5.5.5 Team member roles
The list below identifies the types of roles and tasks people can assume in team or group interactions. These are provided as broad indicators that can assist frontline managers identify how individuals within a group interact in meetings, planning sessions and such like.
Table 2 Team interaction roles and tasks
|
|
Initiator-contributor |
Contributes new knowledge or ideas to the group or presents a changed way of regarding the problem or goal. |
Information seeker |
Needs clarification of suggestions, requires authoritative information and facts relevant only to the problem or issue at hand |
Information giver |
Strong self-belief and offers facts or generalisations with authority. Often bases information on own experiences. |
Opinion seeker |
Seeks clarification of ideas, knowledge and contributions to the group. |
Opinion giver |
Presents prevailing belief or view from own perspective and seeks group feedback. |
Coordinator |
Pulls ideas and opinions together to endeavour to present consensus view. |
Orienter |
Set the position of current debate/ discussions and confirms where the discussions may lead to. |
Critic |
Evaluates discussions and give his/ her view on the current status and value of such discussions. Prefers to deal with fact and data at hand not opinions or ideas. |
Encourager |
Encourages self-exploration by team and individuals to arrive at understanding of team and group role, over and beyond the problem at hand. |
Peacemaker |
Appoints themselves as the conscience of the group/ team and seeks to relieve tension and orient effort towards working together without conflict. |
Engineer |
Keen on setting processes and procedures for the group that will reliably produce results on a given timeframe and set of resource scenarios. |
Recorder |
Appoints himself or herself as the scribe or keeper of the group/ team's wisdom. |
Another important factor for the frontline manager to consider when orienting participation towards the team purpose is the understanding of all individuals regarding the team's core purpose. Often individuals are involved on a random basis, or are not always present when a team - or especially a group - orient towards a set purpose. As such individuals may behave and respond in different ways to participation in a team. Some of the worst examples are mapped below.
Table 3 Destructive individual behaviours that inhibit group interaction
Type |
Behaviours |
Management strategy to overcome |
Late arrival |
Late involvement Believes they are the key participant Does not have 'time' for team meetings Personal time more vital that team time |
Confirm importance of meeting/ team Challenge time planning outside group setting Confirm agenda and meeting attendance requirements in good time before meeting Start meeting on time and reinforce team will not wait for them Give them role in next meeting that requires their attendance Set the challenge |
Early departure |
Never attends full meeting/ team activities Never completes or follows through on team meetings/ initiatives Views team roles as secondary to personal roles |
Set time requirements and commitments from all in team Set tight agendas and keep to them Give key role in follow up or actioning team plans Challenge priorities outside the group Agree on commitments |
Stuck in a rut |
Takes time to move opinions or views Always has anecdote or view on past practices and "how it can be done better" Little contribution to actual task completion Set views on task performance |
Set aside group/ team discussion and reflection on tasks Get other team members to support process and present their views Sign off on actions and agreed responsibilities Appoint a 'devils advocate' within the team Increase the group/ teams diversity to get different ideas |
Negative Nelly |
Always looks for the negative before the positive Searches for reasons why it cannot occur, not why it should occur Considers themselves the authority |
Need to share evaluation across the whole group Draw on their 'expertise' to provide risk analysis and then consider it formally as part of an overall review completed by the group Clearly articulate the 'ends' everyone must achieve Hold negativity to no fault or value adding, not time wasting Increase the group/ teams diversity to get different ideas |
All care no responsibility |
Never follows through or completes activities Always keen to be involved Keen to be involved in planning Actively seeks roles and responsibilities Strong opinion of own competence |
Need to share group/ team evaluation of individual performance Measures and monitoring mechanisms set Counsel individual outside the group/ team and give clear tasks with set outcomes Identify any other problems/ issues for non completion of roles/ tasks |
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