Exploration companies very much need multi-talented people as the challenge of making new mineral discoveries is not getting any easier. At the risk of stating the obvious, one key success factor to improve the chances of significant discovery is to have a well-balanced, multi-talented exploration team.

Multi-talented exploration in this context does not make reference to the likes of geological mapping, structural geology, geochemistry, geophysics, GIS, drill-core logging and so on. Here the meaning instead refers to the variety of generic, but no less essential, team activities that must come together to create a high-performing team.

Much as a soccer team at the World Cup needs sound abilities across defence, midfield and attack, diverse team roles in business must be played out to succeed.

Also, just as in soccer, where individuals kick each goal, in exploration individuals are often credited with new discoveries. In both cases however, whether a winning goal or a discovery, there is a team behind each individual in the spotlight.

Here the well-known Belbin* team roles framework comes to the fore – which explains a great deal about the ways in which effective teams work**.

Listed below are highly abbreviated generic Belbin team role descriptions.

Plant – a generator of ideas: plants are creative, imaginative, and unorthodox and can solve difficult problems

Resource Investigator – an outward-thinker and constant source of information: extrovert, enthusiastic, communicative. A resource investigator explores opportunities and develops contacts.

Coordinator – a talent for stepping back to see the big picture: often cast as the chairman within a team. A coordinator is mature and confident, and acts to clarify team goals and promote decision-making. Delegates well.

Shaper – the shaper is task-focused pursuing objectives with energy and the need to achieve. Winning is the name of the game. A shaper challengers the way things are done, is dynamic, and thrives on pressure. Shapers have the drive and courage to overcome obstacles.

Monitor Evaluator – the preservers of a logical approach to team challenges: devoid of bias, a monitor evaluator offers a sober, strategic and discerning view of all issues and challenges. Monitor evaluators provide a useful foil to guard against over-enthusiasm from other team roles.

Team worker – a low profile but essential role: co-operative, mild, perceptive and diplomatic. Listens to others, builds consensus and averts excessive conflict.

Implementer – people that turn ideas into action. Implementers are disciplined individuals who are reliable, conservative and efficient.

Completer Finisher – the perfectionists in life that will stick with a project until everything is just right. Painstaking and conscientious, completer finishers will search out errors and fix omissions. At the back end of a project, completer finishers will work long hours to achieve on-time delivery every time.

Specialist – specialists bring detailed knowledge of particular subject areas to the team. Not unlike academics, specialists are single-minded, self-starting and dedicated. Specialists provide key knowledge and skills that are in rare supply.

So that is it in a nutshell – recognise anyone in your work team? Anyone who does not already know their preferred team role can of course take a test to find out*.

Of course not all exploration teams have enough people to fill all the roles individually. That’s where a doubling up of roles is often required. Nobody said that exploration was easy.

Good Hunting.

Allan Trench is a Professor at Curtin Graduate School of Business and Research Professor (Value and Risk) at the Centre for Exploration Targeting, University of Western Australia, a Non-Executive Director of several resource sector companies – and the Perth representative for CRU Consulting, a division of independent metals and mining advisory CRU Group (allan.trench@crugroup.com).

*Belbin team roles are fully described at www.belbin.com.

**For a more in-depth perspective of the Belbin team roles applied to exploration, readers are referred to Andrew H White (1997) Management of Mineral Exploration. Chapter 5. Australian Mineral Foundation. 380pp.

First published in MiningNews.net yesterday.