Anyone who has ever been part of a team or a larger organization knows that good results depend on more than just an individual’s abilities and professional expertise in performing a specific job. Connecting with colleagues, offering mutual support and help, and exchanging and critically evaluating ideas are often more important than the individual contributions of employees.
It is precisely this connection between colleagues that is a key aspect of effective teamwork and therefore one of the key goals of any organization.
Why is it important for HR to understand team roles?
Although many factors influence team effectiveness, one of the most recognized and researched are team roles and their impact on group work.
Each team member can have a dual role: functional and team-based. A functional role refers to an individual’s professional knowledge and experience, while a team role can be defined as a set of behavioral patterns that a person develops within a group and the ways in which the individual uses these patterns in interaction with other team members (Aritzeta et al., 2007).
For HR, this perspective is important for several reasons:
- Team and project group composition: If we build a team based solely on competencies, we may unintentionally create a team with many “implementers” and few “coordinators,” or many “critical evaluators” but few people who foster motivation and good relationships.
- Understanding the “soft” reasons for (in)effectiveness: When conflicts, stagnation, or overload occur, team roles can help reveal whether the issue may be an imbalance in behavioral contributions (e.g., poor work organization, insufficient relationship-building, or too many behaviors that disrupt team dynamics).
- Leadership development: Team roles can help identify which leaders may be (too) operationally involved in day-to-day tasks and therefore insufficiently focused on strategic leadership and people development, as well as which leaders may negatively influence team dynamics from the perspective of their colleagues.
The TRIAD model: A modern framework for understanding team roles
Our classification of team roles is based on the TRIAD model (Tracking Roles In and Across Domains). According to the TRIAD model, team roles are not simply a list of personality types but combinations of three behavioral dimensions (dominance, sociability, task orientation). These dimensions form the basis for behavior in a particular team role.
The model builds on the integration of previous research and a cluster analysis of 154 described team roles (Driskell et al., 2017), which enabled the formation of 13 core roles/clusters. An important difference compared to some earlier models is that these roles are described more directly in terms of their positive or negative contributions to team processes.
These 13 roles were further grouped into four broader categories, each characterized by specific dominant behavioral patterns.
1) Task- and goal-oriented roles
This group includes the roles of Teamwork support, Evaluator, Problem solver, and Task completer. These roles are characterized by a strong orientation toward execution, quality, and achieving results. Individuals in this group help ensure that work progresses, decisions are well considered, problems are resolved efficiently, and tasks are completed on time and according to agreed standards.
2) Interpersonal relationship-oriented roles
This group includes the roles of Social, Coordinator, and Follower. These roles are characterized by a strong focus on interpersonal relationships, group cohesion, and the quality of collaboration. Individuals exhibiting these behaviors contribute to trust, open communication, and a sense of belonging within the team.
3) Leadership roles
This group includes the roles of Team leader and Task motivator. These roles are characterized by high dominance and the ability to channel the team’s energy toward its goals. Individuals displaying these behaviors take responsibility for the direction, pace, and structure of work and have a significant influence on team dynamics.
4) Roles with a higher likelihood of negative impact on team dynamics
This group includes the roles of Power seeker, Critic, Attention seeker, and Negative. These roles are characterized by behavioral patterns that may negatively affect collaboration, trust, and team effectiveness. Although they can have functional elements in certain situations (e.g., critical evaluation), they often create tension or reduce the engagement of other team members.
The connection between team roles and team performance
The research foundation of the model emphasizes that team roles matter because they represent patterns of behavior that are functionally connected to the behaviors of other team members in pursuing a shared goal. Team performance is therefore not just the result of individual competencies, but also of how individuals’ behavioral contributions complement one another.
In practice, the relationship between team roles and performance most often appears at three levels:
- Coordination and speed of execution: When roles that structure work, guide activities, and ensure task completion (e.g., Team leader, Coordinator, Task completer) are weakly represented in a team, duplication of work, unclear responsibilities, and delays become more common.
- Quality of decision-making: Roles such as Evaluator, Critic, and Problem solver contribute to analysis, weighing alternatives, and clarifying disagreements. They help prevent rushed decisions and increase the likelihood of well-considered solutions. At the same time, it is important to distinguish between constructive criticism, which improves decision quality, and destructive opposition, which slows progress without contributing to solutions.
- Team atmosphere: Relationship-oriented roles (e.g., Social) significantly influence psychological safety, a sense of belonging, and mutual support. They help reduce tension, encourage quieter members to participate, and strengthen team cohesion and morale. In high-pressure or stressful environments, these behaviors are often crucial for maintaining long-term motivation within the team.
It is also important to emphasize that team roles are not the only factor influencing effectiveness. Team outcomes also depend on goals, leadership processes, psychological safety, clarity of responsibilities, organizational culture, and other factors.
How can Quantifly help you identify team roles in your organization
The team role an individual assumes within a team is connected to many different factors. Team roles represent a complex combination of cognitive, personality, motivational, experiential, and domain-specific factors.
Quantifly helps you identify team roles and their distribution within your team through high-quality analysis supported by statistical methods.
Within the assessment, each employee evaluates which roles they believe they predominantly take on. At the same time, we also gather information about how colleagues perceive each individual’s roles. This enables us to compare self-perception with peer perception, identify potential discrepancies, and better understand an individual’s actual behavioral impact within the team.
Our analysis also captures other important aspects of organizational dynamics (e.g., social connectedness, team competence, growth potential, etc.). Based on these insights, HR can plan targeted development activities, improve interpersonal understanding, and strengthen alignment of expectations within the team.
Viri:
Aritzeta, A., Swailes, S. in Senior, B. (2007). Belbin’s team role model: Development, validity and applications for team building. Journal of Management Studies, 44 (1), 96–118. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2007.00666.x
Driskell, T., Driskell, J. E., Burke, C. S. in Salas, E. (2017). Team roles: A review and integration. Small Group Research, 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1177/1046496417711529
