May 04, 2010

We are frequently asked how many people should comprise a team, and how many, a group.

In most cases, people are surprised to hear that Dr Meredith Belbin's reckoning of the ideal team is a lot smaller than their own! When it comes to making decisions and taking action, Dr Belbin prefers a series of smaller teams, comprised of four to six people each, to one larger group, which can be prone to indecision and division.

Dr Belbin writes of the European Union:

"When effective decision-making is required, three selected teams of four are better than one group of twelve. The only proviso is that these teams work concurrently and shortly afterwards share their outputs so that decisions are not unduly delayed. How can one deal with 25 nations within a single organisation? Not by resorting to one huge meeting. On the other hand, small teams deliberating separately can quickly reach significant decisions."

Read below for what Dr Belbin envisages to be a team's "cultural message" as the size of team increases:

Four
"We're well-balanced in our team and good at achieving agreement."

Five
One of us tends to be the odd one out."

Six
"It takes longer to reach agreement, but we get there in the end."

Seven
"Rather too many random contributions float about."

Eight
"People speak freely but no one listens."

Nine
"We could do with someone taking control."

Ten
"We now have a leader, but their ideas are the only ones with a chance of acceptance."

Further information

Vicky Brown at vicky@belbin.com
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