Case Study: Increasing behavioural diversity in an international NGO

‘My rich experience with Belbin’: A top international NGO uses Belbin to enhance self-understanding and explore behavioural diversity in teams

GAME

• Employees: 130
• Non-governmental sports organisation
• Location: HQ Denmark, operating in Africa, Europe and the Middle East

Introduction

GAME is a top 120 international NGO working for social change through youth-led street sports and culture. GAME creates new facilities, educates youth leaders to serve as instructors and role models in street sports and civil society, and provides entrepreneurial education to empower them to make positive change.

Challenge

GAME Lebanon originated in 2007 and organises training and competitions in street basketball, street soccer and street dance for children across disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Lebanon.

Teams within the NGO wanted to explore how to work and collaborate more effectively.

Solution

Individuals underwent a one-to-one session with an internal Belbin facilitator who explained the results and helped individuals understand how to frame their contribution positively.

The facilitator then led a team session to offer group feedback, highlight strengths in team culture and explore ways to cover Team Role gaps within the team.

Tools used

A selection of Belbin reports were used, along with 1:1 feedback and a Belbin team workshop.

• Belbin Individual report (including Observer Assessment)
• Belbin Team report

Process

Individuals completed the Self-Perception Inventory (SPI) and requested Observer Assessments (OA) from colleagues within their teams. Internal Belbin facilitators conducted one-on-one feedback sessions to help individuals understand their Belbin Individual report and their Team Role contributions in greater depth.

Team Session

A team session was led by the facilitator to offer group feedback, describe the team’s strengths and culture and to explore the importance of Belbin and behavioural diversity in improving effectiveness and overall performance.

Following an introduction to Belbin, the team took turns to sit on a chair within a circle. Other team members were asked to guess two strengths and one weakness for each participant. One participant describes the process and ‘exciting and engaging’, since they were communicating openly and were encouraged to maintain eye contact. The facilitator maintained an environment of tolerance, listening and understanding throughout.

Feedback

One participant describes the process of completing the SPI as 'effortless' and says she 'was eagerly waiting for the results'.

The individual in question received in-depth feedback on how to promote her Resource Investigator behaviours (which observers had noted) and Plant behaviours (which, she felt, were more evident in her written, than spoken, communication and therefore were not as apparent to the team).

The team noted that Co-ordinator strengths were missing in their team and were able to identify two people who might be able to step in and take on this role when required, for the benefit of the team.