Building Intergenerational Teams with Belbin Team Roles

Today’s workforce is a multigenerational one.

As age diversity at work increases, the impact of intergenerational differences on teamwork is of growing interest for organisations managing and developing teams.

Whilst we can acknowledge the value that complementary perspectives, approaches and experiences can bring to bear at work, it is clear that intergenerational differences can also be the source of communication difficulties, misunderstandings and conflicting priorities and values.

Understanding multigenerational teams with Belbin Team Roles

Belbin Team Role theory is an effective lens through which to study intergenerational differences, because it focuses on behavioural contributions, rather than relying on age-based assumptions or stereotypes.

Dr Meredith Belbin identified nine key clusters of behaviour (Team Roles) which are needed to facilitate team progress.

This framework allows us to focus on those behaviours which are useful to the team and analyse how these contributions might vary with age.

Our research

We analysed over 60,000 responses to the Belbin Self-Perception Inventory or SPI (the instrument which measures Belbin Team Roles) from candidates in 183 countries, across 22 industries.

We looked at Team Role trends across age groups, along with data on the strength of contribution, and responses to questions which can help us understand more about individuals’ self-awareness.

Our objective was to identify any patterns in terms of Team Role contribution which could facilitate intergenerational team dynamics.

We sought to identify any important distinctions in Team Role contribution which could be better managed, and to find common ground which could bridge divides between different age groups.

Here are our key takeaways.

Click here to download the 'Building Intergenerational teams with Belbin study' PDF

Key takeaways

● Today’s workforce is multigenerational. Unhelpful behavioral preferences can inhibit effective teamwork and focus on divides rather than helping people from different generations to collaborate more effectively.

● The Belbin Team Role framework is a useful lens through which to analyse intergenerational differences, since it focuses on strengths that may bridge generational divides.

● As we become older, our strengths become more clearly defined. We are more aware of our weaknesses and we strengthen our strengths. People entering the workforce are generally less sure of what they contribute to a team.

● Those in management roles mid-career are likely to play to more Team Role strengths than do senior managers and non-managers, so their strengths are less pronounced. As this is not attributed to low self-awareness, this might perhaps be read as a strategy for managing up and managing down.

● Some strengths come to the fore as we progress in our careers. Co-ordinator (and to a lesser extent, Shaper) Team Role behaviour is more common among older age groups.

● Received wisdom suggests that younger people are more creative and older people are more strategic thinkers. However, our dataset showed that there were more (and stronger) analytical thinkers among younger generations. And whilst there were proportionally more creative Team Roles amongst younger people too, older generations were more effective than their younger counterparts in creative roles.

● In order to collaborate successfully in a multigenerational team, it is important to look past generational stereotypes, and seek areas of commonality, such as Team Role strengths.

● Since some role behaviours may be less accessible for younger people, it is important to consider strengths-based personal development and mentoring opportunities to foster personal growth.

Want to know more about how you can use BELBIN to help multi-generational Teams to do better than they know they can? Get in touch!

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