As a manager, you make important decisions every day.
The most effective leaders aren’t flawless – they’re self-aware. They understand their strengths, acknowledge their limitations, and use this insight to shape their management style.
Belbin’s approach isn’t about fitting a mould. It’s about discovering how your natural tendencies can guide you to lead in a way that’s both authentic and effective.
1. Play to your strengths
Learning to manage yourself effectively (and play to your strongest suit) is a prerequisite to managing others well.
2. Find out how others see you
Sometimes our own self-perception can be inaccurate or distorted by previous roles, misconceptions and aspirations. To foster good relationships with others, we need to understand the strengths they see, as well as the shortcomings. This is the strong foundation from which to develop your authentic leadership style.
3. Don’t confuse managing a business with managing people
Some talented business managers can struggle when it comes to managing people. Equally, some excellent people managers know little about managing process. If you are strong in one area, make sure you have a good ally in an adjacent field. Finding and working with people who demonstrate the skills you lack can save a lot of wasted energy.
4. Don’t paint a sinking ship
Organisations with holes in their operating systems are bound to flounder. Concentrate on creating an improved structure of management and leave the finer details for later. A seaworthy ship rather than a smart ship is easier to steer in the right direction.
5. Prioritise good strategy over operational efficiency
It is preferable to do the right things inefficiently rather than the wrong things well. Complex operations only work effectively with the provision of adequate thinking time. So thinking should come before action.
6. It is better to appoint at leisure than to sack in haste or to live with a mistaken appointment
Taking meticulous care when making appointments is seldom a waste of time. A rushed decision taken in ten minutes can lead to several years of regret.
7. Endeavour to find the right peg for the right hole
Those who fail in one job may well succeed in another, if the correct appointment is made. Experience with the Belbin Job Requirement Exercise bears out the adage that there are “horses for courses.”
8. Take an interest in all jobs
All jobs deserve managerial attention. People appreciate praise, and will accept criticism if it is focused on the task rather than the person.
9. Don’t interfere too much
Managing is about delegation. Give someone autonomy over, as well as responsibility for, a job. Interfering and micro-management can diminish the desire to assume further responsibilities.
10. Articulate your management style
Effective management starts with self-awareness and grows through understanding others. Belbin provides a framework to help you align your strengths with your role and build a team that complements your capabilities.
