crictical incident assignment

Section 2 - Critical Incidences

Q2. Template One: Incident from Residential weekend

My chosen toolkit is: Belbin

My results for this toolkit are: Resource Investigator

Summary of critical incident

During the residential weekend, I took on the leader role in a group task in which we had to adopt a

communication system and complete a team objective from individual components (task ‘Gridlock’).

Feedback was mainly positive from the group stating that I was reliable, enthusiastic, good at problem solving

and that I tried to make sure everyone understood the task. However, Team member’s X feedback although

positive suggested that at times I would become frustrated if there was confusion with some members of the

group. They felt that as a team leader I did not accommodate for all team members and when there was

confusion within the group I overlooked them and tried to move on due to believing everyone should

understand the task as we had already gone over it. This resulted in team members taking a back foot and not

contributing fully to the task at hand. Having been a manager in several roles previously this came as a shock

as I have never been aware that I could overlook certain members of a group in order to complete the task at

hand.

How does your thinking and behaviour in this critical incident reflect the findings of your chosen self-

analysis toolkit?

Before attending the residential weekend, I completed the Belbin Self-Perception Inventory. This toolkit

helps measure the preferred behaviour when working within a team. My most favoured role result was that of

Resource Investigator. Whereby it has positives that could relate to being a leader such as being

‘enthusiastic’, ‘communicative’ and having an ‘aptitude for proficient analytical thinking’. Belbin suggests

that I would ‘not appear to fit comfortably into a supportive role’ and that I need to give ‘special attention to

helping others to enable the team to run smoothly’. This framework compliments the feedback I received

from team member X, as although initially I took on the role of an adviser making sure everyone knew what

they were doing, when there were confusions I was not ‘interested in spending time using expertise to help

others’. Although being a resource investigator has its strengths, going forward I need to acknowledge the

weaker traits that this may bring, in order to have the ability to overcome these when appropriate. Moreover,

this critical incident represents the ‘known to others’ but ‘not known to self’ in the Johari Window. This

could result in my blind spot being larger than my arena. In order to achieve an ‘ideal window’ I should look

at seeking more feedback when working in a group, as this critical incident came as a shock and has me

wondering what else I am unaware of.

Identify how you will use this learning in the future.

This critical incident helped to display a weakness that may cause a problem for me as a future manager. That

is when managing a group, I can overlook certain members due to not being supportive enough as well as not

wanting to spend time using my knowledge to help others. Being a future manager this could result in

employee disengagement and overall demoralization within the workplace (Swindall, 2007). From this

incident, it has been highlighted that I need to take extra care when someone needs help, instead of being so

driven with the task at hand that I ignore and overlook them. I need to include them within the team helping

them to feel motivated and increasing their sense of belonging (Maslow, 1987).