Summary

  • Hybrid working suits many individuals – but teams can still struggle. Belbin’s research shows that while people have adapted well to flexible working, team engagement remains a challenge, especially in new or remote-only teams.
  • Belbin helps build strong hybrid teams. By focusing on behaviours, communication and contribution, Belbin helps teams create the structure and trust needed to succeed – wherever people are based.
  • Shared language reduces misunderstandings. Belbin equips teams with a practical language to delegate, give feedback and communicate clearly—even across distance.
  • Managers can lead with clarity, not control. Belbin gives leaders insight into how to support individuals, balance workloads and manage differences with confidence.

Remote working is not a new concept.

But organised, large-scale, structured hybrid working is.

Today, hybrid teams are the norm rather than the exception – and they need more attention that just video calls and shared calendars.

To succeed, they need to overcome a common set of challenges and to function as real teams: engaged, self-aware, purposeful and trusted to work autonomously.

What our research says

Virtual and hybrid teams often struggle with team engagement.

We've been studying virtual and hybrid teams through COVID and beyond.

In 2020 we found that, while productivity increased during the early months of remote work, individual engagement declined as boundaries blurred and burnout took hold.

By 2024, a shift had occurred: individual engagement had improved as people adapted to hybrid working. But team engagement remains low – especially in newly formed teams and those who had never met in person.

This data confirms: hybrid working can often work well for individuals, whilst teamwork suffers.

(You can download our findings here.)

The highs and lows of hybrid working

Done well, hybrid working offers:

  • Access to broader, more diverse talent pools
  • Greater autonomy and flexibility for individuals
  • Higher productivity and better work/life balance
  • Improved physical and mental health outcomes

But there are also pitfalls:

  • Informal communication and connection can break down
  • Decision-making can be slower
  • Burnout increases as boundaries blur
  • Teams become fragmented, and some people may feel invisible or excluded
Positive Remote Working Belbin

How Belbin helps hybrid teams to thrive

To succeed, hybrid teams need intentional systems and cultural foundations. Belbin helps build these by focusing on behaviour, communication, and clarity of contribution.

A social contract

Hybrid work didn’t start with strategy – it started with survival. But to make it sustainable, teams need shared expectations and clear ways of working.

Hybrid shouldn’t be ad hoc. Teams need shared agreements – from meeting etiquette to communication preferences. Belbin encourages discussion of working styles, helping teams shape practical norms and avoid ‘us vs. them’ dynamics.

Individual engagement through playing to strengths

Engaged people do better work, wherever they’re located. The Belbin Individual report helps individuals discover their strengths and how they contribute best – whether solo or in collaboration. For example:

  • Resource Investigators thrive on connection and might struggle working entirely in isolation.
  • Independent roles (e.g. Plant, Specialist) often prefer solo tasks but might need check-ins to ensure that their work remains in line with the team's objectives.

Belbin offers the opportunity not just to understand our strengths, but to develop a strategy to play to them as much as possible.

Team engagement: the bigger picture

Belbin Team reports give leaders and teams insight into the behavioural strengths (and gaps) across the group. This makes it easier to:

  • Assign tasks intentionally
  • Design inclusive meetings
  • Prevent remote team members from being overlooked

Purpose

Knowing how you contribute to the team creates purpose.

Belbin gives teams language to articulate this – reducing ambiguity and helping everyone understand how their work connects to the wider goal.

Communication

Hybrid work increases the risk of miscommunication.

Belbin gives teams a shared language to talk about how each person communicates, what’s working and what's not – constructively and without blame.

Trust

To build a strong team which can embrace different modes of working and succeed, trust must exist between manager and employees, and between team members.

Belbin enables managers to understand each team member’s behavioural styles, which can help both parties manage expectations and build trust.

Psychological safety

Psychological safety is the concept that, in order to succeed, people in teams need to feel safe to take risks and make mistakes without fear of recrimination.

In spite of best intentions, hybrid working can lead to misunderstandings and miscommunications.

Asynchronous working, and relying on written communications can lead to misunderstandings.

Belbin can help teams address difficult issues in a candid, depersonalised way, before they cause significant disruption to the team.

Zoom in: how can Belbin reports help?

The Belbin reports are designed to help team members see where they fit. Here are a couple of examples.

Suggested Work Styles

This page helps people to identify and articulate their preferred working styles, so that others can understand how they work best.

This is useful for remote and hybrid teams who might not have experienced or observed others' strengths firsthand.

Belbin Individual Report Suggested Work Styles Showcase
Belbin Individual Report Placement Suggestions Showcase

Placement Suggestions

The 'Placement Suggestions' page gives some pointers as to the individual's optimum working environment.

In a hybrid work model, this can be used to initiate dialogue with a manager, provoking discussions about where and how that individual works most effectively, and which kinds of work might be most suited to co-located or remote working.

Team composition

Belbin Team reports help boost team engagement by showing each person how their contributions fit into the wider team dynamic.

When individuals see that their strengths are recognised and needed –especially in a hybrid environment – they’re more likely to feel valued, involved, and motivated to contribute.

They're also more likely to recognise and value others' strengths.

By making behavioural strengths visible and giving the team a shared language, Belbin fosters mutual respect, clearer communication, and a stronger sense of connection – whether or not team members share the same space.

Belbin Team Report Team Role Circle Top Two Team Roles Showcase

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A common language

Belbin doesn’t just give us an insight into how teams communicate, it offers a language that connects work to people – a shorthand that can be used to delegate, plan, solve problems, address conflict and more.

When your team is fluent in this language, it becomes easier to address the balance – and challenges – that hybrid working offers. It is possible to identify which Team Roles are required for a given piece of work, where the relevant strengths lie in the team, and how and where is most appropriate to do that work.

For example, it might be that the Specialist’s research can be done remotely, but that feedback to the team needs to happen on site. This will vary from one hybrid team to the next, but the language of Team Roles makes it possible.

Our research identified that teams need some opportunities for informal communication, ideally in person. Even if this is not possible, breakout areas online can help to build a sense of community, promote connection between employees and enable team members to grow their networks.

 

Situational Leadership

Managing hybrid teams with Belbin

Successful hybrid leadership isn’t about control – it’s about alignment.

Belbin helps managers:

  • Understand each individual’s working style
  • Balance autonomy with accountability
  • Match roles to strengths, not just job descriptions
  • Keep remote team members visible and valued
  • Recognise risks such as overload or disengagement

Each team member’s needs will differ – and Belbin provides the behavioural clarity to enable leaders to manage those differences with confidence.

Belbin: Building real teams anywhere

Whether your team is fully remote, hybrid, or somewhere in between, Belbin provides a practical framework to build connection, trust and purpose.

It helps teams become more than just collections of individuals – they become cohesive, collaborative, and capable of thriving wherever work happens.

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Discover Belbin reports

Individual reports

Help individuals identify and showcase their behavioural strengths, understand how others perceive and value their contributions, and more.

Individual Reports

Team reports

Help your team to collaborate more effectively. Find out how each team member can best contribute. Discover gaps and overlaps which could be affecting team performance.

Team Reports