We have all experienced the presence of some individuals in a team who are dominating, opinionated, have continuous personality clashes with others or cannot be bothered to participate at all.  Not only that their unproductive attitude can be contagious, they can be a source of irritation to others. Allocating individuals to roles suited to their abilities and personalities can prevent such problems within the team.

It is educational and productive to systematically look at different types of personalities in the team and see how they can be used in different roles to balance and increase team’s efficiency.  

Another interesting concept to bear in mind is how teams develop their own ‘personality’. This personality is shaped by their members over time as new processes, guidelines and cultural tendencies are set in place. What makes it more fascinating is that a team can go on to survive and evolve even after old members leave and new members join in.

The following section of the course explores the possible types of roles that are present in any given team.