I’m back from summer vacation, as are many friends, partners and clients. How was yours? Did you relax, or was achievement at the center of your holiday? Some people select their vacation spots so they can’t DO anything, just hang out. Others like to make sure they get the most bang for the vacation budget buck: they visit all the points of interest on the brochures, have a minute-to-minute program for every day, that sort of thing. Well, whatever it takes to charge your batteries, great! I do hope that you got to “be off the clock” though, so you felt refreshed upon returning to work.

My friend Eric told me a cute story about his boss Jim. Jim had been told that he’d better not drive his people and himself too hard, or they will all get burned out. After some time, Eric received a phone call from Jim who said “Guess what? I took the advice and I’m on vacation! I’m floating on a rubber mattress in the middle of a beautiful lake, the sun is shining …” Eric laughed and told me “he thought he was doing great, but not only was he out there with his cell phone, but a while later ANOTHER cell phone rang, and he ‘had to take the call’”… So much for work/life balance! What an image: a guy floating on a rubber mattress on a lake, with a phone on each ear…was he wearing shoes and a suit, too!?

On my vacations, I mix the relaxing and achieving … That approach is probably explained by my top Belbin Team Roles: Teamworker, Completer Finisher, Implementer….“Wanna hang out with people, but gotta get stuff done too!” It has been very liberating for me to understand my roles and how they explain why I am the way I am.

So needless to say, I was more than excited to spend part of my vacation in July at Cambridge University, participating in the Belbin conference. I attended presentations and workshops, and it was very exciting to learn how the Belbin Team Role Theory is used globally. Dr. Meredith Belbin said that understanding the team roles helps us “recognize the profundity of individual differences”…When people use their strengths and help others apply theirs, a workforce becomes more than the sum of its parts. Utilizing the Belbin Team Roles is a way to make individuals and businesses “world class”, to operate above the 96% level, and to beat the competition.

So that’s what I am back at work to do, with a charged battery and sharpened Belbin tools.

-Annina

P.S. Here I am with Dr. Belbin, who enjoys growth of both flowers and people’s minds.