1 Introduction

'The crunch question in the long run is not what a prospective employee knows, or what specialist skills are possessed: what matters most, given a fair field of adequately qualified candidates, is how the chosen person is going to behave.'
Meredith Belbin (1995),
Team Roles at Work, Butterworth-Heinemann

People don't all react in the same way to situations, events, places or to one another. That's why an insight into what makes each person special is essential to the team leader, if the team is to be fully effective.

Understanding and satisfying the needs of individuals is only one half of the equation, however. There are also many obligations that arise from team membership. Each person must contribute to the team's efforts in his or her own unique fashion.