Belbin’s team roles in relation to a soup kitchen

by Mabel Chi

Soup Kitchen provides a humanitarian food-aid service to the homeless and hard-core poor irrespective of race or religion.  Soup kitchens can be found in many of the world’s cities. They exist to provide basic meals to those who go hungry, as there are still too many hard-core poor and homeless people in our city who are unable to eat on a daily basis (Prebel Street, n.d.).

Soup kitchens provide an important way to give back to the community by offering a healthy meal to those who are in need. Here at Jesselton College we are also doing our part by working towards the following objectives:

• To distribute basic pre-packaged healthy meals and clean water.
• To raise awareness of the number of hard-core poor in our city.
• To encourage corporate, media and public sponsorship.
• To attract public interest the experience of feeding someone who is hungry is rewarding.
• To let the public know that Jesselton College is part of this community project.

Writer’s most preferred roles:

In order to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of our team, we have decided to discover ourselves through the Belbin Team Roles (Belbin, 2008).  The writer’s most preferred, manageable and least preferred roles in relation to a soup kitchen are described in the following paragraphs.

Writer's most preferred roles:

The writer is a plant as she is creative, free-thinking and imaginative. She would think of ideas to try to raise funds for the soup kitchen through charity events like charity bazaars, charity concerts, charity badminton competitions and marathons. Besides a plant, the writer is an implementer as she will make sure that the events will be carried out smoothly right from the planning stage, to the actual event, and to the end of the event, for example, from when the food is prepared, packed, and distributed to the needy.  Finally, the writer is a completer finisher as she will be anxious as to how the event will turn out. As a result, she tends to do most of the work herself as she does not trust those who were given the job to complete it efficiently.

Writer’s manageable roles:

Being a resource investigator, the writer has the responsibility to look for sponsors and donations for the soup kitchen. It may be challenging but it is not impossible.  As a shaper, the writer has to ensure the group will keep moving forward with the plans, she will have to remind team-mates that the project is for a good cause, in case they start to lose interest in doing the event.  As a team-worker, the writer is cooperative and diplomatic are part and parcel of organizing and carrying out an event, for example, if a team-mate were to arrive late to pack the food, others would have to pack them faster so that the food may be distributed on time.

Writer’s least preferred roles:

The writer does not like to be a coordinator as she is not stern or strict enough but is more of a soft-hearted person. As a result, people usually take advantage of her and not do their work.  The writer is not a specialist as she does not have experience in a soup kitchen as she has never participated in one before. Therefore, she would not be able to supply the team with knowledge such as where the group should hold the soup kitchen and what should be done with difficult people.  Finally, the writer does not want to be a monitor evaluator. Referring to the above statement, obtaining the assistance of someone who is well versed in that field would be a rational choice, but she is unfamiliar in this field.

References

Belbin roles. (2015). Belbin for lecturers. http://www.belbin.com/media/1335/belbin-for-lecturers.pdf.

Preble Street (n.d.). Soup kitchens. https://www.preblestreet.org/what-we-do/food-programs/soup-kitchens/.