Leadership development and building pipeline leadership is a crucial area whether one is part of a start up or a large conglomerate. Organisations are constantly looking at providing leaders and potential managers with the tools to enhance their leadership effectiveness
In this webinar we will do a deep dive into two very renowned behavioural and personality tools leveraged for Leaders- The Belbin and the MBTI. We will look at:
Important areas of leadership development
How do the Belbin and MBTI strengthen the leadership development journey
Dialogue with Leslie D’Souza, Senior behavioural Coach to business leaders on how the tools are leveraged in the coaching process
You can watch this webinar on Youtube in case you missed it before.
Organisations today more than ever realise that the key drivers that enable talent to propel business results are the abilities to collaborate, leverage strengths and embrace diversity
This webinar is designed to allow you to explore one of the most renowned behavioural tools being used in corporate and academia worldwide. The Belbin Team Roles is the pioneer in team role theory and brings to managers and leaders the ability to predict and thus build high performance teams.
Through this webinar you will:
Get introduced to the nine team roles
There is technique in teamwork- Know the ‘how’ of collaboration, the Belbin Way!
Get insight into how Belbin is different from psychometric and other behavioural tools
Know how industry world wide and in India is leveraging team roles and the results seen
You can watch this webinar on Youtube in case you missed it before.
When an organisation operates in a dynamic, high pressure environment and is on the brink of a new phase of growth and expansion, one of the key factors that enables success is a leadership team that is equipped to address the challenging times, leverage opportunities and most importantly tap into and synergise strengths that employees bring to the table. Emcure Pharmaceuticals is one of India’s top 20 pharmaceutical companies and an organisation that truly believes in the power and potential of our country. It is well on its journey to realise its vision of ‘Emerging as a technology driven global player offering high quality and cost effective healthcare.’’
The pharma industry in particular calls for very high levels of compliance and a stringent work ethic. Emcure focusses on robust research, manufacturing processes and expanding its footprint globally. At this crucial point in its journey, Emcure appreciates the focus and support that needs to be given to leadership across the organisation inorder to be equipped with the ability to lead change and make the vision a reality.
The Belbin Leadership Transformation Journey
Emcure chose the Belbin team roles to enable this leadership transformation process which began in 2014. Close to 400 employees (as of May 2016) within the organisation have been equipped with the Belbin Team Roles language and insights
The result? In the words of the line managers themselves, ‘better collaboration, improved team spirit, effective delegation, smoother processes, enhanced engagement and worklife balance!’
Intact teams are now further enhancing their performance and productivity by leveraging the team role insights. Short impactful meetings facilitated by the inhouse Emcure Belbin champion allows teams to leverage their Belbin insights in day to day working.
Here are some snippets of the sharings of the leaders from the ‘Belbin Learning Convention’ that was held for the Leadership across the organisation.
Murali Athali who is an AGM Production leveraged Belbin to ensure better collaboration within teams working on shifts. He was grappling with the issue of conflicts cropping up and being called at wee hours of the morning to listen to team members and having to help resolve ruffled feathers. On studying his shift teams, he realised that he had too many ‘Shapers’ in the same shift. He then re- assigned teams such that the Shapers and Monitor Evaluators were spread across teams. Result: Better team working!
Harshad Shirwaikar- Director SCM, shared how Belbin has helped teams adopt a positive mindset and a problem solving approach.
Better harmony in the team with reporting managers now understanding their subordinates and putting the right people in the right role given a chance depending on their strengths were high points for Vinda Dharu – Associate Director R&D
Dr Jayant Tilekar, Project Management Head, spoke of how people are now, on their own, rising to the occasion when their strengths are required.
It was absolutely heartening to see leaders and line managers speak a language that gave them the ability to leverage resources and understand team dynamics.
We are excited to see Emcure emerging into an organisation that’s a leader in culture transformation and change!
Special Thanks to Mr V.D Kulkarni (Sr. Director HR) and Mr Rajesh Nair (Director HR) for inviting us to partner on this journey, their support and backing and to Mr. Vishal Karad (Head Learning & Development) for anchoring and driving the learnings within the organisation!
Here’s a quick read on the various applications of the Belbin Team Roles. Also happy to email you a document on the value and applications. Do share your email id here. (we will check with you before sending any other communication!)
I recently got back from a spiritual retreat and as with the aftereffects of good retreats, basking in its fruits of greater clarity of thought, renewed energy and that quiet confidence in knowing one’s next step. And while I sense a newness of approach to my work, I begin to think of how important it is for all of us to take that time off- more so in the corporate world where work pressure and deadlines can easily encroach upon every available minute! Not switch off, but take time off from regular, every day routine, tasks and chores to really spend time reflecting, discovering- like an artist, to take a step back and look at the canvas one is painting on, look at the palate one is using, look at those spots that don’t seem to fit in and say ‘what does this picture need?’
I believe Leadership Development Programs are fantastic opportunities to take that time off, to take a step back and let your intuition kick in, draw from your experience, challenge oneself with new perspectives and equip oneself in the leadership journey. Here are three ways to make the experience a rewarding one:
Discover– Use the opportunity to discover your unique strengths and skills, what is characteristically you, and reflect on how can you best leverage this in your current work context. Take out those profile reports from your last leadership program, read them once again; you’ll find new insight, new areas to leverage. Go on, do it and you may find aspects, words that strike a chord, ideas to leverage and put into practice today (here’s a link to a previous article on how to integrate your Belbin team role strengths at work- Create engaging KRAs leveraging one’s core strengths). Science tells us that experiencing awe can have transformative effects- man is said to be the masterpiece of all creation. What wonder lies within us. Shouldn’t we then take the time to discover, nurture the gifts and strengths we have and and more importantly ensure that we are leveraging them in new ways to build our teams and society.
Challenge- Challenge yourself with new perspectives. As Marshall Goldsmith has famously said ‘What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There’. Growing calls for letting go of the old and letting the new evolve. That’s not always easy, but therein lies strength and seed of resilience. Leadership Development programs provide the platform to be introduced to and familiarize oneself with new approaches. I believe the maximum learning can take place when an approach is not in alignment with what we are used to/ comfortable with. Such situations always present personal learning and with reflection, often present deeper insight into our selves and what we consider valuable.
Assimilate- Assimilate your new learnings that they take seed in your memory. It is so important to consolidate our personal insights and takeaways from a learning experience if one is to leverage them. I have found that especially during learning interventions, its always been best for me to consolidate and organise my learnings (ie write them down) before I get back to my familiar home/ work environment. The key is to consolidate one’s learnings before distractions from the workplace and home reach you. This allows for the action plan to be put in place before you hit the road again post your learning retreat. Fantastic to have the learnings/action plan put up at your workplace in an accessible place where it serves us a regular reminder/ check.
Leadership Development Programs with the inputs and environment to develop and enhance one’s strengths, truly are opportunities to take that much needed time off to take a step back and reflect on one’s ‘leadership canvas’. Harnessing these opportunities for personal growth will definitely go a long way in enhancing effectiveness. Wishing you an enriching experience the next time you take your ‘time off’!!
Check out the Belbin Team Leadership Discoverysessionto experience an opportunity that allows for Discovery, Challenging one’s perspective and structured Assimilation of learnings.
2016 is indeed a special year for the Belbin fraternity- Dr. Belbin celebrates his 90th birthday this year on 4th June! The UK team kick started the 90 stories for a 90th Birthday project earlier in the year and it’s been such a wonderful opportunity to hear from our accredited professionals, participants and those who leverage the team roles. It has been special to read the stories and especially the experiences that many have so thoughtfully penned down to share how the team roles have made a difference – at a personal , team and organisation level
Here are a few snippets of the sharings we’ve received! Dr. Belbin we’re sending you our warmest wishes.
Here is a fun quiz to strengthen your team role understanding. Which team role characteristics do each of these taglines seem to communicate?
A big ‘thank you’ to Debasis Guha, Corporate Safety Team, Ultra Tech Cement for conceptualising this exercise and sharing it with the Belbin community!
Dr. Belbin will be celebrating his 90th birthday in June this year!! To mark this special occasion, the team has launched a special initiative called ’90 stories for a 90th Birthday’. We’d like to invite you to be part of this initiative. We’d like to invite you to send in your stories/ experience/ case study describing how you have used the Belbin insights and the impact it has created, the value it has brought to you. It could be a case study of about 500 words or something small yet heart felt such as:
‘The Belbin insights really helped me see my strengths in a new light. I am also able to appreciate my team members better. The Belbin reports have been very helpful. There is a positive difference in how I manage and even my team members are noticing it.’
Or:
‘”In this project we were tasked with increasing productive time by supporting the workforce to be rehearsed and ready to work within the safety and production environment. We chose to use Belbin for a number of reasons; the focus it provides on contribution to the team, providing a common language for them to use, ease of understanding and cost effectiveness. We were able to see where the team had a surplus of certain Team Roles and a lack of others which, along with our other data, allowed us to make a series of interventions and recommendations going into the project execution phase. We will certainly use Belbin for similar projects in future.”
If you’d like, you could even record a short video of yourself on your phone/ camera, sharing your experience and send it across to info@www.prepearl.net. The idea is to present Dr. Belbin with sharings of how his work has added value and made a difference to you and your work.
With the long weekend coming up, perfect to take some time to put down your thoughts! May we request you to send in your stories by the end of March ‘16 please.
So many of us have been touched by the Belbin insights and have experienced value at a personal, team or organisational level. Would be wonderful to put our thoughts and experience down and share the same!
Knowing our strengths or the contributions that we make that are valuable to our team, can actually help us formulate and articulate our KRAs in a way that they leverage our strengths . A behaviour profiling such as the Belbin can help one identify one’s main workstyle strengths. To start off, the key then is to take a look at one’s KRAs and identify the most crucial of the KRAs.
Now look at one’s list of Work Style strengths in the Belbin Suggested Work Styles report (Fig 2). This is a crucial report that gives one insight into contributions and work styles that one is good at and in all probability will enjoy doing. Consciously leveraging these at the work place would result in enhanced levels of interest and engagement. It also allows individuals to begin looking at their KRAs in a new light, developing and creating their goals in an empowered manner.
The crucial question to answer is ‘How can one leverage this strength in one’s current context to fulfil the KRA’. One will notice creative and exciting ways of bringing in context and life to one’s KRA such that one is leveraging one’s strength and beginning to see one’s KRA in a new light. This makes formulating KRAs not just a bland exercise but allows one to bring in one’s own individuality and strengths in setting performance goals for the year.
Given below is an example of how this is done:
The key is to let the KRAs come alive and to look for how one’s strengths can be harnessed for the various goals that one is setting for the year. In this example, the person can see that the ‘Supporting’ Work Style can be aptly leveraged for the KRA of ‘Developing second line leaders’. Going into details such as which team member the person will develop during the first few months and how he/she will do so brings the KRA alive. (Fig 3)
In the second example in the KRA sheet below (Fig 3), the person has creatively and smartly leveraged his/her strengths of Shaper- Resource Investigator ie ‘Exploiting opportunities’ to contribute to a KRA where at face value would largely require Implementer contributions. Developing one’s KRAs through the lense of team roles now allows this person to break up the KRA into contributions that are required for success. He/she now realises that opportunities for introduction, for process change have to spotted. Once this is finalized, these changes have to be introduced and followed. The person can now seek help from an Implementer colleague who can support him/ her in setting the process once he/she as actively looked at opportunities to enhance and benefit the business process. Then he/she can consciously leverage his/her strength to drive things forward once the processes are in place
Once can also discover new areas that one could bring into one’s goal sheet bases one’s strengths and current or future organisation needs. Such an approach allows for a involved discussion between the individual and the manager. Let us know how you have integrated your strengths to create KRAs that you find challenging, dynamic and enthusiastic about.
Have you found yourself in situations where what is demanded of you sometimes actually goes against your grain! But it wouldn’t be prudent to escape the situation and hence for example, you will drag yourself to that networking event since you are now one of the senior managers. There are situations wherein as a leader, one may be required to make contributions that do not play to one’s strengths, may not come naturally to the person. Eg: say you are in a situation where a senior colleague needs to be dealt with tact and sensitivity- and this is not your forte- you have a preference for getting onto a job, getting things done and are known for your outspoken quality and ‘no nonsense’ attitude. However you are well aware that this situation calls for tact, patience and dialogue. Behaving in a way that shows unilateral focus on the task with little or no regard for the sensitivity of the person isn’t going to help the situation. In such cases we realise, a shift is needed. In Belbin Team Role terms, a shift to playing a manageable team role is required- ie contributions/ behaviours that don’t come naturally to us but when the situation demands, we could consciously work on providing what is needed. Now making contributions that don’t come naturally to us needs a conscious sense of self-discipline.
Three steps to effectively contribute what is demanded especially when it’s not your natural strength:
In this segment on ‘Harnessing the Belbin Team Roles’ in working relationships, we speak to Dr. Michael Thiemann and Ms. Sujatha Patel from ThyssenKrupp India to understand how work pairs can leverage each other’s strengths.
Consciously leveraging these at the work place would result in enhanced levels of interest and engagement. It also allows individuals to begin looking at their KRAs in a new light, developing and creating their goals in an empowered manner.
