There's more to the roles we play in groups and teams than what's written down in job descriptions, or given to us by boss or team leader.
We've identified the key behavioural roles that have the greatest effect team dynamics, and wrapped them up in our Team Roles assessment.
Everyone plays more than one role - so what are yours?
Team Roles are the variable behaviours of the members of any group. And, how we play out our team roles is influenced strongly by situational factors. For example you might be the one who leads the action in team sports (maybe you're the captain) and yet your day to day job-specific roles might include administration, coordination and monitoring. We bet you'd be awesome at them all!
The point is, in every dynamic group, any one person might (in fact, does) contribute three or four roles, switching between them as the situation requires.
This assessment will help you to discover the roles you get to play in the context of a particular group - say, the core members of a disruptive startup, or the co-workers at a call centre.
Taking this assessment as a team exercise will show the interactions and balance of roles played by all members. It's a brilliant way to gather objective intel on gaps, overlaps and potential clash areas in every team!
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Initiator Shows who'll be the group's natural first movers, setting the direction and pace |
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Follower Displays the preference for respecting competent leadership and keeping within the guiderails |
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Coordinator Reports on the desire to influence team activities and timings and to encourage cooperation |
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Liaisor Every team needs a link to something outside itself. That's your liaisor... is it you too? |
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Ideator Displays preference for innovative thinking, passing on ideas and being open to other people's |
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Activator This role is all about inspiring people to take action, reasoning with and appealing to the team's motivations |
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Censor Shows the predisposition to act both as the group's conscience, and, as its devil's advocate |
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Supporter Shows the degree to which we are focused on the success of others, whether actively or passively |
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Mediator Mediators play a part in resolving differences in the team, seeing points of view without taking sides |
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Monitor Indicates preference for checking progress against plan, pointing out gaps, suggesting fixes |
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Implementer The ones who get it done? Careful! This role's dominance can suppress other roles' contributions |
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Administrator Assesses preference for making sure things are done at the right time and in the right order |
