PLANT
He is a source of original thoughts and ideas. He has the largest imagination and intellectual capacity of all the team members. He is interested in the bigger picture and important issues rather than the details and he can fail in this aspect. He often devotes lots of his energy to ideas which interest him but which have nothing to do with the team‘s interests and aims. He can confront other team members especially when he criticises their thoughts. The aim of his criticism is to make space for his own ideas that he usually introduces as a counterproposal. He finds it hard to accept criticism of his own ideas, he defends himself and sulks. It is hard to calm him down and to get the best out of him. He gives his team a sparkle. When in the role of team leader there is a danger that his interest (awakened during the search for a solution) will fade during practical realisation. He should be at least aware of this tendency.
He produces more ideas than others, he is naturally creative. He often has a distinctive and unorthodox attitude towards problem solution which can lead to him overlooking practical details or set rules and procedures. His usefulness depends on how others encourage him. His creativity needs to be pointed in the right direction by the team.
SPECIALIST
He follows his own target, acts from his own initiative. He dedicates his full attention to his field in which he has extensive knowledge, he knows what others do not. He sticks to details. He can solve many problems connected to his specialisation. He is usually not interested in anything outside it.
COORDINATOR
He does not have to be the team leader but he is best suited for the role. He co-ordinates everybody‘s efforts so the group reaches the target and fulfils the tasks and makes sure the team resources are used in the best way. He takes a balanced, neutral position. He excels in being outcome-focused and having a disciplined approach. He often has natural authority. He sees clearly what individual team members‘ strengths and weaknesses are and points people to what they are good at. He can speak and listen well, he forms the group’s targets and sets procedures and priorities. He listens, sums up opinions and attitudes of the group and expresses the group’s feelings. He is dominant but he is not trying to command. His contributions are more in the form of questions rather than statements or suggestions. If a decision is needed he decides after everybody expresses their own opinions.
He is naturally trusting but he feels a strong obligation towards tasks and targets. He controls himself and stays calm during disagreement. He is disciplined but can get excited. He can motivate others well and make sure that everybody participates. He is tolerant enough to listen to others but strong enough to reject their advice. He thinks positively and can appreciate people who fulfil their targets. He is not necessarily more intelligent or more creative than others in the team.
MONITOR EVALUATOR
He is rather serious and keeps his distance. His contribution is independent situation analysis. He can assess opinions and suggestions so the team can make a more balanced decision. If he criticises it is because he can see imperfections in ideas or arguments. He is the least motivated team member which is an advantage in his case since his judgement is not obscured by personal involvement. He prepares slowly, he needs to think things through. He has the ability to digest, assess and interpret a large amount of complicated text. He has the ability to analyse problems and assess the ideas and contributions of others. He tends to be tactless and belittling which does not make him very popular. He can lower the team’s morale by criticising at the wrong time. Despite not being ambitious and keen he can compete, especially with those whose abilities are the same as his. Teams led by a Monitor Evaluator do not produce a lot of work mainly because he immediately sees deficits in the plans of proposed events. A person of this type should remember not to paralyse team work by his natural scepticism.
He likes to think things through before he makes a decision. He does not come up with ideas himself, he does not usually have creative ideas. If he introduces some ideas he usually emphasises some of them and it is those that he thought through thoroughly and their risk is minimal. The more complex and complicated the decision process and the more numerous suggestions, the bigger contribution of the Monitor Evaluator to the team.
IMPLEMENTER
He is practical and organises well. He transforms concepts and plans into practical work procedures. He changes decisions and strategies into defined and manageable tasks. He has a strong character and disciplined approach. He does not give up easily but he is thrown off balance by unstable and fast changing conditions. He needs stable structures and always tries to create them. He makes a plan of action when he receives a decision. When he has a group of people at his disposal and an aim he will create an organisational scheme. He works effectively, systematically, methodically but slightly inflexibly. He does not react to speculations which do not have direct visible connections with a concrete task. He can aspire excessively to the team’s respect which can do damage because it manifests itself in negative, unconstructive criticism of other team members‘ ideas. His leadership style is very effective thanks to his emphasis on order and structure but he can neglect the human element in the work process.
He is a person who works primarily for an organisation rather than pursuing his own interests. He does all work thoroughly. He will always finish his work, even if he did not feel like it, got bored with it or did not like the task. Organisational skills are his strong point. He is nonetheless not very flexible sometimes, especially when implementing untested new ideas.
COMPLETER FINISHER
He is worried about what could go wrong. He does not have peace of mind until he checks every detail and makes sure that everything has been properly done and nothing forgotten. He does not push himself forward in the team but keeps his attention always focused on the detail. He can control himself, he has a strong character. He is impatient and intolerant towards less responsible team members. His primary interest is order. He carefully keeps to deadlines and a programme of work. If he is not careful, he can be a demoralising pessimist exerting a depressing influence on other team members. He easily loses overview of the overall aims and gets stuck in the detail which can slow down group work especially when leading the team and can undermine initiative and the independent decision-making of other team members. His untiring attention is a bonus though.
Teams without such a person often make mistakes because they miss important details despite a well-defined working strategy. He likes lasting effort and stability, he is less interested in the attractive lustre of success. He finishes what he starts and he hesitates to accept a task where he is not sure he can see the end. He tends to worry about details.
RESOURCE INVESTIGATOR
He is relaxed and sociable, interested in everything. He reacts with enthusiasm but loses interest fast. He is rarely at his workplace. He is always investigating new possibilities in wide surroundings and brings information, ideas and contacts from the outside to the group. He stimulates innovation but is not very original. He is rather able to recognise the meaning of new ideas fast. If he is not encouraged by others, for example during individual work, he loses interest and is inefficient. He is very active under pressure. His scope and amount of interests can lead to him spending a lot of time on lesser priorities that interest him. It can also happen that he does not complete tasks which he took on in his short-lived enthusiasm. His value for the team is the fact that he prevents stagnation and keeps it in contact with the outside world. His merit for managerial position is his popularity, people like working for him. Long-term concentration on systematic problem solution is not his strong point and it is necessary for him to delegate details to someone else.
He can use the knowledge and skills of others well. He is often interacting with the organisation to know what is happening, he speaks to people and he asks relevant and considered questions. He is quite good at starting new initiatives but he tends to lose interest once the initial interest wears off.
SHAPER
He is open, emotional, and impatient, sometimes cross and irritated. He tries to shape team efforts and unify their opinions, aims and practical thoughts into one workable project. He pushes for quick decisions and fast realisation. He oozes confidence by which he often masks uncertainty and doubts about himself. To gain self-confidence he needs to see results. He perceives the team as a mirror of himself. He is competitive and does not tolerate misbehaviour, inaccuracy and unsystematic thinking. He gets cross often but does not keep that way for long. People outside the team judge him as being rough and it is a danger for people in the team that he will bulldoze them. He can create ‘stuffy‘ atmosphere in the team but he pushes things forward. He is good at leading the team but at the same time pushes others to greater efficiency from a distance. This is mainly useful in moments of crisis when quick results are needed. He tends to overlook the human aspect of team work and he feels the compulsion to quickly start the action which can be his disadvantage.
He stimulates action, is self-seeking rather than conscientious, he loves political battles, he has a strong need to compete and win. His inclination towards aggression often provokes a similar reaction from his colleagues. This reaction makes little impact on him and he simply brushes it aside. He is dynamic and can manage a team.
TEAMWORKER
He is the most sensitive team member. He realises the needs and worries of others and perceives the mood in the group. He knows most about the private lives and family issues of other team members. He is pleasant, popular, he is not self-assertive. He is the ‘glue‘ holding the team together. He communicates well and easily within the team and encourages others to do so. He more often builds on the ideas of others rather than bringing competing ideas himself. He prefers unity and harmony and resolves tension and conflicts created by other team-role representatives. He dislikes personal conflicts. He avoids them and tries to settle them amongst others. Also his leadership accentuates interpersonal harmony.
He is very sociable but not dominant. He is very interested in people, especially interpersonal communication and interactions. He tends to be perceptive and diplomatic. He can usually ‘oil‘ the team; when he is present the morale and the atmosphere of cooperation get a boost. Group targets are of more importance to him than personal interests, he can be indecisive in critical moments though. He should realise that harmony on its own will not bring success and that there are moments when decisions have to be made quickly whether they will be popular or not.
