What Children Can Teach Business Owners About Team Roles

Have you ever noticed ineffective or unproductive behaviors in your team meetings? Where there’s a lot of talking but somehow nothing gets decided? 

One person dominates the conversation. Another challenges every idea. Someone else sulkily sits quietly through most of the discussion, while another doesn’t seem to listen to anyone’s input?  

As the business owner, you may find yourself frustrated thinking: This team is wasting a lot of time. How do I get my team to just work together? 

Fascinating research involving children suggests that differences in how people participate, i.e., ‘team roles,’ in a group may actually help the group reach its goal. 

The Problem: Ineffective, Frustrating Meetings That Waste Time and Don’t Produce Valuable Results 

For small-business owners, team dynamics can be one of the most frustrating parts of leadership. 

Do you have any of these folks in your meetings? 

• • Dominating Dee – Jumps into every discussion before anyone else has had time to think. 
  • Negative Nelly – Challenges ideas, asks questions, and points out potential problems but offers no solutions. 
  • Judgmental Joe – Stays quiet during the meeting, refusing to participate, or even smirking or rolling their eyes at others’ suggestions. 
  • Wallflower Wilma – Waits for direction instead of taking initiative, may have valuable ideas but doesn’t share them in front of everyone. 
  • Chatty Cathy – Talks frequently without necessarily moving the conversation forward.

It’s easy to view these differences as personality problems.

The person who speaks first may seem controlling. The person who challenges everything may seem argumentative. The quiet employee may appear disengaged or lacking in confidence. 

You could be looking at the situation from the wrong perspective.  

What if some of these different behaviors are actually team roles that help a team solve problems? 

The Solution: Recognize and Use Different Team Roles 

A 2026 study by University of Southern California researchers Isabelle Brocas, Juan D. Carrillo, and Ulysses Rios looked at how children between the ages of 5 and 8 worked together to reach consensus. The children were given a coordination task with limited information and no ability to talk with one another. 

Researchers observed that the children naturally developed different patterns of participation. 

Some became leaders, making decisions early and helping establish a direction. 

Others became debaters, watching what was happening, responding to others, suggesting, and helping the group test possible directions. 

And others became closers, waiting and observing before proposing a way forward.  

Interestingly, these team roles weren’t assigned by an adult. They emerged naturally within the group. 

The research doesn’t mean that every business team will automatically organize itself this way. And a simple children’s coordination experiment isn’t the same thing as running a business. But it offers an intriguing lesson for business owners— 

Effective team meetings requires 1) recognition of strengths and 2) role awareness. 

Your job as a leader is about recognizing those strengths and creating an environment where the individuals can contribute to the goal. 

How to Improve Your Team’s Team Roles 

1. Don’t equate leadership with talking

Your most vocal employee isn’t necessarily your best leader. 

Someone who jumps into a conversation quickly can be extremely valuable because they help get an idea moving. They also bring energy to kick the effort off. The trick is to not let them dominate. 

When someone naturally takes the lead, give them opportunities to propose direction—but also establish expectations that their role includes listening to and incorporating input from others. Try saying something like “Those are great ideas. Thanks for the energy and for getting us started. Let’s hear some other input.” 

A leader who starts the conversation doesn’t have to finish it and the person who does the most talking isn’t necessarily a leader.. 

2. Give your “debaters” a productive job

Every team needs people who ask, “Have we thought about this?” 

These employees can sometimes frustrate you the way they challenge assumptions or continually ask questions. It can slow things down but thoughtful disagreement can uncover problems before they become expensive mistakes. 

Instead of shutting down the debate, acknowledge the valuable role it plays, then give it structure. Ask: 

• • “What are we missing?” 
  • “What could go wrong?” 
  • “What would you change?” 
  • “What evidence would change your mind?” 

Now the debater isn’t simply being the person who says no. They’re helping the team test the idea before committing resources. 

3. Make room for the closers

Some employees aren’t going to fight for airtime. They prefer to listen, observe the discussion, process the information, and speak once they understand the larger picture. 

Don’t mistake quietness for a lack of contribution. In fact, the quietest person can sometimes be the strongest leader. 

Before ending an important meeting, ask your Wallflower Wilma… “We’ve heard several ideas. What are you seeing that we haven’t addressed?” 

You may discover that the person who said the least during the meeting has been processing everything—and can now help the group see the path forward. 

4. Don’t let one role take over

The real power comes from balance. 

Too many people trying to lead can create competing agendas. Too much debating can leave a team stuck in analysis. And too much waiting for someone else to decide can create inertia. 

Watch your meetings. Ask yourself: 

Who’s proposing? Who’s testing? Who’s bringing the conversation to closure? 

If one of those functions is consistently missing, your team may need a little more intentional structure. 

5. Design meetings around the roles you need

Instead of allowing every meeting to follow the same pattern, intentionally create space for different types of contribution. For example: 

1st: Direction.
“What are the possible approaches?” 

2nd: Debate.
“What are the risks, questions, and alternatives?” 

3rd: Decision.
“Based on what we’ve discussed, what are we going to do?” 

This simple structure prevents the first idea from automatically becoming the final idea—and prevents discussion from continuing indefinitely. 

6. Rotate opportunities to lead

Don’t permanently label employees as “the leader,” “the skeptic,” or “the quiet one.”  People are capable of developing different skills. 

Describe the different roles to your team, ask them what their favorite roles are, and give them opportunities to facilitate meetings, lead projects, evaluate ideas, summarize discussions, and make recommendations. 

The goal isn’t to put people into boxes.  

It’s to help them recognize what their strengths are and that different contributions are valuable at different stages of solving a problem. 

What This Means for Small-Business Leaders 

In a small business, there can be fewer people to fill every role. You may have a team of 5 people—and still need someone to generate ideas, someone to challenge them, someone to gather information, and someone to help make the final decision. 

The answer isn’t necessarily hiring more people; rather, it’s a matter of learning to use the people you already have more effectively. 

As a business owner or leader, you can encourage that process by making your team’s differences an asset rather than a source of frustration. 

At your next meeting, notice where the conversation gets stuck. Is nobody proposing? Is debate crowding out a decision? Is someone with useful insight unable to get a word in? Adjust that part of the process first.

Your best team isn’t necessarily one where everyone communicates the same way, thinks the same way, or approaches problems the same way. 

It’s a team where each member understands how they can best contribute, how their individual contributions help the group move forward, and how and when to play the roles they’re good at.. 

• • Some people will lead best

• • Some will challenge best

• • Some will observe and analyze best

• • Some will bring everyone to a decision

The leadership opportunity is to recognize those strengths and create space for each one. 

The Benefits of Clear Team Roles are Multi-Layered 

When team members know how to contribute and feel heard, meetings become less frustrating and discussion turns into action. Those are practical improvements a business owner can see in the week after the meeting. 

Each team member gets to feel acknowledged for their strengths and gets the satisfaction of seeing their strengths used. The company and the whole team benefits from faster decisions and solutions. 

Have some fun… go observe a group of kindergartners! After all, a group of children working on a simple problem can demonstrate something that many business teams struggle to learn.