn't want a Procurement guy to interfere in operations. Besides that, I had difficulty being decisive in tough situations with my people.
Once I read my Belbin Team Role report, it helped me appreciate that my Functional Role in Procurement had little to do with how people reacted to me. It was my behaviour - my Team Role - that mattered.
My top Team Role was Team worker (TW). That meant, I was such a great lover and creator of harmony, that I had trouble witnessing arguments. My decision making thrived in peace and struggled in the heat of conflict. Yes, my inherent nature is like the engine oil in an automobile, or the grease in the cake pan. All grease is no cake. Like all oil is no engine! Yet, on the contrary, all friction is no engine, and no grease at all is no cake!
In teams when people get stuck in heated arguments, I love diffusing that tension, so that the team can get ahead. So far so good. On the other hand, I realized I have been so particular about avoiding disagreement with and within my team, that I had assigned people to roles basis their eligibility without considering their suitability. Eligibility was easy to see and understand, rather than suitability. With Belbin in my lingo, I learnt to look for suitability criteria in addition to eligibility.
Am now better at taking tough decisions and facing any argument that follows my decisions, thanks to Belbin. And, I can see the impact in my own Procurement Team performance! All the material that had to reach the bakery reached on time, thanks to those several tough conversations I had to have with my suppliers!
I also learnt to let arguments between Sammy and Manny continue, because I realized it isn't people that are fighting, it's a Shaper and a Monitor Evaluator having a productive discussion. That much heat in the oven is only good for the cake! So, I learnt to step back and watch a good heated argument. One of such early discussions led to finalizing the name of our winning dish "The B cube - The Brandy Basil Brownie"!
I thank Belbin for allowing me to be who I am, and making me more productive at the same time. I have to thank Cordy the CO for letting me talk at the right times, and ensure I was heard. After seeing how much more I can accomplish with Belbin, I wonder why we didn't jump on to Dr Ramsay earlier!
Dr Ramsay: Two observations: 1. Team workers facilitate harmony in the team. 2. Matching people to jobs and jobs to people using suitability criteria in addition to eligibility, is to put your best foot forward in building a high performance team! Both these are critical.. because..No one can be perfect but a team can be!
Vice-Chairman Robin: That's an interesting point about eligibility and suitability, Tammy and Dr Ramsay! Let me read more about it. My intuitive feel is that Tammy is not alone.. even I have looked just at eligibility criteria when assigning people to jobs and jobs to people. Am happy am learning something having come in here!
BELBIN is the gold standard in leveraging behavioral contributions at work. To read more about applications of BELBIN Team Role Methodology click on the picture above. To understand how to get BELBIN Accredited click the picture below.
