Sabre has just completed a two-day team and leadership development retreat with the European Union / European Commission Delegation to Papua New Guinea.

The Ambassador, Section Heads and Staff participated in a blend of Belbin profiles and reports with targeted session and activity content.

Sabre has delivered programmes such as this for other organisations in the region such as The United Nations.

PNG is a fascinating place to work, and the venue for this programme was at a beautiful location near to the start of the Kokoda track, known to Australians for the valiant defence of Port Moresby by Australian Forces in World War 2.

The EU has a long association with countries in the region working in partnership to help developing nations achieve social and economic goals. It was a pleasure to work with this truly multi-national team who do such great work in support of PNG and its development.

Our approaches can help multi-national teams to work with their strengths beyond job title and nationality.

Fun and adventure on the beautiful waters of Noosa

For 150 of the great folks from Getinge, a 37 degree QLD summer heatwave wasn’t going to stand in the way of them having fun.

Luckily the event format selected was our Kon Tiki boat building challenge that enabled the design and construction phases to be done in the breezy shade, and then for the crews to enjoy the blue waters of sunny Noosa.

It was also an opportunity for a healthy bit of competition between the States and Countries of this successful multi-national group.

The Kon Tiki challenge is a great team building activity, and is far more sophisticated than the stereotypical raft or boat build. A tailored introduction and briefing format is delivered before teams make optimal use of blueprints and building materials to design sturdy and very seaworthy vessels.

Race heats or more complex tasks then enable teams to put boats and crews through their aquatic paces.

This team building activity format can be delivered purely at the fun and competitive end of the spectrum, or modified and upgraded to include more complex tasking or top be preceded by individual and team behavioural profiles to enhance follow-through impact back at work.

For the good people of Getinge, the heat and humidity certainly did not sap their energy, morale or competitive spirit. They conducted successful builds in near record times across the board, developed race strategy and took to the waters for vigorously contested race heats.

The competitive spirit between states and countries built towards a climactic race final that would rival an Americas Cup race.

Much to the delight of the southerners, it was a NSW team that prevailed due to some well-constructed boats and a very clever all female crew that planned their final race well and were first home.

What behaviours help Elon Musk push the boundaries?

‘Plant’ is the term given to a unique cluster of behaviours in the Belbin Model that are clearly demonstrated by innovators and entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk.

Strong Plants will often make their mark as founders and inventors bringing a natural flow of ideas and innovations to their teams and organisations. However, when a Plant actually calls the shots strange things can happen - like Red Sports cars rocketing towards Mars (well near it anyway).

There is no doubt that Musk has much in common with other famous Plants such as David Bowie and Douglas Adams both of whom he playfully paid homage to during this launch.

The Belbin Team Role model outlines 9 Team Roles that cover thinking, social and action oriented behaviours. Any given individual will have a unique personal chemistry of these team role strengths based upon many contributing factors. However, it is our preferred team roles that will shine through most clearly in our day-to-day behaviour and triumphs.

The question must be asked, what gives entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk, this ability to push boundaries? To stretch the limits of business, technology and in this case, space travel?

A strong measure of Plant predisposes a person like Musk to seek new ways of doing things, and some other Belbin roles such as Resource Investigator and Shaper will also often serve to typify this sort of entrepreneur’s ability to drive an idea to fruition.

The Role of Plant is one of the strong ‘thinking’ roles. Throughout years of research, Belbin and his colleagues found that teams tended to go around in circles during complex simulations until they ‘Planted’ into the team an individual who could generate new and creative alternatives. Hence the ‘Plant’.

The behaviour of a Plant is typified by what Edward De Bono called ‘lateral thinking’, the ability to see things from different and often ‘bigger picture’ perspectives. Wild ideas are conceived of and then with the help of others, can be made into playful, although not always practical, reality.

It’s often the ‘working with others’ component that will make or break the Plant. A wise Plant works with others to help make their dreams become reality.

This description undoubtedly suits Elon Musk, who is in the great company! Other famous and ‘history making’ Plants include Leonardo Da Vinci, Einstein, Steve Jobs, Walt Disney and Nicola Tesla.

Plants, like each of the 9 Team Roles of the Belbin Model, have their strengths and also their corresponding weaknesses.

They can certainly be prone to eccentricities - such as firing their Red Sports Car into a space orbit towards Mars. The lovely gesture of adding the message “Don’t Panic” to the dashboard of that car would have pleased another famous space-oriented Plant - Douglas Adams, creator of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series. The music playing on the stereo? Well that is also from another Plant - David Bowie. Three quite different people yet all sharing many of the traits of a strong Plant.

A strong Plant will produce volumes of new ideas, seek better ways of approaching a challenge, and often be happiest in the vanguard of ground breaking ideas and innovations. If it’s been done before, then it’s likely to be of little or no interest to a Plant.

Some Plant traits include:

Typical Strengths of a Plant:

Creative. Free thinkers. Generates ideas, sees patterns and can solve complex problems. Independent, clever and able to see new approaches. Can also synthesise combinations of other approaches.

Allowable Weaknesses of a Plant:

Their ideas may be radical and lack practical constraints. Can react strongly to criticism and praise. May struggle to communicate effectively with others on a different wave-length.

Non-allowable Weaknesses of a Plant:

Taking strong ownership of their own ideas when input and critique from others is often essential to make an idea viable. Ignoring practicalities and incidentals. Failing to see inherent risks in a new idea to favour novelty.

Plants often need other Role Types around them:

Co-ordinators to help them focus and manage their contributions. Monitor Evaluators to provide analysis and often needed critique of ideas. Implementers for practicality and systems and Completer Finishers for follow-through.

As Leaders:

Plants can be visionary leaders taking teams in exciting and unorthodox new directions, but they need to watch out for self-discipline, day to day details and the stresses of leadership impacting their mood and creativity.

Like the rest of us, Mr Musk is far more than just a Plant, as human behaviour is made up of a subtle chemistry of Team Role behaviours arising from a blend of contributing factors (from emotional reactivity in the limbic system, to our thinking power and a lifetime of experiences) None are better or worse than the other. It is ‘what is fit for purpose’. We are therefore not just one Role type in isolation, but a subtle and unique blend of Natural, Manageable and Least Preferred Roles.

Elon Musk possesses other Team Role strengths that have helped to make him a successful entrepreneur and given him the resources to indulge his wilder and more visionary ideas.

It is likely that he also has amongst his top roles the strengths of a Resource Investigator and a Shaper.

Shapers are dynamic and mission focused individuals who also love a challenge. They are not afraid to shake the tree and to relentlessly pursue their goals. The desire to win, to achieve and to drive their team towards the goal are all Shaper traits.

Resource Investigators are curious and entrepreneurial folks who have the ability to spot opportunity, will pursue what stimulates them and have the charisma to sell their ideas to others.

The trilogy of Plant, Resource Investigator and Shaper is thus quite the entrepreneurial trifecta.

Plant – I have a great idea!

Resource Investigator – I can convince everyone else that this is the way to go.

Shaper – It’s happening now baby!

Meredith Belbin’s famous Model and profiling tools help us to identify and measure these behavioural clusters. Whilst an actual profile is the optimal way to measure these things, the fact that Musk has some Plant is unlikely to be disputed by practitioners of the model.

It’s also useful to remember that someone who has Plant as their lowest Role may also have some great ideas, it’s just that a natural Plant will have them in far greater volume and be openly recognised by others for making that contribution to a team regularly and reliably.

For someone like Elon Musk, his Plant contributions will likely continue to benefit his business interests and hopefully also advance human space exploration and numerous other fields of endeavour. A successful Plant does this by harnessing not just their own strengths, but by managing their weaknesses and embracing the differing but complimentary strengths of others.

In Belbin’s words ‘Nobody is perfect, but a good team can be”.

To learn more about Belbin visit - www.Belbin.com.au

Image Credit: Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster in space with SpaceX's "Starman" at the wheel. YouTube SpaceX

The Gold Coast is a sensational destination for team building

Australia’s Gold Coast is widely regarded as one of the nation’s best locations for business tourism and events such as conferences, off-sites and incentive reward trips.

With everything from long expanses of beach to world-class rainforests and theme parks the Gold Coast has it all with regards to truly diverse locations and venues for team building events and programmes.

Beaches can serve as a beautiful backdrop for competitive team games, and the vibrant CBD areas of Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach can be featured in Amazing Races, Questsand some of our Movie and TV Ad making concepts.

Over the years we have also taken groups for team based challenges into the Gold Coast Hinterland using locations in and around Mudgeeraba and Springbrook National Park.

There are also many great parks and gardens to draw upon in and around the suburbs. Gold Coast City Council are a highly event friendly city to obtain the correct permissions from for usage of public areas.

Hotels and Resorts also abound with Sheraton, Accor, Marriott, Crowne, Star, Versace and numerous other quality venues represented. These venues feature traffic meetings spaces for indoor team building concepts such as Picture Perfect, Battlespace and Silk Road Traders.

Sabre actually ran its very first event on the Gold Coast in 1988 at the Sheraton Mirage Gold Coast, and we have had our head office here ever since in the hinterland town of Mudgeeraba.

The earliest forms of team building and development that we designed were based out of the Gold Coast War Museum with playful and exciting military themes. We used military vehicles, props, equipment and uniforms to transform conference groups into their very own Strike Force.

These events blended experiential and adventure learning techniques with a ‘business is war’ thematic and some fun and theatricality. Their popularity took off after a great deal of media coverage, and much repeat and referral business helped Sabre to grow.

Eventually Gold Coast based team building became national as larger corporate clients took us further afield to deliver for them, and then international initially within the Asia-Pacific region and then to The UK, USA and Europe.

To paraphrase Peter Allen though, no matter how far or wide we roam we still call the Gold Coast home. If you are seeking creative and highly effective team building solutions for the sunny Gold Coast feel free to contact us at any time.

A warm and friendly city suited to all forms of team building

Since 1988 Sabre has been privileged to work in and around Brisbane with our team building clients. Our solutions have ranged from purely fun team challenges at off-sites and conferences to high-end team and leadership development programmes.

The many great spaces in and around Brisbane’s CBD offer enormous scope for out and about approaches like Amazing Races, Questsor Movie and Ad making concepts.

Roma St Parklands, The Botanic Gardens and the beautiful Southbank with its gardens and artificial beach environments are all wonderful locations to site activities. The Brisbane City Council are also very event friendly, making it easy for us to obtain all of the relevant approvals to make use of the great venues.

Indoor locations are also in great abundance with all major hotel chains represented with great meeting and event spaces, along with many exotic function and event venues in and around Brisbane CBD and the suburbs.

For Brisbane-based team building events there are also close by locations on the beautiful Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Ipswich and Logan regions to draw upon. The Commonwealth Games are soon to be hosted on the Gold Coast adding even more great facilities and infrastructure for events.

One of the tricks of the trade for a good team building company is being able to make a wide variety of indoor and outdoor approaches work for clients who have already selected their venue. We certainly have this capability, but we can also make recommendations based on our experience for team challenge locations in advance when called upon to do so.

As cities go, Brisbane has it all to offer but without the more impersonal pace of some of the bigger Australian cities like Sydney or Melbourne. Brisbane we find has all of the sophistication and facilities of a tier one city, whilst hanging onto the charm and laid back smiles of a country town.

So for quality Brisbane team building feel free to check out many great options we have at our disposal.

Silk Road Traders business game delivered for 150 people in Pittsburgh USA

We were delighted to help our US team deliver the team building business game ‘Silk Road Traders’ to a client in Pittsburgh this week.

The concept of our Silk Road game is anchored in the colour and adventure of the old Silk Road with a journey from West to East through exotic towns and markets. It offers many great parallels with the complexities of modern international business, and learning outcomes around planning, negotiation, ethical dealing and managing risk and opportunity.

Each team needs to travel in a Caravan group with other teams, and wheel and deal their way to acquiring trade goods that represent the most profit for them. The many opportunities that the Silk Road offers enterprising g travellers, will come with a fair share of potential perils and pitfalls for the ill-informed and the ill-prepared.

Knowledge is also power on the Silk Road, and in tandem with planning a safe journey, teams also need to acquire timely information to help balance risk and reward.

The room is always quite a buzz as teams noisily network for information and trade goods in the marketplace. There is also the excitement of the great Camel Derby in Palmyra where teams race their Camels in unusual style, and perhaps place the occasional side bets as well.

The winning teams are those who make the most of opportunity on the basis of accurate real-time information and a sound strategy. They will also have needed to foster good working relationships with their travelling companions, and of course their customers and suppliers.

Silk Road is a great business game and team building experience that involved fun and networking along with some serious business themes and lessons.

To find out more about our team building concept Silk Road, and how we can deliver it to meet your needs feel free to contact us at any time, and if you are in the USA, here's our US Partner website - https://www.teambonding.com

World-Class team building options for Sydney

For many years now (since 1988 in fact) Sabre has been coming up with enjoyable team building options for Sydney.

Even the most effective team and leadership development programmes can still be fun, if they are carefully designed to integrate enjoyable challenges that are also relevant to organisational performance and outcomes.

Matching the right activity style to the required level of complexity and client aims is critical. Integrating the right locations can also be key to success.

Sydney team building can be as diverse as the many suburbs and locations in the ever-expanding greater Sydney region.

The Sydney CBD lends itself to some great indoor business games if staying within the hotel is desirable, such as Picture Perfect team paintingor tabletop games like Battlespace.

Alternatively concepts like The Amazing Team Race or The Quest can get teams in and around the CBD. The Rocks is also a great area to work in some historic sites and beautiful harbour-side vistas.

We have also delivered a great number of events at Sydney’s famous Luna Park incorporating the rides and attractions.

Moving away from the CBD, we have also worked up great team event solutions for North Sydney and Chatswood where there are also numerous conference and event venues and facilities to draw upon.

Now that Parramatta and Blacktown in Western Sydney are rapidly growing intro their own miniature versions of Sydney CBD, there is increasing demand for team building options tailored to suit the West. We have also worked at great locations in Prospect.

As for the Blue Mountains, well its natural beauty speaks for itself and there is a well-known variety of boutique hotel venues, for example the Hydro Majestic, that are well suited to team building as well.

So there is always more than meets the eye for Sydney team building, and just as the Sydney region is evolving and growing, so too is the range of high quality team event options on offer from Sabre.

We are also not limited to simple old-school team building, our Team and Leadership DNA approaches take things a step further by using world-class individual and team profiling using the Belbin model. Tailored and engaging workshops and sessions are designed to meet real business needs and to enhance performance.

Mission Possible Team Building is a little bit like an Amazing Race blended with a moving Puzzle Room

Inspired by the old-school 60’s spy genre, our Mission Possible team building event concept is loads of fun.

A surprise Sabre Secret Agent raid disrupts the client meeting and recruits them for a specially tailored team mission. The mission can be focused upon pure fun and classic spy style challenges, or the rescue and recovery of a company VIP / products or built around company values and key learning outcomes.

We have a range of cool spy games, puzzles and encoding and de-coding devices for teams to apply their problem-solving skills and cunning. The better the team applies their collective IQ and teaming skills, the faster they will overcome all obstacles, move between checkpoints and ultimately reach their final mission objective.

The out and about aspects of the event give it that “Amazing Race’ style exploration of an area, but with smarter challenges and more style. It also has the feel of an “Escape Room” but the team is not trapped in one location. So it has some great ingredients to help please everyone really.

Our Mission Possible formats have been tailored for CBD areas as well as Hotel and Resort venues depending upon the clients aims and also the required duration.

These can also be given a ‘Team DNA Upgrade’ to deliver lasting post-event value and follow-through with Belbin team profiles and tailored workshop sessions linked to business performance.

If you’d like to explore one of our Mission Possible options for your next off-site or conference, let us know what you’d like to achieve, what sort of activities your team are into and we can tailor one to suit your needs.

We enjoy running these activities, as they combine the best features of several team building event styles with the good old-fashioned fun and adventure of the spy genre.

Is it Team Building, Team Development or Team Enhancement we seek?

Team Building has become a catch-all description that’s often used for a raft of different products and approaches. These seem to range from barefoot bowls, paintball and cooking classes to more substantive tailor-made learning packages.

Briefs for any team related experience can thus range from ‘we need to do a teamy thing at the next off-site’ to more elaborate briefs including g the terms ‘team development’ and ‘team enhancement’ more often applied to enhancing business performance as opposed to purely leisure based experiences.

Ask any decent provider and they should be able to match the right approaches to the right level of brief, and hopefully also be honest enough to confess when one is outside their threshold of credibility.

So apart from some semantics of language, what’s the difference?

Team Building:

Technically the process of composing a new or recently re-structured team.

Ideally this process takes into account not just the functional roles that are required, and presumably are built around a person’s ‘eligibility’ (e.g. you are a qualified Engineer, a Sales Person etc), but also upon behavioural ‘suitability’ for the chemistry of that team.

The latter can mean the difference between success or failure irrespective of the talent of the individuals.

Numerous approaches may assist with this process as people come together to form a new team, and one approach stand-alone is unlikely to achieve it all. Rather a blend of internal and external factors are at play here.

Individual and team behavioural profiles (we use Belbin)can profoundly help to understand what behavioural strengths and weaknesses will come into play.

Team Development:

This is the process of advancing a team through the natural team development stages (put best perhaps by Tuckman’s model and stages of ‘Form – Storm – Norm – Perform’).

Just throwing a bunch of people together based on their functional roles alone and calling them a team doesn’t really cut it.

Team development can be best accelerated and improved by understanding the stages that teams go though and the different thinking, social and behavioural factors of each person that will individually and collectively impact the process.

This doesn’t have to be done too scientifically, or with fluffy group hugs, but a little common sense and some evidence-based profiling can go a long way towards moving onwards and upwards.

Once again we make use of the data from Belbin profiles and reports to have the best chance or adding lasting value and understanding to the process.

Team Enhancement:

We have built the team, have developed into the mature stages and are humming along, but like any high-performance machine, some maintenance doesn’t hurt. In fact, a failure to engage in some timely maintenance and enhancement can see teams suddenly lose their edge under pressure.

Team enhancement therefore takes into account where the team is at, and uses the data from behavioural team reporting to indicate what approaches may suit that team best to keep them at the cutting edge.

The styles of approach and activities used for team building, team development and team maintenance vary subtly to suit the stages that any given team may be in.

Indeed it’s far from a simplistic cookie cutter approach to identify such stages, as relationships and chemistry vary across sub-teams and pairs of working relationships within any team.

Thus any programme should take a number of factors into account, and be tailored to suit the needs of each team. The unique requirements of the overall team and any smaller sub teams and the day to relationships at play should be considered.

To try and use a ‘one size fits all’ approach for all teams and across all stages of their development can be fraught with peril.

Team Building options aplenty for some nice Charity / CSR outcomes

In recent years there has certainly been an increase in demand for team building approaches that can link to a charity or community outcome.

The stereotypical approach has been ‘bike building’ but there are only so many kid’s bikes that a charity may require, so more diverse approaches need to be considered.

With the proper format team building events can leave a truly lasting legacy for not only the participants, but also for many worthy community and charity causes, and even the prizes you pick for a standard team build can be of great use.

Sabre often uses gift packages from World Vision’s ‘Smiles” programme that provide a range of items or vital services to those in need such as Chickens, Goats, Education packs, Mosquito Netting, Water Purification etc.

These simple and easy to provide gestures can make a big difference in the lives of others across the globe from any team building event you book with us.

Our ‘Team Toy Story’ approach is also a popular one with teams undertaking diverse team challenge tasks to earn a budget for a big toy auction with toys sent by the team to a range of worthy kid’s charities.

As for more ‘hands-on’ at the charity options, well that’s a tricky one. If a client is willing to engage in a lasting and ongoing relationship with a charity these can be tremendous, but if it’s a one-off for a conference, the time and effort it takes for a short-staffed charity to plan for and induct a group can well outweigh the benefits to them.

If you are seeking a meaningful charity / CSR team building experience we’ll be delighted to discuss how we can tailor and adapt an approach to suit your aims and the right charity or community group.

Get maximum value from your investment in team building

We all know that good team building can be a lot of fun, but does any truly lasting value survive the first few days back at work?

Regrettably old patterns of behaviour quickly return under day to day pressures, and can wipe away the ‘feel good’ vibes of a one–off team build. Perhaps any actual benefits gained are also not properly understood or capitalised upon after the return to work?

Our ‘Team DNA’ approach enables a standard team building session to be powerfully upgraded by using Belbin Team Role Profiles and a tailored interactive presentation. The aim is to provide not just fun and bonding, but deeper understanding of what makes the team tick.

The Belbin profiles offer pragmatic and powerful insights into individual strengths and operating styles within teams. Easily completed online, the profiles are printed and brought to the session for explanation and de-briefing. The presentation is highly engaging and matches cutting edge teaming insights and research to your business performance.

Using the Team DNA format and individual profiles as a prelude to a team building session generates evidence based insights into individual and team strengths and weaknesses. This enables genuine links to be made to real world, and lasting take-away value to enhance performance back at work.

The chosen team building activity has far greater meaning when people use it not only as a fun and interactive bonding experience, but also to better understand the behavioural contributions they and others make to team success.

Each person walks away with a comprehensive individual profile complete with easy to use and understand reports on their preferences at work. It also offers pragmatic and useful team role advice. We can also generate “Team Reports” on the chemistry of the total team and any smaller sub teams.

People can better understand themselves and others, and managers and leaders can be powerfully enabled to better manage their own people though understanding their natural styles and preferences at work.

We have all been to loads of team building sessions, but it is a rare formula that can offer us ongoing and tangible follow-through value back at work.

Team DNA matched with your team building experiences can do just this.

This year, 2018, marks Sabre’s 30th year in business. Despite the fact that 3 decades have passed, Sabre’s enthusiasm, professionalism and commitment to remaining at the cutting edge remain unchanged.

We delivered our very first corporate team event in 1988 on The Gold Coast at the Sheraton Mirage for Sheraton’s global management meeting nicknamed “The War College”.

Our early days were then characterised by military themed corporate team building activities built around the creative ideas and experiences of founder and Managing Director Talan Miller. His time working in adventure sports like Paintball as a young man, then as a Young Officer in the Australian Army flavoured these early approaches.

The fledgling team from Adventure Conventions (eventually branded Sabre) would playfully kidnap conference groups and transport them to the Gold Coast War Museum for a mix of military themed team challenge games, paintball and the famous Strike Force assault course. The famous evening MASH parties also became the stuff of legend, with much fun had at Sabre’s full-scale replica of the 4077th MASH.

A string of early clients like Kelwin Carpets, Woolworths, Nestle, Coca Cola, XXXX and Pepsi attracted some media attention from the Bulletin Magazine, Hinch and The Today Show which helped promote the early approaches to a bigger market. Starting slowly, and on a small scale (Sabre's core team still running corporate gigs as a moonlighting thing between other jobs, even Army commitments) the job requests became more and more frequent and Sabre's schedule got busier and capabilities became broader.

The blend of theatrical flair and humour with military trappings like real tanks, jeeps and also pyrotechnics caught the attention of the conference market. Team building as a profession was in its infancy and Sabre was in the vanguard of innovation in this field, and 30 years later it still is.

Sabre soon expanded its repertoire to incorporate many other themes and also more structured learning and development options including The Belbin Team Role Profiles (for whom Sabre is now Australian Distributor).

Interstate events started to call the Sabre team to cities and conference venues all across Australia and then also to overseas venues for clients keen to experience Sabre’s unique approaches and skills.

To this day Sabre works Australia wide and also overseas both directly and via international partners that use Sabre’s methods under license.

To survive and thrive across three decades in business is a rare achievement, and one that Sabre is proud of. Here’s to many more years of fun and adventure.

The team building market and the world have changed a great deal in 30 years, check out some other stuff that was happening in 1988:

The Australia Prime Minister was Bob Hawke, and the UK’s was Margaret Thatcher. George Bush Senior was US President and Russia was still had Mikhail Gorbachev at the helm. It was the Bicentennial Year. World Expo 88 was on in Brisbane. Crocodile Dundee 2, Die Hard, Beetlejuice, and a Fish Called Wanda were on at the movies. The first episode of Home and Away was aired. The Brisbane Broncos played their first game. The 88 Summer Olympics were held in Seoul. Canterbury won the NRL Grand Final and Hawthorn won the VFL Premiership. The Soviets withdraw from Afghanistan. Stephen Hawking published “A Brief History of Time”. Van Halen, UB40, The Escape Club, Yazz, Guns N Roses, George Michael, Morrissey, Enya, Robert Palmer, Bros, Kylie Minogue, U2, and Erasure were on the music charts.

Individuals will often use the new-year period as a motivational moment to make positive changes, and so too can teams.

The things that work well for developing effective teamwork are rarely complex, it’s just that teams get distracted from doing the basics when the pressure is on, just as we often fall away from a new year’s resolution no matter how good our initial intentions were.

Here are 5 suggestions for helping to develop great teams.

1. Understand strengths and weaknesses.

2. Know the team’s DNA.

3. Build psychological safety.

4. Enable conversational turn taking.

5. Have Meerkat moments.

Read more…

1. Understand and be honest about strengths and weaknesses

We all have our strengths, and the natural flipside to this is that we also have our weaknesses. With regards to the impact of individual behaviour at work, both will manifest, especially when the pressure is on.

Trying to ignore our weaknesses, or worse masking them can be greatly injurious to authenticity.

Knowing them and how they impact the team can be the first step to better managing them (as opposed to trying to mask them or pretend they don’t exist). Projecting your strengths and managing your weaknesses honestly is the key.

2. Know the Team’s DNA / Chemistry

The way in which our behavioural strengths and weaknesses combine within a team with those of others produces a unique chemistry. Sabre nicknames this blend our “Team DNA”. This chemistry will underpin the team’s culture, values and collective strengths and weaknesses.

The surpluses and deficits of certain behavioural styles within a team can help to clearly identify biases that may occur and how best to manage them in certain situations. A balance of behavioural styles that compliment one another is ideal, but imbalance can be better managed with knowledge and discipline.

3. Build psychological safety

Psychological safety is an atmosphere within a team where people feel they can really be themselves and that psychological risks can be taken. A foundation of understanding in how our individual and collective behaviour manifests at work can help to build psychological safety.

It’s where people feel that their strengths are valued, and that their allowable weaknesses (as opposed to any non-allowable ones that may show up from time to time) are known, understood and tolerated as simply part of what makes them who they are.

4. Enable genuine conversational turn taking

Conversational turn taking is simple enough in theory, and that is to try and enable everyone’s voices, opinions and aspirations to be heard. In practice teams can often fall into the trap of over-talking more introverted types, or letting stronger personalities dominate meetings and shut down others.

Sometimes the input from quiet folks is well worth listening to, as is feedback from people who may be telling us what we may not want to hear, but perhaps may really need to hear. Vital input, ideas and solutions can be lost if we fail to do this well, along with the undermining of psychological safety.

5. Have ’Meerkat Moments’ to help maintain the basics

In nature Meerkats are great at having lookouts to warn their busy mates about any approaching threats to their safety (snakes, birds of prey etc). In this same manner leaders and team members can do their team a great service by politely, respectfully and even humorously bringing attention to internal threats to the team, when cognitive bias hits the quality of team interactions and decision-making under pressure.

It’s all well and good to commit to the ingredients of great teamwork, but it’s all for nothing if it’s not implemented and followed through into the workplace. When people are tired, overloaded and having their hot buttons pressed it’s easy to forget the basics and ‘ fall off the wagon’. Having some lookouts to remind us can often help.

To help teams and leaders genuinely understand their individual and collective strengths and weaknesses we use the Belbin Model and it’s individual and team profiles.

It provides robust evidence-based insights and a common language to do these things more reliably and openly within teams.

We also tailor comprehensive Team and Leadership DNA programmes to help leaders and teams.

To see more check out our Team and Leadership DNA approaches.

It’s that time again folks, a time when we all look forward to the New Year ahead and try to identify all of that “new me” stuff.

With heads still ringing from the New Year celebrations (if you are that way inclined) our minds often turn to questions such as“what might I do better?”, and perhaps even the more common “what should I give up or avoid doing?” to become a better person, leader, team member this year.

Here are some simple things that might help each of the Team Roles improve their year ahead at work.

Just some simple things to do "more" or "less" of.

These are based on playing more to your strengths and managing your weaknesses when working with others. With a little self-awareness and discipline these simple things can really help you out at work.

If you are a PLANT:

More - Contributing more of your good ideas (emphasis on the good ones) to the team. Looking at things from different angles and demonstrating your creativity and originality.

Less – Evaluation of your own ideas without running them past other people with different operating styles (e.g. an ME or an IMP). Stubbornly defending all aspects of your own ideas when some criticism or modification might be required to actually make them work.

If you are a RESOURCE INVESTIGATOR:

More – Exploring beyond your team to develop new contacts, spot new opportunities and to create enthusiasm within the team for new ways of thinking (helping out the PL occasionally when others might not spot the benefits of an idea).

Less – Letting people down by having loose ends and not following up on things (use a good CF to help you perhaps?). Talking so much that others can’t be heard.

If you are a CO-ORDINATOR:

More – Use your calmness and authority to help the team identify goals and stay together. Make sure the contributions of others can be valued and made, and offer encouragement when needed (bringing in quiet people that might often need to be heard for their good ideas, or even the things that people may need to hear but may not want to).

Less – Forgetting to do your share of the hard work / getting your hands dirty occasionally. Overplaying your formal status or taking credit for the work of others.

If you are a SHAPER:

More: Pushing towards the achievement of team objectives and keeping things moving. Stopping people from slowing down, becoming lazy or complacent.

Less – Becoming too intense and losing your own sense of humour when the pressure is on. Holding grudges and becoming too overbearing or clashing too much with team CO or other SH’s).

If you are a MONITOR EVALUATOR:

More – Use your objectivity to remove emotion from team decisions and prevent ill thought out courses of action. Offer balanced and well informed opinions on all ideas and options.

Less – Shooting down ideas or team enthusiasm too rashly if not required so as to seem too cynical or negative (especially by team PL and RI). Dampening enthusiasm for new ways of thinking.

If you are a TEAMWORKER:

More – Supporting of other team members by reacting to their needs and promoting harmony. Use your empathy and people skills to help defuse unnecessary conflict or arguments within the team (maybe helping out the team SH).

Less – Avoidance of what might be valid and necessary professional conflict or tough conversations. Siding with people to try and please.

If you are an IMPLEMENTER:

More – Advocacy for systems and procedures that work well for the team. Help others turn ideas into actions (PL and RI) by getting -down to practical matters when the time is right.

Less – Obstructing of necessary changes or new ideas that might impede progress.

If you are a COMPLETER FINISHER:

More – Keeping team standards high and use your ability to spot the details to help others who may be weak on detail and follow through (perhaps the team RI).

Less – Becoming too anxious, penny pinching or allowing perfectionism to become obsessive.

If you are a SPECIALIST:

More – Showing your enthusiasm for and sharing your expert knowledge and skills. Keeping your skills and expertise up to date and accessible to others in the team.

Less – Becoming too protective of your knowledge or expert status. Ignoring the importance of the skills or roles of others, and burdening people with technicalities or too much info they may not need.

A few of these simple observations, if acted upon, will genuinely help you to play to the strengths of your Team Role styles whilst minimizing the impact of the weaknesses.

Team and Leadership DNA session for Ungerboeck Software International

Once again Sabre has been afforded the privilege of working with the smart and highly capable teams from Ungerboeck Software International using our Team DNA formula.

The advantage of staging multiple Team / Leadership DNA programmes and targeted follow up sessions like this, is that new team members can be effectively integrated using the evidence-based Belbin profiles, and the natural team development process can also be accelerated.

It demonstrates a genuine commitment from any organisation to the ongoing engagement, morale and well-being of their people at work. Often it’s tempting to stage one-off programmes, but there is far more to be gained by ensuring follow-through exposure that ensures maximum value is derived back at work.

Team and Leadership DNA programmes are amongst Sabre’s highest-level packages for genuine team and leadership development. These highly tailored approaches offer lasting take-away value and impact.

A combination of individual and team Belbin profiles and reports with interactive facilitated sessions and hand-picked team building challenges brings theory to life.

Each of these elements stand-alone has great merit, but when carefully combined to target real business issues and performance, it offers a powerful approach to team and leadership development.

Such approaches go way beyond simple team building games at an off-site, they deliver genuine insights and lessons learned that can be immediately transferred to real world workplace teams.

Battlespace is a sophisticated business game / team development experience that has a lively and engaging military theme.

It was designed by Sabre’s former military team members to replicate some of the complexity and cross-functional interaction of a senior level military command decision-making team.

This session is also carefully placed into a meaningful business-related context to enable effective military approaches to decision-making to be cherry picked and related to the client’s aims and objectives. Lessons learned are clearly related to real business issues and performance.

Recently at the Gold Coast Sofitel we had the opportunity to put some leadership teams from Baker’s Delight through their paces, and they passed with flying colours.

We also find it useful to reference Belbin Team Role theory in tandem with this game, this meaningfully addresses the behavioural strengths, weaknesses and biases that may occur when a leadership team is placed under pressure.

By identifying strengths and weaknesses in a simulation, targeted de-brief can enable lessons learned to be gained in an environment that is relevant to the business, yet consequence free for the business.

Battlespace sits amongst our best business games and simulations for delivering clear insight and lasting value for the team development process.

Whilst it has plenty of fun elements such as a comedic surprise commando introduction, cammo uniforms and dog tags etc, it’s aim to is to take some of the best from the military and relate it in a memorable way to the workplace.

Such experiences need to transcend the stereotypical team building approaches (such as Amazing Races and string and bucket games) to provide credible challenges for experienced senior people that mirror workplace complexity.

This premium team building game has great applications for conference team building, and also for more substantial team and leadership development.

Sabre is delighted to offer this and many other approaches to our clients and to be able to tailor all such team building in a truly innovative and meaningful way for all forms of team from factory floor to the C Suite.

“We should take care not to make the intellect our God; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.” – Albert Einstein

Emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to perceive, control and evaluate emotions with a view to preventing feelings from getting out of control. In other words, it’s about understanding yourself and the effect that your actions and behaviour have on others.

When the idea of emotional intelligence (EQ) first came along, it answered the question of why IQ alone couldn’t guarantee success. EQ affects how we manage our own behaviour, navigate complex social situations, and make decisions to achieve results.

As part of his original research in the 1970s, Meredith Belbin discovered so-called ‘Apollo syndrome’ – that teams made up of high-intellect individuals finished last, not first. Why? Because they esteemed intelligence above all else, which made them prone to disagreement, destructive debates, point-scoring and failure.

So how does emotional intelligence help people work better together, and how can Belbin help develop your Emotional Intelligence?

Belbin helps you get to know your strengths and weaknesses.

EQ isn’t just about understanding emotions, it’s about knowing where your strengths lie and where you need help. This is what Belbin Team Role theory is all about. People with a high EQ understand which situations (and people) are likely to be stressful, and which can help promote success, so they can engineer their environment and those around them, whilst preventing weaknesses from holding them back.

Belbin stops things getting personal.

Belbin gives you a behavioural ‘vocabulary’ to prevent things getting personal. Once you have a good grip on who you are and what you’re good at, it’s more difficult to become offended when people push your buttons, and easier to face potentially problematic situations with good humour.

Belbin helps you read other people.

People with a high EQ are curious about others. They care, and they want to understand what makes other people tick. Belbin promotes EQ in the workplace by opening up discussions around who does what, who’s feeling leaned upon and who just wants a chance to show their mettle.

Belbin helps you deal with toxic individuals.

Dealing with difficult people at work can be frustrating, but it really helps if you can keep your feelings in check. The Belbin Team Role ‘language’ helps you to remain dispassionate, which not only defuses the situation, but is better for your health – not to mention your team’s.

EQ is for teams, not just for individuals.

Just as an individual can play to strengths and mitigate weaknesses, teams can do this too. When people are aware of what they have to offer together and what effect they have on their environment, they can level up their collective EQ and their performance.

At the heart of Belbin Team Roles and emotional intelligence is greater self-understanding. Getting to grips with Team Role theory and exploring how others contribute can make individuals more empathetic to one another and thereby increase the effectiveness of the team as a whole.

Building mutual trust

In order to work effectively, teams need to be aware of emotions at the group level. Is there tension? Does the team celebrate its success? Has it fallen into apathy? Harvard Business Review reports:

‘In our study of effective teams, we’ve found that ‘having norms for group self-awareness – of emotional states, strengths and weaknesses, modes of interactions, and task processes – is a critical part of group emotional intelligence that facilitates group efficacy. Teams gain it both through self-evaluation and by soliciting feedback from others.’

This is where Belbin comes in. A Belbin Team Role is defined as ‘a tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way’. In other words, Team Roles are units we can use to describe those modes of interaction in an intelligent way.

Keeping sight of the individual

Team emotional intelligence shouldn’t come at the expense of the individual’s, and it’s important that teams are able to identify when a team member is struggling with emotional demands, just as with workload or other considerations. Often, this struggle can be framed in Team Role terms. For example, the team might realise that a Completer Finisher colleague keeps working into the night because their perfectionism is taking hold on a particular project. They might see that a Specialist colleague is having difficulty giving up time on their area of expertise to engage in cross-training in other disciplines. Given a Team Role vocabulary, the team has a language to use when supporting each other and addressing the issue at hand. In other words, the team absorbs the individual’s emotional reaction and works to regulate its emotions as a whole.

Looking beyond the team

The team may work well together and praise itself on its efficacy, but how is that team perceived by others in the organisation? In order to be truly emotionally intelligent, the team must be aware of how it fits into the whole. This might mean using Resource Investigators (outgoing, inquisitive, outward-looking members of the team) to act as a liaison and keep them in tune with the broader context in which they’re working.

Quick tips: how to boost your EQ with Belbin

Plant – you’re already an advocate of change and innovation, but be sure that you accept the rejection of your ideas with good grace, rather than becoming someone who holds grudges.Resource Investigator – ensure that you listen as much as you talk. Controlling our impulses in all areas is a good path to higher EQ.Co-ordinator – practise your ability to read other people and use it for the greater good. Ensure that you’re giving without expecting to receive.Shaper – you’re likely to be pretty thick-skinned, but just ensure that when conflict does occur, you can recover the situation with good humour, keeping people on-side.Monitor Evaluator – embrace your rational side. It helps you to handle situations without getting emotionally involved. But remember that others struggle more with this – and they need empathy, not logic.Teamworker – you’re likely to have empathy down pat, but you may need to challenge doubts and other kinds of negative thinking which stand in your way. When faced with uncomfortable situations (such as conflict), practise separating your thoughts from the facts and moving towards a more positive outlook.Implementer – accepting change is hard for Implementers, but it’s a must for EQ. Practise a more positive, accepting approach to change. Ask for plans and specifics so that you can make yourself more comfortable with developments.Completer Finisher – be wary of your drive for perfection. Those with high EQ know that it doesn’t exist, and that the pursuit of it can lead to burnout and a persistent sense of failure. Don’t compromise on your standards, but practise celebrating your successes too.Specialist – if you have the opportunity to do what you love – and you derive your own pleasure from it, rather than from other people’s validation – you’re on the path to joy. Just remember that no one is an island and showing a little interest in others goes a long way.

By Victoria Bird, Belbin R&D Guru

Next Steps

Contact us to find out more.

(T) 1300 731 381

(E) Belbin@SabreHQ.com

One hundred years ago a group of brave and outnumbered Australian Light Horse soldiers charged across open ground under heavy fire and captured the town of Beersheeba.

The last great mounted charge of its kind in military history saw the Australian Light Horse prevail against all odds to seize the vital wells of Beersheeba and thus decisively to help win the Gaza Beersheeba campaign.

Sabre was pleased to offer one of its historic military vehicles (actually a former 2/14 Light Horse Regiment vehicle of the 40’s and 50’s) to help the local Light Horse Museum commemorate this 100th Anniversary of the battle.

This vehicle is a WW2 M3A1 White Scout Car manufactured in 1942 that has been beautifully restored to represent that era, and Australia’s military heritage.

These vehicles are usually deployed onto military themed corporate team building events, but are also used for film, TV and community work in support of military and veteran’s groups.

Do you want to make better use of Belbin’s Profiles and Reports, but are not seeking to become fully and formally accredited?

Belbin ‘How To’ sessions are a great way to get yourself and your team up to speed on Belbin without needing to complete the full two-day Accreditation course.

We can tailor these shorter sessions to range from 2 hours to half and full days.

During a ‘How To’ session we discuss the 9 Team Roles and how to better understand them in a pragmatic day to day context, and how to better understand and interpret individual and team profiles and reports.

We also explore how to better apply Belbin based insights and understanding to actual improve individual, team and business performance.

Armidale is a bustling and beautiful regional city in the New England region of Northern NSW. Cracking farming country, and also host to many successful business, government and University organisations and teams.

There are some great venues in and around Armidale and New England for meetings, events and team building sessions. We recently ran a great Kon Tiki boat building challenge for 100 people at the Monckton Aquatic Centre.

We ran this fun team challenge as the inaugural "Armidale Cup" for the lovely folks from Roberts & Morrow, a large and successful New England firm.

With a diverse range of corporate, business, university and government teams based in and around Armidale and Tamworth New England, Sabre has an equally diverse range of indoor and outdoor options to suit everything from pure fun to serious outcomes.

We can design something fun to bond teams in a memorable way with a variety of themes, or undertake evidence based behavioural profiling to help obtain meaningful insight and lasting take-away value.

Sabre is happy to tailor each approach to suit your specific aims and objectives as well as the culture and demographics of your teams.

Awkward pairings

Personal factors figure very strongly in some situations. Clashes of personality occur when two people have divergent approaches. Here opposite Team Role patterns might provide a clue to the problem.

A Resource Investigator will be fast-moving and outward-looking, while a Completer Finisher will be inward-looking and reluctant to leave an item of work until a given goal has been satisfactorily met. Mutual irritation is the likely result. So also, a Plant thrives on new ideas while an Implementer is more concerned with practical factors.

In both cases there is scope for these diverse characters to work together, provided that each understands and values the role of the other. Problems can be caused when they fail to respect a different style of contribution. Finding a common goal will allow both characters to play their distinct parts.

If a common objective and mutual respect can’t be found, then this pairing is unlikely to work. It would therefore be best for these individuals to be kept apart, regardless of their personal talents.

Coping with moderately difficult people

Certain individuals are difficult in the eyes of some. But there are others who seem to be able to work well with them. The difference is that the latter are more skilled in adapting their behaviour to suit the particular person.

If you find yourself in conflict with someone difficult, ask yourself: is this behaviour justified? Has it been prompted by my words or actions? Would their behaviour change if I reacted in a different way?

Success in handling difficult people depends on being able to draw on a range of approaches. A successful salesperson understands this, and can adapt to maximise the outcome of the relationship. Those who learn to adapt to their customers often achieve a successful rapport.

If the person on the other end of the phone is cautious and questioning, it would be foolhardy to rush them into a decision. Conversely, if someone’s time is limited, and they need to get to the crux of the matter as quickly as possible, it wouldn’t make sense to dwell on technicalities.

In extreme cases, people may be considered difficult. They are difficult because they stretch others too far to work effectively with them. However, it is still possible to find a way forward by treating others as they would wish to be treated, not as you would wish to be treated yourself.

Too many people occupying the same ground

Some types of difficulty are functions not of the personality but of the work situation in which two or more people find themselves. People can appear to be difficult because their objectives conflict.

A machine operator may have a production target, while an inspector is there to ensure that quality standards are met. The prime aim of an estate agent will be to talk up the merits of a house, while the client’s surveyor will look for building faults – often with a view to pulling down the selling-price. Neither party is likely to be impressed with the other’s arguments.

That does not mean both individuals are difficult, only that the two parties are embroiled in a difficult situation. The recommendation is that when a conflict of interest separates two parties, the argument should never become personal. Only by depersonalising the situation is a compromise ever likely to be found.

Problems often arise not because people differ but because they are too much alike. They share the same interests, possess similar talents and take the same approach. The result is that they fall over each other, have difficulty in establishing personal identity and fail to gain the potential advantages of symbiosis. They feel uncomfortable but have no grounds for complaint.

Human society has developed by building on diversity through the division of labour. The larger the social or communal unit, the finer this division of labour needs to become. An undifferentiated mass can never be productive. Creating different jobs, where these are clearly defined, provides one means of coping with the problem. But where people share work, natural differences in Team Roles can solve the problem of identity while adding to their productive synergy.

Teams need to learn the language of Team Roles to enable them to work co-operatively, while retaining their individuality and natural aptitudes. For example, a Co-ordinator and a Shaper struggling for dominance in a project may appreciate each other’s approaches when articulated in Team Role language. Without this shared language, the risk of making an unhelpful personal attack is greater.

Learning to use the key Team Role concepts in a flexible way is essential for developing the skills that make for good teamwork.

What next?

Analyse how and why the difficult situation has arisen.Consider what effect your own behaviour is having on the problem.Work out what you need to do to improve the chemistry.Check whether the root of the problem is connected with the balance of the team.Look to see how you could use the Belbin Working Relationship Reports and the Belbin Team Reports

Taken from: The Belbin Guide to Succeeding at Work.

Gallup tells us that employees who play to their strengths are six times more likely to be engaged. Nice work if you can get it, but what happens if you don’t have the opportunity?

What if your team relies on you to do the kind of work that just doesn’t come naturally to you?

You can’t just say ‘no’ – right?

Taking one for the team?

Teams need all kinds of diversity, in order to survive. In an ideal world, teams would be designed for balance, not least in the kind of contributions individuals can make. There are those who keep an eye on the bigger picture, while others check the finer details.

There are some who are great at driving things forward, while others keep relationships in the team sweet and make sure things are running smoothly. But in real life, teams don’t always work that way.

In Belbin terms, we all have “preferred” behaviours (that come naturally to us), “manageable” behaviours (that we can adopt when the occasion demands) and “least preferred” behaviours, which are best avoided. We call these behaviours or contributions ‘Team Roles’.

If we’re put in a situation where we can’t play to our Team Role strengths, we’re making what’s known as a Team Role sacrifice. In other words, we’re forfeiting the opportunity to play to our strengths, in an attempt to do something that’s not so intuitive. And if there’s no one else around who can take over, we’re doing that so that the work gets done.

This is a double-edged sword.

When it happens from time to time, it can help to cultivate new behaviours we didn’t know we possessed. When it’s long-term, it can mean that we stop honing our strengths (we call this ‘Team Role strain’) and suffer from lower levels of engagement.

According to Gallup, only 13% of people are engaged at work. In the UK, it’s down to 8%.

So is it just a case of taking one for the team? Or is there something you can do about it?

It depends.

Talk, talk talk…

To your manager. To your team. You need to speak out and let people know that the problem exists. But of course, this depends on how strong your working relationships are.

Understanding your Belbin Team Roles – and those of your team – can help open up that conversation, and depersonalise it. Rather than saying that you don’t want to do the work and be seen as a cherry-picker, it’s a case of looking at the kind of behaviours that work entails, and analysing the disconnect between those behaviours and your own strengths.

In his seminal book, Management Teams, Dr Belbin recommends declaring what’s called a ‘Team Role void’. In other words, you let your fellow team members know that a certain contribution is needed in the team, that it’s missing, and that you’re trying to plug the gap.

It’s a case of enabling the team to refresh its idea of why that contribution is needed, how its performance affects the team’s success, and what kind of problems the lack of that behaviour could mean for the team.

Here’s the thinking behind it.

As things stand, the team is relying on someone who doesn’t want the role (and therefore is unlikely to perform it particularly well). It could be that another solution exists which would increase the team’s effectiveness overall, but that that solution hasn’t been explored, because the status quo works – just about. It’s an opportunity to regroup and assess who might be best suited to taking on the role without preconceptions.

From the discussions that arise, you might discover something unexpected. Perhaps someone else would love to do that work, but hasn’t been given the opportunity. Maybe they haven’t announced their preferred styles and ways of working clearly enough that the manager could allocate the work accordingly. If the work can be reallocated to someone who wants it and has the qualities needed, it’s a win-win.

On the other hand, maybe there’s a particular reason why your manager needs it to be you who carries out this particular function, in which case all will be revealed. It’s entirely possible that there’s no one else in the team who displays the required skills or behaviour in abundance, so – in the absence of external resources – you’ll still be required to pick up the slack.

But even if so, you’ll have opened up the lines of communication and aired the problem. This will hopefully give you breathing room if you find yourself struggling to meet expectations with the work in question.

It may even give you renewed vigour to cultivate those behaviours, knowing that you’re the best person around for the job.

Next Steps

To find out how the language of Belbin Team Roles can help your conversations with your team/allocate the right work to the right people/start the conversation with your manager, get in touch! Email Belbin@SabreHQ.com

or call 1300 731 381.

By Belbin R&D Guru (and now also acclaimed published author) Vicky Bird

With festivals like Dark Mofo on the rise in Tasmania, it is becoming known as quite the hub for art and fashion.

On this basis we are seeing a lot of interest in Sabre’s art and fashion based team building approaches such as the recent Picture Perfect we delivered for E3 Advisory engineers at the Hobart Function and Conference Centre.

Beautiful views of the pier, Derwent River and Salamanca Markets offered a great backdrop for a cross-functional team building challenge that uses art as its medium, but that does not actually require you to be a genuine Picasso to get the job done.

As a team building medium, art can usually be a little simplistic and unstructured, but our Picture Perfect activity is carefully designed to require a sophisticated level of collaboration and communication to actually complete a complex project.

We also have numerous other fashion and art themed team building experiences that suit the growing alternative ambiance of Hobart Tasmania.

Our event managers certainly have a lot of fun delivering events in Hobart, and we look forward to being of service for your next Tasmanian conference or meeting.

We have recently been delivering a lot of indoor business games in Sydney for clients seeking quality options with minimal logistical headaches.

Sydney is a cracking city, but we all know what a challenge it can be to book extra meeting spaces, outdoor locations and to get around in busy traffic and streets.

This, along the with the fact that many clients are seeking more meaningful outcomes, had seen an increase in demand for our more sophisticated indoor offerings.

Team building in Sydney does still have a bit of the “Amazing Race” outdoor stereotype about it, but people are increasingly aware that there are many other ways to deliver a quality team based challenge.

Check out some of our top shelf indoor business games that can be easily designed to suit existing meeting spaces, and deliver some meaningful outcomes in a fun and memorable way.

These can be designed and delivered as effective Sydney team building options for groups as small as 5 and as large as 2000.

Of course we still have plenty of outdoor / out and about Sydney team building options to explore as well should you need to go that way.

It is often the case that the threat of adverse weather, transport and set up time can make it a little tricky to work an outdoor team building of quality in to an agenda for a conference or off-site.

Even worse may be the sheer set up time required to turn a meeting room around to meet the needs of an indoor activity.

We have therefore designed some great indoor team building options that can make use of your existing meeting space with little or even no room turnaround needed.

Naturally specific logistical requirements for a team activity will vary from venue to venue, but as a general rule, the following examples from our large range of team building options for the indoors are quick and easy to set up.

Battlespace where teams become military command decision-making teams to play a table top business game with a potent military theme.

Picture Perfect is a cross-functional team challenge that requires separate teams to collaborate on the production of a large unified masterpiece..

When in Rome takes teams back to first century Rome to don togas then build their own profitable and sustainable empires.

Diamonds R4 Ever requires teams to trade and deal in exotic gems and metals and understand the dynamics of a changing market and a range of customers.

The Agency is a hugely enjoyable challenge that has teams using cameras, sound and other equipment and costumes to produce and film their own TV commercials.

Nexus is a fast-paced accelerated networking game that ensures people have a load of laughs while meeting plenty of folks and also sharing some info.

So we have these and more to choose from if you need to run a quality team building experience at your next meeting or off-site, but don’t want the headache of needing to book another room, or stress about the weather.

We recently had the opportunity to let a group of Subway leaders tap into their inner artists and produce their very own team masterpiece.

Picture Perfect is a team based challenge that is all about communication, collaboration and cross-functional communication.

Small teams commence with initial responsibility for one or two small components of the 'bigger picture', but progressively it becomes a total team challenge to see beyond just individual and team accountability to the overall strategic outcome.

These guys did a sensational job of their super hero themed image which like many thousands of other artworks created around the globe in this challenge, can now adorn a suitable wall at head office with pride.

This team building challenge delivers some great insights into teamwork and communication, as well as lasting reminder of the desired messages.

A great deal of fun and some insightful learning was blended for the great folks at Nufarm.

We were fortunate enough to deploy both our Agency event format and some Belbin profiling at a recent national and international conference held at Lorne.

Our movie making approaches are a wonderful medium for enabling people to bond, network, explore team dynamics and have a laugh. They are also great for incorporating key business messages and themes in a fun and memorable format. Beyond the costumes, wigs, make-up and skill workshops always sits the potential for creatively summarising conference content and desired take-away actions.

The next day we followed up the fun experiential content with some individual Belbin behavioural profiles and a targeted ‘Team DNA’ workshop.

This format enables us to help clients blend sophisticated and evidence-based profiling and learning, with fun conference team building. The best of both worlds.

Byron Bay has certainly been a popular conference destination lately with many of our clients enjoying this beautiful destination for conferences and retreats.

Recently we ran a big “Around the World in 80 Minutes” concept which is a team building event that has a global theme.

Teams navigate between locations themed as world continents to undertake a wide variety of zany country themed challenges for points. With the clock running, teams have limited time once they clock onto an activity, and to get their passports stamped. Teams need to achieve a minimum standard of tasks in each zone for optimal points and a shot at winning the big prizes.

Our events that have an international flavour like this are very useful at getting teams to not only bond and explore their operating styles and approaches to problem solving, but also to illustrate the increasingly global and diverse cultures of most large organisations these days.

One of the great things about this concept is that we can also tailor the activity content to match everything from a simple ‘let’s have some fun at the conference’ brief to much more sophisticated team and leadership development outcomes as required.

Most conference and off-site clients tend to sit in the middle of this spectrum opting for mostly fun tasks and experiences, but with some more complex business related games and themes scattered to link to major themes and take-away messages.

With plenty of different activity options to choose from, we have delivered quite a wide range of indoor and outdoor team building solutions in Byron Bay so far this year.

This Around the World in 80 Minutes concept is one of Sabre’s recent developments and is also proving to be a popular and highly memorable option for our clients.

We have recently had the pleasure of working with another great team from Torres Strait Island Regional Council.

On this occasion a Team DNA day was tailored to suit the aims and outcome of this team by blending individual Belbin profiles and reports with workshop content, team audits and an experiential team challenge task.

The task used was ‘Picture Perfect’which can serve as a cross-functional team challenge task for large conference groups, or be designed for smaller teams as a more sophisticated challenge to demonstrate how team behaviours occur across a project.

These guys did a sensational job of a quite difficult to create image, and it can now hang proudly on the wall as a reminder of the great things they can achieve together.

Well of course there is, but some days you could not be blamed for thinking otherwise.

The reality TV genre has certainly spawned a lot of parody team building approaches that whilst fun, have now become quite over-used in the conference and off-site markets. From Amazing Races and Survivor to Master Chef approaches, the TV show knock-offs have had a long run now.

For some clients under pressure to put together a conference or an off-site at short notice the temptation to pick something that’s easily understood and packaged can be tempting.

Be aware that the risk of delegates repeating these approaches is now very real. Thoughts of “oh no not another one of these race things” is not optimal if seeking impact and to make your off-site memorable.

For those seeking conference team building there are plenty of other approaches to choose from, and it’s worth spending just a bit of extra time to understand how they work and how they can be just as impactful, and usually more so, than the reality TV knock-offs.

For example…

Charity and CSR Linked Events

Military Themed Events

Cross-Functional Painting Challenges

Movie and Ad Making

Themed Business Games / Simulations

Tailored Team and Leadership DNA

See All Team Building Options

When selecting a team building experience there are plenty of approaches to choose from, and whilst an Amazing Race can be a lot of fun, how many of your folks have already done one? Of course if they have not, then we have great Amazing Races for virtually all major destinations as well.

We recently had the pleasure having 200 of the energetic and fun-loving folks from Unilever making their very own Hollywood style blockbusters.

Sabre’s Movie Magic event formula is a proven way of getting the most from the movie making team building format for not only fun but also as a memorable Trojan Horse for important business messages and team development outcomes.

Each team was issued with a massive array of technical equipment, costumes, props, wigs, make-up and also attended specialised workshops on scripting, story boards and camera techniques.

After planning how to integrate key business messages and themes into their story, they were let loose on expansive resort grounds to scout locations that would help bring their allocated genre to life.

The film genre issued to each team within which their message had to be placed ranged from Baywatch and Batman to The Sound of Music and Spaghetti Western.

Suffice to say, it was a colourful event to watch unfold as teams brainstormed story and script content whilst people hilariously transformed into and an amazing variety of characters.

At the designated deadline for their films to be ‘in the can’ teams dispersed to get ready for the evening dinner where an Oscars style award screening and awards ceremony was to be staged.

The room was spectacularly themed with Hollywood icons, statues and banners with colourful table centrepieces to match.

Films were screened to rounds of applause and laughter before the coveted ‘Golden Gnome’ awards were presented for categories such as Best actor, Best Film and special mentions such as Worst Cross Dresser.

The use of movie making as a format for team building can work extremely well, but only when it is well tailored to suit the clients aims, briefed, managed and properly resourced. You won’t get the best results without the proper equipment, training and facilitation throughout the event.

Sabre recently delivered a big networking game that we dub “Nexus” for 300 of the great folks from Kennards Hire.

Their national conference was held at Seaworld Resort’s expansive new convention centre and the room offered plenty of space for us to have them networking the room in a fast-paced individual and team challenge concept.

Our Nexus activity is designed to get people networking in an accelerated format as they seek to unlock their pouches to yield clues about who else may be in their team. They will also need to earn as many points as they can from gleaning specific personal and company information from as many folks as they can as they move around the room.

Highest individual points winners are deemed the room’s ‘top networkers’ and the first team to find one another and complete a special team challenge task takes out the coveted team prizes.

Nexus has amongst its many advantages that fact that we can easily and very quickly set this up for all sizes of group using their existing meetings space with no turnaround / set-up time required. A very effective, fun and easy to deploy activity.

The Kennards crew did a sensational job with some of the highest scores that we have ever seen, and some very successful teams.

Adopting a “growth mindset” from an early age reaps considerable rewards.

Research at Stanford University has shown that students who believe their intelligence can be developed outperform those who believe it is fixed. And the same positive patterns continue on into adulthood.

Employees in a “growth mindset” company are 34% more likely to feel a strong sense of ownership and commitment to the company.

On the flipside, a cocktail of competencies and performance management can foster an organisational culture where employees feel they need to excel at everything, without so much as breaking a sweat. “When people work for a company that esteems them for their innate talent above all else, they tend to run and hide when their image is at risk.”

Employees in a “growth mindset” company are:

47% likelier to say that their colleagues are trustworthy;34% likelier to feel a strong sense of ownership and commitment to the company;65% likelier to say that the company supports risk taking;49% likelier to say that the company fosters innovation.

Does our culture rely too heavily on the idea of “innate talent” as a measure of potential, discouraging people from making the effort – and the mistakes – needed to learn and grow?

When it comes to personality and behaviour tests, “traits” and “types” sound like classic fixed mindset language, without much room for manoeuvre. So are we labelling people under the banner of self-understanding, and then encouraging them to play it safe in their comfort zones?

When it comes to Belbin, it all depends on the way the language of Team Roles is used.

1. It’s about pushing our boundaries.

Belbin is intended as a learning opportunity that illuminates the way you behave – and how this might be different to the behaviours of those around you.

Too often we see people listening intently to mention of their preferred roles, only to tune out when it comes to the others. Team Role behaviours aren’t a “fingerprint” – they can and do change. Whilst we may have a number of preferred roles, we also have manageable roles – behaviours we can cultivate by pushing ourselves to try something new. Belbin gives you the confidence to understand your strengths. This is a starting-point – a platform from which to explore different ways of doing things (and get things wrong), not a “get out of jail free” card to cherry-pick certain kinds of work.

2. It’s about what the team needs.

If individuals are encouraged to view their tendencies – and those of their colleagues – as fixed, this ignores another important part of the equation: what is required.

Sometimes the team needs a certain role and it’s time to make a Team Role sacrifice – in other words, to take on a role which feels like an uncomfortable fit. This is a prime opportunity to learn something about yourself and your capabilities. Likewise, if you’re only ever given work that fits your Team Role styles, you’re more likely to become entrenched in those behaviours. Instead, managers need to recognise that there can be more than one Team Role approach to a problem and encourage Team Role “cross-over” to allow for different approaches.

3. It’s about admitting that tendency to stick with what we know – and risking it anyway.

We need to recognise when our thoughts and actions are perpetuating a fixed mindset and react accordingly.

Rather than thinking: I’m not good at networking, we might frame this in Team Role language: My social roles are low and I tend to get nervous speaking to new people. If we can recognise that Resource Investigators possess this skill in abundance, we can see it as a learned behaviour, rather than an intrinsic personality trait that some are born with. Not only that, but we know who to ask for help.

4. It’s about embracing failure.

One characteristic of a growth mindset is recognising failure as key to success. NASA is well known for rejecting recruits with unblemished success stories on their CVs in favour of those who have encountered and overcome hurdles.

For Belbin too, “weakness” isn’t a dirty word. We recognise that strengths come at a cost. If you’re that outgoing people person who thrives on networking and is always buzzing with the latest thing, you may not be happy sitting alone in an office, methodically following up those contacts a few weeks later!

The idea is to devise strategies for success, whether that involves implementing strategies that manage your own weaknesses (“I’ll tackle three leads at a time with breaks on social media”) or partnering with others who might be able to complement your weaknesses with their strengths.

5. It’s about working together.

Dweck found that having children focus on the process that leads to learning (i.e. hard work, problem-solving, making mistakes and encountering failure), could foster a growth mindset.

But it isn’t just about effort – banging one’s head against a brick wall isn’t praiseworthy either. Dweck noted: “Effort is a means to an end – and that end is learning and improving. Sheer effort isn’t enough to grow.”

One option is to try different strategies and seek help from others.

In the context of work, that doesn’t mean that others will necessarily end up doing the work for you, but their new perspective may just unlock something you needed to get things moving from question to answer.

Contact us: 1300 731 381 E – Belbin@SabreHQ.com

References:

[1] How Companies Can Profit from a “Growth Mindset”, Harvard Business Review, November, 2014[2]Carol Dweck Revisits the ‘Growth Mindset’, Carol Dweck, Education Week, September 22, 2015

Full credit for this article goes to: Victoria Bird, R&D guru at Belbin.

Ugh, Millennials. *Eye roll*…

Understanding Millennials – or more accurately, emphasising the differences between generations – is big business. And of course, it's more of a headline-grabber to make it a tribal thing. It's a case of divide-and-conquer. But the more diligent research studies show that we have more in common than we might think…

We all want the same things

The IBM Institute for Business Value surveyed 1784 employees from organisations in 12 countries across 6 industries and divided respondents into Millennials (those aged 21–34), Generation X (aged 35–49) and Baby Boomers (aged 50–60).

The main differences they discovered concerned proficiency with the internet and social media – as "digital natives", Millennials are much more comfortable with using technology.

But there were more similarities than differences. Apparently, Millennials have similar career aspirations to those of other generations – and their goals are just as varied. Harvard Business Review supports their findings: "Millennial preferences are just about the same as the broader population."

Contrary to expectations, it was Generation X who: prized work-life balance the highest; thought everyone on a successful team should be rewarded, and were the most likely to leave their current job for more money. Baby Boomers were the most likely to seek autonomy and shun a collaborative culture.

The arrogance of youth

So why the hype and the stereotype? According to HBR, what we’re observing anecdotally is just the arrogance of youth, not something specific to one generation:

"A growing body of evidence suggests that employees of all ages are much more alike than different in their attitudes and values at work. To the extent that any gaps do exist, they amount to small differences that have always existed between younger and older workers throughout history and have little to do with the Millennial generation per se."

"It’s not that people born after 1980 are narcissists, it’s that young people are narcissists, and they get over themselves as they get older."

So rather than focusing on trying to characterise Millennials, why don’t companies spend time on factors that lead everyone to be happier, perform better and stay longer in their jobs? The studies we've mentioned give the following 5 recommendations:

1. Focus on the individual

IBM tell us: "Managing a multi-generational workforce entails seeing people as individuals, not generational stereotypes." On a functional level, organisations do need to understand and capitalise on digital natives' capabilities, but they also "need to be wary of placing so much emphasis on age that they lose sight of individual preferences and skill sets that transcend generational clichés."

In other words, start with the individual and work from there. Belbin Team Roles can offer a gentle approach to identifying strengths and preferences, and discussing needs and areas for development at work, making it the perfect tool to bridge the gap between a newcomer's expectations and the requirements of the role at hand. And if certain skills are lacking, no generation is more appreciative of training and development on the job than are Millennials, reports HBR.

2. Encourage feedback and reflection to boost self-awareness

Worryingly, the Hay Group's 2014 study found that, whilst 88% of HR directors described entry-level graduates with emotional and social skills as "worth their weight in gold", 69% of graduates thought those skills would only "get in the way of getting the job done".

Their recommendation? "Give people the tools to audit their own behaviors, mood and triggers, and understand how they work best". They propose identifying strengths and weaknesses and allowing time to reflect on the impact these might have on the organisation as a whole.

Belbin is the perfect tool for the job, offering: numerous points for discussion; the opportunity to obtain Team Role feedback from colleagues as a means of measuring the team-level impact of behaviours, and specific guidance for line managers when reviewing the information with the individual in question.

3. Cultivate a sense of belonging

According to the Hay Group, 50% of graduates had considered leaving their job because they "didn’t fit in". But IBM found that 25% of Millennials wanted to make a positive impact on their organisation, compared to Generation X (21%) and Baby Boomers (23%).

Everyone wants to feel that what they do is worthwhile. Both IBM and the Hay Group recommend explaining how individual employees fit into the bigger picture, to promote engagement. Understanding individual strengths and situating these within the behaviours of the team as a whole can do just that.

By identifying Team Role contributions, organisations can encourage flexibility and understanding of different areas of the business. With a Team Role "passport" of behaviours that can easily be translated into different teams, individuals can move more easily from one team to another to see what works, and you'll gain a much better idea of where people might fit.

4. Foster a collaborative culture

Of all three generations studied, it was the Baby Boomers who were the least likely to collaborate, ask input from others and seek group consensus.

"The best and brightest employees – those with the potential to become tomorrow’s leaders – are likely to prefer working in a collaborative organisation where they are encouraged to contribute new ideas and take a consensual approach to making decisions."

Collaboration requires trust – and that trust comes from understanding who we're working with. Whilst a Baby Boomer and a Millennial might assume they have little in common on the face of it, if they discover that they are both driven, competitive Shapers, that similar approach can form the foundation of a working relationship. Even in cases where there are few similarities, speaking the language of Team Roles can help bridge the generational divide.

5. Leaders – look within

In IBM's study, each and every generation expressed the importance of inspirational leadership, a clear business strategy and performance-based recognition. This comes from everyone knowing what they have to offer, finding the right person for the task and getting the best possible Team Role synergy between individual and job.

And yet, IBM's results suggest that leaders may be overestimating how well they’re connecting with their staff. "Introspection is hard – and sometimes painful – but all leaders need an honest assessment of their own strengths and weaknesses."

As leaders, it can be difficult to understand where things are going wrong, and what others want from us, but it's a crucial learning opportunity. By asking for Team Role feedback, you can encourage employees to provide an honest, constructive assessment of your strengths and weaknesses in leadership. Are you communicating well with senior managers, but failing to reach team leaders? Is there a clash between your leadership style and the organisational culture at large?

Next steps

Start learning and using the language of Belbin Team Roles to help Millennials and Baby Boomers alike.

Give us a call and have a chat 1300 731 381 or email Belbin@SabreHQ.com Web www.TeamRolesAustralia.com.au - we would love to help you get the most from your teams!

Another Belbin article written by our fabulous Victoria Bird, Director of R&D

References

"Myths, exaggerations and uncomfortable truths: The real story behind Millennials in the workplace", IBM Institute for Business Value, 2015"Every EveryEvery Generation Has Been the Me MeMe Generation", Elspeth Reeve, The Atlantic, 2013"Today’s graduates: worth their weight in gold?", Hay Group, 2014

Belbin profiles and reports measure propensities towards certain kinds of behaviour and styles of interaction with others, rather than personality traits. There are a number of factors underlying behaviour: personality, motivation, values, abilities and environment, to name a few. So why measure behaviour in particular?

1. It can change.

Personality is fixed and unlikely to change, so it makes sense to focus our efforts at the point where changes can be made: our behaviour. Since behaviour is within our locus of control, affirmative feedback on behaviour offers a positive lead for personal development, showing where and how we can adapt to meet the needs of a particular situation or job role.

2. It can be observed.

Personality is what’s on the inside; behaviour is what comes out, and it affects – and is affected by – those around us. Measuring behaviour allows us to focus on the words and actions which shape our interactions with others. Arguably, we aren’t experts on someone else’s personality – we don’t know what’s going on “behind the scenes” – but we can comment on what we can see before us.

By giving and receiving feedback on behaviours within a team, we move to a democratic, evidential process. We can corroborate – or disagree with – one another, and provide evidence of the behaviours in question from our own experience. This can depersonalise difficult conversations and take the heat out of conflicts which might otherwise descend into ad hominemattacks. It can also provide a significant learning opportunity – your observers might uncover strengths you didn’t know you possessed.

3. It’s situational.

Our behavioural tendencies influence the kinds of work we might be best suited to, and who we work best with. Some people behave very differently at work than they do at home, despite the underlying personality being one and the same. Measuring behaviour in a particular context allows discussion to focus on the workplace, whereas more wide-ranging measurements might muddy the waters.

4. It’s practical.

Belbin isn’t a label to apply or a box to put someone in, it’s a language designed to help people better understand each other. Once people understand the Team Roles and the basic concept behind them, this language can be used as a shorthand to describe how different kinds of work might be approached or what sort of contributions are required at a particular meeting.

5. It makes individuals and teams tick.

Understanding strengths and weaknesses makes people more engaged, happier and more productive at work, promoting a positive working environment and reducing turnover costs. In 2013, Gallup reported that only 13% of employees were engaged at work.[1] In 2016, their findings showed that teams in the top quartile for engagement outperformed those in the bottom quartile by 21%.[2] In another 2016 study, Harvard Business School outlined the importance of “relational affirmation” in this process: identifying and communicating individual strengths, and using a common language and frame of reference.[3]

6. It can be predicted.

Since we can observe behaviour, we can predict it too. People may not always behave as we expect in every little way – as human beings, we always possess the capacity to surprise one another – but broadly speaking, we settle into ways of working, communicating and relating to others that can be expected to remain the same over a period of time. This means we can use behavioural styles for recruitment and teambuilding, to suggest whether someone might be a good fit for a particular job role or to join an existing team.

7. It’s more important than intelligence in predicting success.

“The best way to build a great team is not to select individuals for their smarts or accomplishments but to learn how they communicate and to shape and guide the team so that it follows successful communication patterns.” - “The New Science of Building Great Teams”, Alex “Sandy” Pentland, April 2012

As part of his original research at Henley Management College during the 1970s, Dr Belbin set up so-called “Apollo teams”, composed of those individuals who had achieved the highest scores on a battery of intelligence tests. Almost without exception, these teams were the worst performers, owing to competitiveness and negativity within the teams. This initial finding spurred Dr. Belbin on to discover which qualities did predicate success – and Team Role theory was the result.

8. It can be extrapolated.

Personality comes down to the individual – it’s their outlook on the world. By its very nature, behaviour is more fluid and interconnected with others, so it lends itself naturally to collation. We can aggregate key Team Role information to design and build teams, or map the behavioural preferences of two individuals to examine how well a partnership might work.

ARTICLE BY: Victoria Bird, Belbin Director of R&D

Get started with Belbin today at www.TeamRolesAustralia.com.au

[1] “State of the Global Workplace”, Gallup, 2013

[2] “Employee Engagement Meta-Analysis”, Gallup, May 2016

[3] “Preparing the Self for Team Entry: How Relational Affirmation Improves Team Performance”, Harvard Business School, 2016

Sydney continues to be a busy destination for the Sabre team with plenty of clients selecting from both our classic team building and more sophisticated team development portfolios.

We have recently delivered a number of our high-end 'Team DNA' programmes for a wide variety of clients in and around Sydney and surrounding regions (Blue Mountains, Western Sydney, Wollongong etc).

The Team DNA approaches differs from the more ubiquitous classic team building in that it combines behavioural Belbin profiles and reports with interactive workshops and experiential learning, as opposed to activity content alone.

This delivers a powerful impact and rapid understanding for individual and team dynamics as well as practical tools and insights to take back into the workplace.

This is not only a more evidence based form of team building, but also serves as a potent tool for individual, team and leadership development as enhancing business performance is also an aim of any Team DNA.

By creating each Team DNA with the client's business aims and objectives very much in mind, these programmes transcend the usual 'touch-feely' off-site.

We love using innovative prizes for winning teams in our many different team building challenges.

These not only provide a novelty incentive to add a bit of competitive colour to an event, but also a lasting memento for the teams and individuals worthy of special mention on the day for their efforts.

One great example are our special "Golden Gnome" awards that we use for winning teams, best actors and other special award categories (such as best cross-dresser, use of a fart gag in a motion picture etc) within our Movie making team building approaches.

Well, we can't use Oscars now can we?

Sabre was delighted to be featured recently in a viral team building infographic by 'Entrepreneur'.

Our work is known globally and it's great to occasionally pop up in un-expected places and articles for the programmes that we have designed and delivered for our clients in Australia and myriad locations overseas (either ourselves or via our global partners).

We work hard to come up with new team building approaches, but as many innovators know all too well these days, it's often not long till your innovation inspires a few copycats, so it's an ongoing challenge to stay ahead of the pack.

This reference was to our "Viking Saga" approach that blends Viking history and mythology with some great team challenges, costumes and adventures.

We spend a lot of time exploring what makes teams work and how to improve their effectiveness, but how often do we stop and think about why and when to deploy teams in the first place?

“The essence of effective teamwork is to create a product through a collective effort that exceeds the quality of an individual endeavour.”[1]

We know that teams are increasing in importance. In 2016, an article by Deloitte University Press stated:

“The ability to quickly build, deploy, disband, and reform teams is a critical skill for today’s organizations.”

So what advantages do teams have over individuals? And how do we capitalise on the advantages of teamwork, whilst avoiding the pitfalls?

1. Teams offer diversity.

One person cannot do everything proficiently. In teams, individuals are able to share their strengths in complementary roles to produce meaningful results. With the interpersonal dynamics teamworking creates, collaboration offers more than the sum of its parts. Your team needs a Team Role make-up that reflects its purpose and goals, otherwise it may be the case that ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’.

2. Teams promote learning opportunities.

Hand in hand with diversity, working in teams benefits individuals who are exposed to their colleagues’ different approaches, experiences, perspectives and skills. In addition to our ‘natural’ or preferred Team Roles, we all have manageable Team Roles – behaviours we can adopt from time to time – and which can be cultivated to add another string to our bow. Watching others in action playing these roles is a great way to learn.

3. Teams can address more complex problems

As complexity increases, tasks can fall beyond the scope of the individual. According to Ernst & Young in their 2013 study: “Almost 9 out of 10 companies surveyed for this report agree that the problems confronting them are now so complex that teams are essential to provide effective solutions.”[2]

4. Teams offer flexibility

Individual members can come and go, offering their skills, expertise and Team Role contributions at the stage when they are most needed, and then moving on as the project progresses. Individual activities can be effectively co-ordinated to help people work more effectively, save time and avoid frustration.

5. Teams deliver faster results.

When teams are working optimally and workload is shared to best advantage, progress is faster than individual endeavour.

6. Teams can mirror organisational values.

A strong team can be a microcosm of the organisation, espousing its values and working towards a shared purpose and a common goal. When a team is working in harmony with broader aims, the sense of belonging and commitment to the team can extend to the organisation too, giving employees an increased sense of loyalty to their company.

7. Teams don’t just make us better workers, they make us better people.

Teams are the human side of working. To be an effective team member, you have to listen to others, and show sensitivity to their feelings and needs. Google’s Project Aristotle – their research into effective teams – found that empathy and taking turns in conversation led to psychological safety, the best predictor of success.

So if teams are so important, why do things go wrong?

In 2016, Harvard Business Review published an article about “collaborative overload” – the over-reliance on teams and collaboration. According to their data, time spent by managers and employees in collaborative activities had increased by 50% or more over the past two decades, but frequently not to the benefit of individuals or their organisations.

In demand, but disengaged. HBR found that those who were in highest demand as collaborators in their companies had the lowest engagement and career satisfaction scores, despite clearly being identified by colleagues as knowledgeable and valuable contributors. This was because they were frustrated at spending time on ad hocrequests, and wanted to do more training, coaching and mentoring.

Once they were collaborating in a more effective way, engagement levels picked up.

People underperform because they’re overwhelmed. It’s the responsibility of the manager to ensure that work is distributed effectively, not heaped upon the few who show willing. Allowing helpful people to become a bottleneck is a disservice to all involved, from the individual to the team – even the customer?

So how do we leverage the benefits of teamwork?

Harvard Business Review has a number of recommendations.

1. Make conscious decisions when allocating work

Can the work be accomplished more effectively by an individual or well-matched pairing?

2. Protect the meaning of ‘team’

Teams shouldn’t be large amalgams of individuals with no common identity or purpose. When a team is needed, their size should be kept small to avoid disengagement, groupthink and lengthy unproductive meetings – we think four is an ideal number.

3. Compose teams ‘on purpose’

Teams need to be deliberate in structure, intent and goals in order to be truly effective.

The key is to distribute work effectively, and that means identifying what each person has to offer and ensuring they’re playing to those strengths.

But there’s more…

“Thanks to the various strengths they bring to the table, teams have the potential to outperform individuals yet often fail to capitalize on this potential. Finding ways to let team members know about how their behavior positively affected others in the past can offset concerns about social acceptance that come with exposing one’s unique perspectives and identity to others. Making people aware of their own strengths results in better communication among team members and thus higher levels of performance.”[3]

To create a truly positive team environment requires reflection – on what worked well and how behaviours were used to benefit the team. This positive feedback is carried forwards into the next team, making that individual a more effective and engaged collaborator.

Belbin can help identify individual strengths and offer advice on how to allocate work most effectively within your team. Are you ready to optimise your team? Start your Belbin journey today. Come to one of our 'How to...' Sessions, become Belbin Accredited or contact us and have a chat - we would love to help you get the most from individuals and teams!

Written by Victoria Bird, Director of R&D Belbin.

[1] “Communication in Cross-Functional Teams”, Karl Smart and Carol Barnum, February 2000

[2] “The Power of Many: How companies use teams to drive superior corporate performance”, Ernst & Young, May 2013

[3]“Preparing the Self for Team Entry: How Relational Affirmation Improves Team Performance”, Julia J. Lee, Daniel M. Cable, Francesca Gino, Bradley R. Staats, Harvard Business School, 2016

In 2011, Professor J. Richard Hackman, late Edgar Pierce Professor of Social and Organizational Psychology at Harvard University, wrote an article outlining “Six Common Misperceptions about Teamwork” from his considerable research in the U.S. intelligence community.

Here, we revisit his findings and explore them in a little more detail from a Belbin perspective.

Myth 1 Harmony helps.

Hackman discovered that disagreements were good for a team, so long as they were handled well and focused on the team’s objectives.

We agree! In Team Role terms, it might be easier to work with those who have similar roles to your own, but you may not be as effective. A balanced team, in terms of different behavioural strengths, will provide more differing viewpoints, and the outcome is likely to be better.

Myth 2 Bring in new people.

Whilst it might be assumed that mixing things up would bring in fresh ideas and energy, it was found that the longer a group stayed together, the better the performance.

At Belbin, our take on this is that the longer we are around one another, the more chance we have to gain an understanding of how others work. Behaviour can be observed – and to some extent, predicted – so it makes sense that we’d feel comfortable when we know which Team Roles we’re dealing with, and how to get the most out of that relationship.

Myth 3 Bigger is better.

Hackman found that excessive size was “one of the most common – and also one of the worst – impediments to effective collaboration”. He noted that it led to coasting and meant that it took more effort to keep things co-ordinated.

We agree – size does matter! Dr Belbin’s ideal team size is four. This enables each person to establish a close working relationship with others in the team.

The even numbers mean that consensus has to be reached for decision-making, with no one person having the casting vote. Having six in a team isn't a disaster, but once the numbers start creeping up to eight, ten , twelve, then people are going to start to feel redundant and less engaged.

Myth 4 Technology has replaced the need for face-to-face communication.

According to the research, teams working remotely were at a considerable disadvantage. At the bare minimum, teams needed to be together when launched, at the midpoint of their work and again at the end.

We hear the question 'Does Belbin work with remote teams?' on a regular basis, and of course, with home-working and the globalisation of work, this will become more common. When working with remote teams, we recommend that everyone has had the opportunity to meet at least once, face-to-face. Misunderstandings are commonplace when dealing with people via the phone or email, and having that ‘real’ connection helps provide context. ‘Social’ time via Skype can also work wonders.

Myth 5 It all comes down to the leader.

Whilst leaders did make a difference, Hackman found that fostering effective collaboration within the team, helping members to manage themselves, and launching the team well, were the prerequisites for success.

We have always stated that one of the quintessential features of small, well-balanced teams is that leadership is rotated or shared. Teamwork requires a sense of togetherness and trust which should come from within, not from on-high.

Myth 6 Teamwork happens by magic.

Bring together talented people and give them a general idea of what’s needed, then let it all happen – they’ll figure out the details.

Dr. Belbin’s doomed Apollo teams – made up of highly-intelligent individuals – were proof positive that individual academic or cognitive abilities do not spell team success. We all know it takes effort to create the conditions necessary for success – namely, to get your Team Role ducks in a row. When designing a team, it’s important to think about what the team is there to do, and which behavioural contributions might be required at each stage.

As Meredith Belbin states, and the reason why we (at Belbin) do what we do:

“Simply putting together a number of people and expecting them to work as a team is not enough.”

So, although separated by a 'small pond' and a some cultural bias, there is a great deal of synergy between Professor J. Richard Hackman and Dr R. Meredith Belbin. And if two great minds come to the same conclusions, perhaps they just might be right?

We can help you manage your individuals and teams. Get in touch to find out how.

(T) 1300 731 381 (E) Belbin@SabreHQ.com

Author: Victoria Bird, Belbin R&D Guru, with a little input from Jo Keeler, Belbin Business Director.

Team building in Sydney has changed as much as the city itself across the three decades of Sabre’s history.

When we first designed team-based events and activities for clients in Sydney most people associated the delivery of team building events with either The Blue Mountains or The Central Coast. This was due in large measure to options in the late 80’s and early 90’s being heavily associated with the outdoors.

The evolution of experiential learning has brought about a more flexible variety of team building options for indoors as well as those suited to CBD locations and hotel grounds.

As we designed more indoor options and tabletop business games we started to see an increasing amount of clients making use of our services in Sydney CBD Hotels.

As client demand for more flexible team building options grew, so too did the drive to design more options that could work indoors, or at least with a combination of both indoor and outdoor components. This enabled us to respond to a wider range of client briefs.

Popular indoor formats such as our Picture Perfect team painting challenge, or sophisticated business games such as When in Rome and Battlespace give us great scope for using existing meeting space. This not only saves the headache of needing to book extra space, but also fear of bad weather.

Movie Making, Amazing Race and other ‘out and about’ formats also enable good use to be made of city locations.

Client demand for genuine team and leadership development has also driven quality indoor approaches that integrate Belbin Team Role profiles with workshop and activity content. These ‘Team and Leadership DNA’ branded approaches offer far more than just the stereotypical team building session, and deliver truly lasting value.

As for locations in and around Sydney for team building, increasingly company event planners wish to make use of Parramatta and Penrith with teams and head office locations moving West more and more.

Sydney now demands a more versatile teambuilding portfolio than ever given not only the increasing growth of the market, but also changing tastes and the range of locations clients wish to use.

Sabre is well-placed to work anywhere in the Sydney region and beyond with a range of high quality indoor and outdoor Sydney team building solutions.

Does it really matter if your employees are engaged and enjoy their work?

According to a survey spanning four years and workplaces in over 100 countries, it matters a great deal.

A report by Gallup, Inc. provides new insight into the relationship between employee engagement and business performance, and offers suggestions as to how companies can promote engagement to improve the bottom line.

Here we look briefly at the findings and recommendations from the Gallup report and explore how Belbin Team Roles can be deployed to engage your team or workforce.

What is employee engagement and how engaged are we?

Gallup used a survey to measure employee engagement – the extent to which employees are emotionally invested in their work and focused on contributng to their organisaton every day.

Their findings were concerning: only 13% of employees worldwide were found to be engaged at work.

From:

State of the Global Workplace: Employee Engagement Insights for Business Leaders Worldwide (Gallup, Inc. 2013)

13% Engaged: Employees work with passion and feel a profound connection to their company. They drive innovation and move the organisation forward.

63% Not Engaged: Employees are essentially “checked out”. They’re sleepwalking through their workday, putting in time – but not energy and passion – into their work.

24% Actively Disengaged: Employees aren’t just unhappy at work; they’re busy acting out their unhappiness. Every day, these workers undermine what their engaged co- workers accomplish.

The business case for employee engagement

Employee engagement has been shown to link directly with wellbeing and physical health, but it isn’t just about creating a positive working environment for employees. It also has a significant impact on the bottom line. The Gallup survey measured performance outcomes affected by employee engagement, which included:

Customer ratings

Profitability

Productivity

Turnover

Earnings per share (EPS)

Shrinkage

Absenteeism

Quality

Safety incidents

“Leaders often say that their organization’s greatest asset is its people – but in reality, this is only true when those employees are fully engaged in their jobs. Engaged workers stand apart from their not engaged and actively disengaged counterparts because of the discretionary effort they consistently bring to their roles day after day.”

Gallup, Inc.

Play to your strengths

Everyone has strengths: talents, knowledge and skills which can be used to advantage at work. Gallup’s research shows that: "People who use their strengths are 6 times more likely to be engaged on the job."

However, many organisations ignore strengths and focus instead on competencies.

Competencies are designed to ensure that everyone achieves certain target standards in pre-defined areas. As a result, individuals expend time and energy (which could be focused on their talents) trying to fix areas of weakness, and strengths are reduced to mediocrity.

As a result of their findings, Gallup Inc. identified six steps that organisations could take to improve employee engagement levels. Let’s look at how we can apply Belbin Team Roles to each one in turn.

1) Help individuals discover their strengths

The Team Role Overview report page from a Belbin profile gives an “at a glance” view of an individual’s Team Role scores. In this case, the top three Team Roles are distinct from the other six, indicating that the individual has a propensity for (and might usefully spend time playing and developing) these three roles.

In some cases, people may be unaware of their strengths or may take them for granted, assuming that everyone else must also possess the skill or attribute which comes naturally to them. In this case, Observer feedback (from colleagues and others who have worked closely with someone for some time) can draw out contributions which that person may have missed and can produce a fuller report.

“People don’t change that much. Don’t waste time trying to put in what was left out. Try to draw out what was left in. That’s hard enough.”

Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, First Break All the Rules: What The Worlds’ Greatest Managers Do Differently

2) Ensure that job roles and strengths are aligned

For engagement to work, people need to be positioned so that they can use their strengths each day – and this doesn’t just mean qualifications. Gallup discovered that, in the developed world, education does not necessarily trend upwards with engagement, meaning that matching CVs and job descriptions is not necessarily a recipe for success.

Rather than identifying a particular job title or department, this allows people to use Team Role language to demonstrate how they work best and what they can bring to a team or project. If an individual feels that he or she doesn’t have enough opportunity to exercise a particular working style, then perhaps the parameters of the job could be changed to engage the individual more fully?

The Belbin Feedback and Development report offers advice on the kind of working environment which might be suitable, so that you can ensure that you are giving team members the best atmosphere in which to engage with their work.

For example, A Resource Investigator-Shaper might enjoy a lively, fast-paced environment, whereas a Monitor Evaluator-Completer Finisher works best given time and space to make decisions and get things right.

3) Recognise and use others’ strengths to best advantage.

Once individuals understand their own contributions, it is important that they recognise one another’s strengths and understand how colleagues’ talents complement their own.

The Team/Group reports provide useful information to help people do just this. The Team Role Circle in these reports shows the initials for each team member in the segments of the circle which correspond to their top two Team Roles. The Team Contributions page makes a suggestion as to who should play each Team Role.

Once team members know how others can contribute, they are more likely to call on one another to play to their strengths, meaning that people do not waste time and effort trying to compensate for their weakest roles.

Individuals may be drawn to work with others who share their top Team Roles, finding the commonality of approach reassuring and easy to comprehend. Although working in complementary Team Role pairings might require more effort, it is a better strategy in the long run, because strengths are not duplicated (meaning that people are not vying to play the same role) and each person can compensate for the weaknesses of the other.

Complementary relationships can also be engaging, so long as the difference is valued and codified appropriately. The Belbin report text identifies where the pressure points in the relationship might be and how these might be mitigated.

According to Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman in their book, First Break All the Rules: What The World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently, “people don’t leave jobs, they leave managers”.

Gallup reiterate these findings, confirming that good management is key to engagement.

If the relationship between manager and employee is strained, the Working Relationship report can provide a starting- point for discussions.

4/ Help teams to understand and consider strengths when assigning team projects

As individuals and teams become more familiar with the language of Team Roles, it can be used to assign people to project teams, as well as diagnosing and remedying existing problems.

Each team and project is different, so the team must decide which behaviours are needed and who is best placed to fulfil the corresponding Team Role contribution. A Belbin Team Report identifies the roles which might be required for each stage.

As well as recognising talents and enabling individuals to play to their strengths, this approach also promotes engagement by removing individuals from a project stage in which their behavioural propensities might be unhelpful and cause others to disengage.

For example, a Monitor Evaluator present at the “Ideas” stage may frustrate Plants and dampen the enthusiasm of Resource Investigators by dismissing ideas too harshly. He or she is also likely to become uneasy at the prospect of so many ideas flying haphazardly around. A Resource Investigator misplaced in the “Follow through” phase may lose interest and fail to follow up adequately, leaving Implementer and Completer Finisher colleagues to pick up the pieces.

5 / Incorporate strengths into performance reviews and goals

According to Gallup, performance reviews have a significant effect on engagement.

Performance reviews which focused on employee strengths produced a 36% performance improvement, whereas reviews which focused on employee weaknesses resulted in a 27% decrease in performance.

“Trying to get employees to fix their weaknesses doesn’t work. Weaknesses can’t be developed much at all – but employees’ strengths can be developed infinitely.”

Gallup, Inc.

For some, their perception of their own contributions will be in alignment with the views of their colleagues. For others, there will be discrepancies between the two. We will consider how to use the reports in either case.

If individual and observer views are in agreement... strengths should be celebrated. The Maximizing your Potential report from a Belbin profile lists Strengths derived from different Team Role combinations, giving a rounded picture of the individual’s valued behavioural assets. The Possible Weaknesses section addresses behavioural traits which are the flipsides of the Team Role strengths that the individual exhibits. These are flagged so that, where appropriate, the individual can develop strategies to work with others in these areas, rather than as recommendations for development.

Additionally, the Team Role Feedback report focuses on the individual’s top two Team Roles (or the top role, if considerably higher than the second) and gives a person specific advice on how to cultivate a second or third Team Role to add another string to his or her bow. To translate this into real terms, the section of the Feedback and Development report from a profile indicates work to which the individual might or might not be suited.

If individual and observer views differ... it may be more prudent to spend time looking at information derived solely from individual’s self-perception, so that the individual is not put off by the Belbin process. In addition to the Understanding your Contribution section shown opposite, the report page entitled Your Team Role Preferences plots percentile scores for each Team Role, categorising them as Preferred, Manageable and Least Preferred Roles.

“If you think a weakness can be turned into a strength, I hate to tell you this, but that's another weakness.”

Jack Handy, American writer and comedian

6 / Foster a culture which promotes strengths

In order to ensure lasting employee engagement, it is important to build a culture of strengths, which capitalises on the talents of each team member. Team Roles can provide a language to describe different kinds of work and to find the appropriate person to perform it.

By using Belbin champions to make the Team Role lexicon integral to the working environment, you can ensure that all contributions are valued and represented where necessary. Not only will this enhance employee engagement, but it will also help to avoid the development of certain Team Role cultures, where one contribution is valued above others.

In conclusion...

Belbin Team Roles are all about promoting, and playing to our strengths.

Using Team Roles, we can identify positive contributions and provide strategies to minimise the impact of associated weaknesses.

We can better understand the strengths of those around us and manage relationships which might otherwise cause frustration.

The result? A workforce of individuals more engaged with their work.

Originally published in the Belbin “How To” Guide “Use Belbin For Engagement” available from our Belbin website as a Free Download / Resource

Experienced Belbin users and experts in sales training “Organised Solutions” use Belbin to achieve great results with sales teams. Here John Butel of Organised Solutions tells us how they do it.

Learning to understand the way we work is the catch cry of today’s personal development. One of the best and easiest tools to use to do this is Belbin Team Roles.

We have been using BELBIN to improve sales people’s ability to engage, negotiate and close customer business, and it is producing tangible results.

Organised Solutions, use a TRAIN-COACH methodology, and run a BELBIN based sales training program called “Sales Psychology – reading your customers’ mind”.

Using BELBIN Team Role profiles, sales people learn the 9 different Belbin team role types, their characteristics, similarities and differences. Once established, sales people map their Work Styles, to define how they typically sell.

In many cases this works well, usually with their existing customers. The program then uses the Observer Words to refine their abilities, balancing their selling approach to improve their business conversion.

But the big improvement comes when they realise their last 4 BELBIN role types is their Selling Achilles Heel!

Using real situational cases, each sales person explores an analysis of their “difficult” customer behaviour traits based on their knowledge of the Belbin 9 Team Role types.

The objective is to select which 2 of their bottom 4 role types represents the customer behaviour. Sales people use these selected roles types and analyse using Belbin Sales Psychology charts to formalise their next sales strategy approach.

This helps build a process of empathising how they need to change their sales approach to “connect” with this new and often unfamiliar BELBIN Work Style.

In a recent example one of the sales people had been struggling to close a new customer for 2 months. They’d completed all the standard opportunity checks and balances. “Need, Budget, Decisions Makers, Timeframe & Outcome”.

Everything checks out! During the live Situational Session, they analysed which team roles this client was exhibiting and build a Belbin Map of way they prefer to BUY.

This gave the sales person a new sales strategy to close the customer. Within 24 hours they had the order and the customer was on board.

Since that time, with Organised Solutions Belbin-based sales coaching, this sales person has gone from strength to strength, improving they forecasting consistency, closing sales easier and hitting their sales targets.

In another example a new sales person, who had come from different industry customer service background, started to question whether they had the skills and capabilities to be a sales person.

When their Belbin Profile was examined and compared to typical sales team members, theirs clearly showed more customer service and attention to detail skills versus the typical BDM sales skills. Rather than expect a complete change of Belbin styles, during the a post training coaching a new selling strategy was devised to leverage their existing style (TW-IMP-CF-RI) to reframe how they sold.

The results within 1 month were obvious. Using their ability to connect with people, they easily gained appointments (TW-RI). By asking process oriented and detailed questions about how things were done , they quickly mapped out a process improvement and was easily able to document the details helping to define how the customer could move from “current Status” to a better outcome (IMP-CF).

Using their different Work Style combination, they were able to sell larger contracts than most, with long term annuity revenues giving her immediate sales results.

The result was by leveraging their existing BELBIN Team Roles to their advantage they become more successful than the typical sales person’s Belbin profile.

Belbin helps sales people turn selling UpsideDown.

Organised Solutions also delivers a more advanced Negotiation Psychology for larger, financially complex sales environments.

For more information on how John and Organised Solutions use Belbin in their work visit their site www.organisedsolutions.com

We recently had lot of fun taking to the water with some teams from Lend Lease.

Two quite different maritime examples of teamwork were used to illustrate the value of communication, coordination and competitive teamwork.

After a thorough safety briefing and a workshop on proper tactics and technique, teams rotated through Dragon Boat practice and then some exciting race heats.

After much yelling and barracking for the various teams, we then issued our famous Kon Tiki boat building challengethat required differently composed teams to build and race their own vessels.

Both team building formats helped to make the points required in a very fun and memorable way on a beautiful autumn day at Urunga near Coffs Harbour.

We encourage our clients to move away from clichéd conference and team building prizes towards charity / CSR gifts that will continue to do good long after the event has come to a close.

A great example of some prizes with genuine dignity and impact are the ‘Smiles’ gifts from World Vision.

Teams can win donations of Chickens and Eggs, Goats, Donkeys, Education Packs, Vaccinations, Water Wells and much more for needy kids and villages world-wide.

Medals, trophies, champagne and sunglasses might give folks a quick buzz, but for clients seeking deeper meaning and impact from their events why not enjoy offering more than just a short-term feel good?

These prizes will help to leave a truly lasting legacy from your conference team building event.

Ask us about how tolink your next team-building event to some lasting and worthwhile outcomes.

In the words of Oprah Winfrey - "Follow your instincts – it’s where true wisdom manifests itself". Trust your instincts – intuition doesn’t lie! But the fact is that intuition does lie, and it can get you into trouble, and science can prove it.

There are only two possible outcomes that come from trusting your instincts – either they are right or they are wrong. Because of this at best, trusting your instincts has a 50 / 50 chance of being the right decision. The fact is anyone who thinks that intuition is a substitute for reason is indulging in a risky delusion

There is no doubt that the mind is a marvellous processor of information. Without its continual stream of calculations and analysis we would not be able to function. But it is just as true that it is an imperfect processor prone to errors and biases.

In fact there are three very good reasons that we shouldn’t trust our intuition or go with our gut without further analysis. Firstly our gut can say contradictory things. Secondly good judgement comes from mistakes which ironically come from bad judgement and finally and possibly most importantly, our instincts are subject to something neuroscience calls ‘cognitive bias’!

Listening to our gut can get confusing as often our instincts can give opposite meanings. The fact is we often feel fear just before we do something that we really want to do. There are many stories of a bride getting cold feet just before going down the aisle, yet going on to have a long and happy marriage. We can also feel great attraction to things that are bad for us – for example the many chocolate eggs at easter. The reason for this conflicting message is that our body has trouble distinguishing between fear and excitement. It is then up to the brain to determine what our instincts are trying to tell us, and as mentioned earlier, our brain can easily make mistakes! As speaker Scott Berken states – “To be able to say “I’ve sorted through my instincts and here’s what I’ve decided” is a far better path towards good decisions.”

And sometimes we do make good ‘gut’ decisions. However many of those good decisions have resulted from learning from our past mistakes – our prior bad decisions! We learn from our mistakes, which helps our future selves make better decisions. If as a child we put our hand on a hot stove, our instincts in the future will be to not touch hot stoves. This can be extrapolated to more complex decisions – but the process is the same. Without making poor decisions, we can learn to make good ones.

But the greatest impairment of all to trusting our instincts is the fact that humans are all subject to cognitive bias.

Cognitive biases operate in all of our decision-making proceses from life and death disasters to mundane day-to-day reasoning and decision-making.

So what is cognitive bias? It is an error in thinking or judgment, where inferences about a situation may be drawn in an illogical fashion. Individuals create their own "subjective reality" from their perceptions. Neuroscientists tell us that Cognitive Bias originates in the primitive and emotional part of our brain known as the “Limbic System”.

Our Limbic System can be seen as a bit of “Frenemy”. For those of us that are not teenage girls or don’t live with one, a Frenemy is somebody, or in this case a ‘something’, that we can rely upon as a “Friend” in some situations, but is an “Enemy” to us in others. A “fairweather friend”.

The Limbic system of our brain wires itself from birth to chemically reward or punish us for our responses to certain external stimulus, mainly perceived threats that demand quick and proven reactions that need to be faster than more deliberate thinking would allow.

It’s from this part of the brain that we get our instinctive “fight, flight or freeze” responses. Before you have time to think “oh that’s a big Brown Snake I’m about to step on” the Limbic System has processed the potential threat, bypassed the rational brain and given you the immediate response for “snake” - whether that be flight, fight or freeze (personally I am a big fan of flight!)

All very fast and potentially life saving stuff, but it can also be an absolute disaster when that same Limbic System gets triggered and involved in what should be more “rational” responses and decisions to solve complex problems.

The Limbic System cannot discriminate between the snake and other ‘threatening’ situations such as someone aggravating us on the football field, being too information and task overloaded or being tired and emotional when under pressure.

That fast and intuitive part of the brain that is designed to save our life in some situations, and mostly does a great job, can also take short cuts under certain circumstances and taint complex problem solving with responses that are too emotional and simplistic.

And that is “cognitive bias”. Emotional and ill-thought out biases that can override the rational brain, and cause us to ignore important facts, and in the heat of the moment favour, our ingrained biases no matter how obvious it might seem later - to have been a really stupid thing to do.

This all happens sub consciously, and so fast, that it takes a lot to beat it. It is our gut reaction in play!

Humans will always react more emotionally - want to follow their instincts - when under pressure, it’s the speed with which individuals and teams can catch themselves doing it that matters.

Neuroscientists liken intuition it to a Mahut Riding an Elephant, or a Jockey Riding a Horse. The rider might be smarter and more rationale, but if the stronger and more intuitive beast - that is intuition - takes control in the heat of the moment, it can be hard to get it back under control.

So next time you are passing that roulette table and have an urge to put $100 dollars on 34 – remember; Stop - consider your emotions, learn from your mistakes and take the time to analyse all the information you have at hand.

You might just save yourself $100!

Consider for a moment some diverse characters - Katniss Everdeen, Luke Skywalker, Tripitaka and Galahad from the King Arthur legends.

What do these seemingly unrelated characters have in common?

They were all unlikely heroes.

The word hero is thrown around a lot! We tend to overuse the word "hero" so much lately that it seems to have lost some its meaning. In fact, it seems that these days we can become “heroes” – simply by being in a particular job!

Celebrities, police, fire fighters, and even elite sportsmen and women are often considered to be heroes just because of their trade and with no particular regard for what they might have actually done that’s truly courageous!

I want to be very clear here – sometimes these people are of course genuine heroes. The police officer who risks his or her life to save others or the fireman who enters a burning house to rescue someone, are all genuine heroes. But not just because of the trade they chose – not just because they turn up to work.

Of course, danger and sacrifice have something to do with why we brand people heroes, but is that really all it means to be a hero? What is a hero and why do we seek to label so many people as heroes?

Likewise in business teams the term hero is used with regularity on team building days, at sales meetings and when CEO’s are credited with achieving record profits.

It seems that we have a psychological need to have heroes in our lives and more importantly a need to strive to become heroes ourselves. I am not suggesting that each of us wants to storm an enemy position, or rush into a burning building to save a life. But rather that we want to believe that there is greatness amongst the ordinary. That should we have challenges thrust upon us, that we will rise to the occasion.

Human history is filled with accounts of ordinary characters doing extraordinary things. For thousands of years, the stories of the unlikely hero have inspired us. From tales of the Knights of the Round table, to the Journey to the west undertaken by Tripitaka and Monkey and lately in the billion dollar franchises like The Hunger Games or Star Wars - the story of the unlikely hero inspires us to be the best that we can be, to play to our strengths and overcome our weaknesses.

American scholar, Joseph Campbell in his book “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” determined that the great and unlikely heroes all undertake a common path known as “The hero’s journey”.

The hero’s journey appears in myth, religious ritual and even psychological development. It describes the typical adventure of the Hero, the person who goes out and achieves great deeds on behalf of their group, tribe, team or civilization.

In his hypothesis, the Hero with 1000 Faces speaks of the same common hero traits that inwardly drive all humans, yet are represented by 1000 different masks of geographically separate cultural myths.

According to Campbell, the hero is often an ordinary person with an ordinary life, a life that most people can identify with. Following some great call to adventure or catastrophe, the hero must face the beginnings of change. They fear the unknown and try to turn away from the challenge.

Now some of us have been there! Our ordinary life is going along nicely and then wham! It all changes in a heartbeat. We have to step up! To take on the challenge, despite our natural urge to ignore it all and keep going as we were.

Campbell goes on to explain that the hero overcomes their fear when they come across a mentor who gives them advice that will help the hero to develop their own courage and wisdom, as Obi Wan Kanobi for Luke Sykwalker.

For most of us this will be someone who we respect who helps provide us with the tools and strength to take on the challenge that has been set for us. This person often helps us to identify and leverage our natural strengths, and overcome any weaknesses.

Often in mythology and most good story telling the hero leads a team of people who have skill sets that they do not possess themselves, who overcome the task together. The Round Table Knights, Katniss and her allies, The Guardians of The Galaxy and so on.

Now equipped for the ordeal, the hero must face their greatest fear. The confrontation allows the hero to prove themselves and from that confrontation comes great reward. After a final and greater sacrifice that resolves their own fears, the hero is transformed and their tribe or society with them.

For Luke Skywalker it was not only about beating the Empire, but facing his own fears, reconnecting with his father Darth Vader, and saving both his father’s soul and their galaxy. For Sir Percival of the Arthur legends it was finding the Holy Grail, and for King Monkey of Chinese Buddhist legends, fighting demons to find enlightenment.

For us mere mortals it may be a far more ordinary challenge, but the outcomes are just as great. Sometimes the challenge is anything but ordinary.

Recently a group of 4 Australian children received a bravery award for saving their mother from her violent partner. The 15 and 17 year old boys wrestled a gun from the attacker, their 12 year old sister hid their distraught mother under the bed and the youngest, who was only 4 at the time took the baby from the house to their neighbours.

Ordinary children faced with adversity, a challenge they would never have wished for, rose to the challenge became the unlikely heroes and bay any measure, true heroes. This inspires others to speak up about and stand up to domestic violence.

So is the well-paid footballer who scores against a better team a real hero? Or the celebrity overtly juggling their busy schedule and recent parenthood?

No, I don’t think so.

True heroes, are the unlikely heroes. Heroes are ordinary people who have done extraordinary things, even if they didn’t want to.

People need to credit themselves for the many acts of heroism that often lay within the way that they deal with others, or choose the hard right decisions over the easy wrong ones. Play to your strengths, manage your weaknesses and be ready to work with others to get the jobs done.

The hero is you.

GetSet is the latest version of Belbin’s renowned behavioural profiles and reports that have tailored especially for high school, university and vocational training students.

This enables those about to enter the workforce or higher education to obtain the tremendous insight that a Belbin profile can give, with all of the norming and personalised scripting having been tailored and formatted for young people.

These profiles deliver a number of great outcomes for students including:

- Self awareness and personal development- Learning how to work with and understand others- Enhance their leadership skills and behaviours- Better adapt their own learning and problem solving styles- Adapt their behaviour optimally to suit their strengths and better manage their weaknesses in workplace teams- Plan for their career path

The GetSet profiles are also ideal for student team building programmes where we are integrating the profiles with presentations, workshops and tailored experiential / action-learning content.

Visit our new GetSet site to see the latest version of the reportsand more about this exciting new format from Belbin tailored for 16 – 21 year olds.

The State of Queensland was recently impacted by Tropical Cyclone Debbie and also by its drenching aftermath. In the midst of this meteorological chaos it was uncertain if a leadership meeting for Diona would proceed.

With some folks having already arrived, and some still en-route, the intrepid team decided they’d press on, and so did we. With the people there, and the venue in support, why not? Team Building in the midst of challenge is what it's all about.

Whilst the Sunshine Coast was impacted by the rain as opposed to the full fury of cyclonic winds, the power was out and the venue operating with great effort and initiative to look after its guests. Hats off to the great staff of the RACV Noosa.

The team did a great job of the Kon Tiki boat building challenge (rather appropriate for a time of floods) and then the sophisticated indoor business game ‘Battlespace’.

It was great to be able to fulfill this programme for a great team, and also to keep in mind how lucky we were to not be hit as hard as the poor souls further up North who may take months and years to recover.

In a nutshell, people skills.

Why?

Because there are indications that we are entering an age that’s better suited to ‘neo-generalists’, and where adaptive balanced teams will be essential to leverage innovation and manage disruption.

Technology is now evolving on an exponential scale, threatening to leave many of us behind. But we, as humans, still have some useful cards up our sleeve.

Our human ability to interact with one another to create, reason, use judgment and make decisions still exceeds that of machines (for the foreseeable future, as the Skynet of Terminator fame isn’t quite self-aware as of yet).

Our ability to acquire and maintain hard skills and knowledge that can match the pace of emerging technology is getting harder.

Gone are the days of functioning ‘Da Vinci’ style polymaths who could deploy their genius to master multiple fields of endeavor to high standard.

Even Stephen Hawking has warned of AI’s coming ability to replace many office functions currently performed by humans. Automation has already disrupted manufacturing and artificial intelligence looks certain to do the same to many forms of office work.

Investment in AI and the development of AI capability are now on the increase, which means that some bigger shocks and scares loom for many established industries.

Risk and complexity will become increasingly common factors as the pace of change of this disruption accelerates. Innovation in and of itself will no longer be an assurance of survival in a crowd of other organisations trying to innovate to survive.

We will need to build truly ‘future-proof’ teams that can adapt and survive the coming era of AI and remain in the drivers seat.

A concept of the coming era has been very well illustrated by CTO Autodesk’s Jeff Kowlalski, and looks at the trends for human talent that have been needed to survive across the timeline of human working eras.

It considers talent needed from the Hunter-Gatherer era, via Agricultural, Industrial and the current Information age to the coming ‘Augmented era’ where technology (and the human interfaces with that technology) evolve incredibly quickly.

In short, we have transitioned in terms of the skills required from starting off as Hunter-Gatherer generalists needing simple physical strength and speed, to becoming increasingly specialists and hyper-specialists needing to develop specific knowledge and skill to thrive in the current information age.

It seems now, that as the new era dawns, we may need to revert to being what has been dubbed ‘neo-generalists’, who are able to adapt at work to increasingly disrupted and complex environments.

Specialists will still feature within these teams, but increasingly it will be harder to keep up with AI in terms of the exponential growth of new technology.

Organisations that can harness and target well-balanced teams to embrace disruptive change will have a competitive edge, and endure. Those that can’t will be in some serious trouble.

Our human ability to problem find, problem frame and then problem solve in teams will hold great value for the foreseeable future.

Organisations will need to Observe, Orient, Decide and Act rapidly to leverage technology as it evolves before their competitors do (one for the fans of Boyd’s O.O.D.A loop there).

Effective balanced teams can adapt far more quickly to emerging situations than poorly composed teams.

The consequences of failing to adapt will become more immediate in markets than ever before, as innovation alone won’t be enough to keep pace.

Meredith Belbin, the Father of modern Team Role theory and creator of the famous Belbin Model, asserts that as complexity and risk increase, individuals and groups lack the agility, versatility and balanced diversity to adapt.

In challenging times, as he put it so very well – “Nobody is perfect, but a team can be”. Good teams can better manage the impacts of risk and complexity.

He represents the real need for balanced teams in a world of increasing complexity and risk in this graphic:

As Google recently discovered with their ‘Project Aristotle’, which sought to define what made their most successful teams tick, the very human drivers of ‘psychological safety’ and interpersonal understanding help to drive success, no matter how cool the technology.

Even with the very best technology, the ‘people bit’ is still critical.

Where the behavioural skills for authentic leadership, conversational turn taking and psychological safety were present, collective intelligence went up. When it was not, irrespective of the IQ and cutting-edge hardware and software at hand, collective intelligence went down.

For us, the Belbin Team Role model has always afforded elegant and sophisticated simplicity for better developing our people skills. The evidence based profiles and language provided to explore team strengths and weaknesses enables teams to develop faster, and operate at a higher tempo.

It also enables leaders to better understand themselves, their teams and how external risk and complexity will impact the dynamics of the team.

Understanding the behaviours that enable us to collectively adapt, create and innovate together are needed more than ever.

Belbin is ideal ‘human technology’ for the 21st Century where people skills will increasingly start to stand out as the future-proof skills of the coming age.

How often does your team work on developing these skills?