#beblin

While the Isabel Briggs Myers evaluation can be applied to various areas of life ranging anywhere from interviews to social interaction, the Belbin test intends to more specifically tackle the issue of team building. The test has determined me as a Ressource Investigator and Team-Player. While that means I work well with others and communicate my ideas well these traits also come with in-decisiveness and perhaps the inability to fully commit to an idea (Belbin). In the aforementioned class exercise, for example, I communicated a new idea to the group that consisted in attaching a parachute to the cylinder we built in the end. However, this occurred when we were already committed to the initial idea. Looking back, following through with that idea would have probably resulted in us not finishing the paper cylinder in time. 

Written by Laurent Mass.

References

Belbin.com. (n.d.). Belbin | Great teams start with Belbin. [online] Available at: http://www.belbin.com/about/belbin-team-roles/ [Accessed 20 Jan. 2018].

Briggs Myers, I. (n.d.). The 16 MBTI® Types(Excerpted from Introduction to Type by Isabel Briggs Myers). [online] Myersbriggs.org. Available at: http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/the-16-mbti-types.htm [Accessed 19 Jan. 2018].

Reflecting on the experiment with the egg, I can see that I was confident in voicing out my ideas and solutions. I constantly made sure everyone had a say in the group, asking the reserved members if they had any suggestions so they felt included. I was patient, and supported language barriers. I encouraged everyone to speak their mind, even if it was difficult or they felt too shy to do so. During the planning stage, I made sure that we kept in mind what needed to be done. I reminded the group that we needed to find a solution to deliver the egg safely onto the ground. Before we executed our plan, I delegates roles so everyone knew what they had to do during the ten minutes. It shows that I like to be organised. I always made sure to listen to suggestions, and was open to new ideas. 

One thing that the test told me to keep in mind was the fact that my team role fails to check details of what might be wrong. This particular aspect becomes clear when I think back to the time of creating the construction for the egg. I did not check whether the tape would remain stuck to the paper, nor did I make sure that everything would work fine. I also did not consider the weight of the egg, a detail that ultimately led to the failure of our experiment.

I also did the Myers-Briggs personality test (Humanmetrics 1998) to reflect on my performance during the egg task. My results were Introversion, INtuition, Feeling and Perceiving. However, all four categories were only a slight preference over the opposite quality, meaning I was only slightly more introverted than extroverted for instance. This rings true as I feel during the experiment I was quite vocal and outgoing, but in normal situations I tend to feel drained after a long period of socialising in a big group. It also said that INFPs have the ability to see good in almost anyone and anything, which I find true about myself. Whenever someone else offered a solution to the egg experiment, I welcomed it and was open to include them in our construction.

Overall, I think that the Belbin test was more helpful in determining how I reflect on my experience with the egg task. It showed me how I work in a team, and how that can be beneficial depending on my group members. It also offered criticism and faults, allowing me to pay attention and learn from them. The Myers-Briggs personality test only revealed qualities about myself, but the results did not provide any helpful information on my role in a team.

Written by Chee Yen Wang.

References:

Belbin Associates (2018) Belbin. Available at: http://www.belbin.com (Accessed: 17 January 2018).