In recruitment, many organisations lean heavily on CVs, credentials and past experience.
Anyone who has encountered career guidance software at school or college will know that prescribing careers based on qualifications and hard skills alone frequently produces unpredictable outcomes.
And we can see the results for ourselves...
In 'The State of the Global Workplace', Gallup reports:
But often, job descriptions are drawn up with only qualifications and experience in mind.
The overlooked – and often more critical – factor is behaviour: how a person interacts, contributes to a team, and complements the existing mix.
With the Belbin Team Roles approach, behaviour becomes visible, discussable and measurable.
It allows you to identify how a candidate will likely behave in a team environment, rather than simply what they know or have done.
Looking at behaviours, alongside qualifications and experience, ensures a better fit, higher engagement and better retention. This is "hiring for behaviour".
Once a strong behavioural fit is in place, the next step is ensuring the person has the knowledge, skills and support to do their job well – this is where "train for knowledge" comes in.
Even with the right behaviours, a new team member will struggle without the necessary training, development or organisational support.
So first select someone with the right behavioural fit; then invest in their learning, development and integration to ensure they succeed and stay.
This two-part process helps reduce turnover, boost engagement and produce better performance.
During his extensive research into teams and experience in industry, Dr. Meredith Belbin defined two separate elements in the recruitment and selection process: "eligibility" and "suitability".
Dr Belbin made some predictions about how eligibility and suitability might influence fit within the team and organisation.
He thought that the most qualified individuals, who also had the right behavioural styles for the role, would be the best match.
However, the reality was different.
Those who were neither eligible nor suitable usually recognised it and moved on quickly.
Some candidates had the right qualifications but not the right behaviours. Often defensive or resentful, they struggled to understand why they were leaving a job they were “qualified” for on paper but unsuited to in practice. The recruitment process had overlooked the behavioural side.
Candidates who ticked every box – both qualified and behaviourally aligned – seemed perfect at first. But Dr Belbin found that they rarely stayed long. With little challenge or room to grow, they often viewed the job as a short-term stepping stone.
Those lacking some hard skills but displaying the right behaviours tended to thrive. They embraced the learning curve, developed new skills, and stayed longer because the role offered growth and fulfilment.
Meredith Belbin concluded that eligibility alone not only fails to guarantee success – it can even hinder it. Managers, reluctant to challenge seemingly well-qualified applicants, often let unsuitable hires slip through.
While some roles require specific credentials, we often overvalue hard skills and overlook "semi-eligibles": people who, with training and motivation, could become stronger, longer-lasting contributors.
When individuals play to their Team Role strengths, they gain confidence. Identifying and meeting training needs then helps them build the skills to grow and succeed in the role.
Belbin gives HR teams and hiring managers a shared vocabulary around behavioural strengths and allowable weaknesses. It enables the following:
When someone is behaviourally aligned with the role and team, and when they receive appropriate training and development, they are more likely to feel valued, engaged and effective.
That in turn reduces the risk of early burnout or disengagement, which often leads to attrition.
Belbin reports are designed to facilitate and inform decision-making in recruitment, as part of a rich and full process.
Whilst they do not provide a definitive 'yes' or 'no' (of course, each organisation's recruitment process is far too complex and nuanced for that), they offer an additional source of information, as well as guidance and advice on how to ask the right questions to establish Team Role fit.
Before you can analyse your teams, you need to look at each individual's contribution. So, the first thing you will need to do is to generate a Belbin Individual report for each member of the team.
Find out more
Whether you're forming a new team, introducing new people to an existing team, or trying to resolve issues within a team, a Belbin Team report can help you to manage it.
Discover more
Belbin Team Roles are used to identify behavioural strengths and weaknesses in the workplace. Whether developing people, resolving conflict or fine-tuning high performance...
Read moreComplete the form below to find out how Belbin can help you move towards a more impartial, strengths-based recruitment strategy.
Our thanks to Bob Penney for his contribution to this article.