Summary

Every strength comes with an associated weakness – this is natural and expected.
Weaknesses only become a problem when they prevent a person or team from achieving success – these are called “non-allowable weaknesses”.
Non-allowable weaknesses must be addressed, because they can damage trust, relationships, and results.
Belbin Team Roles help people understand their strengths and weaknesses, so teams can work together to minimise risk.
By spotting non-allowable weaknesses early, teams can give support, feedback, and development to avoid bigger problems later.

Belbin is a strengths-based tool

At Belbin, we focus on strengths: the unique cocktail of behavioural contributions each person can bring to a team.

We help teams to understand how to fit these contributions together to maximise engagement and performance, and give the team what it needs for success at each stage.

But understanding our strengths also means shining a light on the flipside of our strengths: the associated weaknesses.

Every Team Role strength comes with an associated weakness – that's expected.

For example:

An outgoing Resource Investigator's enthusiasm for new ventures means that the old are often discarded.
An efficient Implementer is likely to resist changes that will compromise their tried and trusted systems.
A meticulous Completer Finisher may be unwilling to delegate, if it means compromising on their own high standards.

When do weaknesses become non-allowable?

When weaknesses operate alongside a Belbin Team Role strength, they are termed ‘allowable’.

This means that the team can tolerate the weakness, because the corresponding strength is helping the team’s performance.

But there are two situations in which a weakness might be deemed ‘non-allowable’.

1. When the Team Role strength is not also present.

As Dr Meredith Belbin explains in his book, Team Roles at Work, we can accept the indecisiveness of a Teamworker who doesn’t want to risk offending or upsetting team members.

But an indecisive Shaper ‘offers the worst of both worlds: a display of aggression will generate opposition and antagonism without compensation in terms of resulting action’.

In other words, the strength of that role has to be present, not just the weakness.

In this page from the Belbin Individual report, we plot strengths alongside weaknesses for each Team Role, so that you can see the balance at a glance.

Strengths are shown on the right of the line; weaknesses, on the left.

In this example, weaknesses outweigh strengths for the Resource Investigator role (the topmost bar).

This might mean that this person is talkative and neglects follow-up, without providing the enthusiasm and curiosity that make up the strengths of this role.

So for this person, Monitor Evaluator behaviour (where the weaknesses are outweighed by the strengths) is likely to be more welcomed by the team than Resource Investigator qualities.

Stuart Brown Sample Report What Others See

John Yellow Page 6 Showcase Belbin Team Role Report

2. When allowable weaknesses compromise team performance

In this case, the strength might be present, but the weakness is exaggerated to such an extent that individual and team performance may be compromised.

For example:

A Shaper who pushes people too far and causes burnout.
A Monitor Evaluator who becomes so negative that they block decisions.
A Resource Investigator who is so disorganised that they forget key information.

Are weaknesses areas for development?

In short? No, they aren't. Meredith Belbin learned that allowable weaknesses are not ‘areas for development’.

Research shows that we are six times more engaged when working to our strengths, but when focusing on ‘improving’ our weaknesses, engagement falls away.

We can spend lots of time and energy trying to ‘manage away’ our weaknesses, but it's more likely that we'll end up taking the shine off our strengths, rather than seeing any real benefits from trying to squash down our shortcomings.

How do we identify non-allowable weaknesses... and what do we do about them?

Ask, is the behaviour:

holding the team back?
causing stress, mistakes, or missed opportunities?
creating conflict or damaging relationships?

If the answer is 'yes', it may have crossed the line into non-allowable territory.

How can Belbin help?

A team that understands their Belbin dynamics can spot risks early and take action – without blame or drama.

For example, each Belbin Team Role has an opposite. (You can find out more about Belbin Team Role theory by attending our accreditation course.)

People with opposite Team Roles are well-placed to work in a complementary way, with each picking up the slack and manage one another’s weaknesses.

The Plant’s creativity needs a judicious Monitor Evaluator to check that ideas are viable.

The Specialist’s narrow focus needs a broad-minded Co-ordinator to ensure that the team doesn’t become insular.

Whilst individuals are still responsible for their own behaviour, a greater understanding of the dynamics at play can help grease the wheels.

Belbin Team Role Circle Social Thinking Action 2023

The Team Role Circle (shown above) can help teams to address how different contributions are managed, capitalising on strengths and preventing non-allowable weaknesses from damaging the team.

Perhaps someone is trying to play a role which doesn’t come naturally to them, and displaying only the negatives, as a result?

The team might ask: why does that person feel the need to play that role? Is anyone else providing that contribution – or is there a Team Role gap? If so, is there someone else who could fill it more effectively?

When it comes to allowable weaknesses gone bad, there are no hard and fast rules. It is up to the team to set appropriate boundaries and to call out unacceptable behaviours.

Whilst this may not always be comfortable, using the language of Belbin can help to depersonalise conflict.

Next steps

If you’re looking to work on challenging team dynamics, becoming Belbin Accredited and using the Belbin reports are the place to start.

Your team will need:

Individual reports, including Observer feedback
A Team report to analyse the mechanics of how your team fits together: who does what and where the gaps and overlaps might be
An open discussion based on the findings. If you’re working on resolving conflict, we offer workshops tailored to your requirements.

First steps:

Come and join us for a Taster Session or Practical day.