Generations at the Table: Getting Intergenerational Teams Right in Japan
A Behavioral Approach to Turning Age Diversity Into Strategic Advantage
When global companies expand into Japan, they quickly discover that success hinges only to some extent on strategy or market share - and primarily on people. And in today’s Japan, the people leading the charge often span three generations. It’s a reality shaped by unique labor market conditions: tight talent pools, aging demographics, and the cultural tendency for leaders to be appointed later in their careers.
This generational spread is especially evident in the leadership teams of multinational subsidiaries. It’s not uncommon to find a 39-year-old finance director seated between a 46-year-old commercial director and a 58-year-old head of regulatory affairs - all navigating the same executive table, yet bringing very different work histories, mindsets, and behavioral preferences.
While this diversity has the potential to be a source of innovation and strength, many teams experience friction. Misaligned communication styles, conflicting views on authority, and different tolerances for risk can create an undercurrent of tension. To move from friction to function, organizations need a way to decode what’s really going on beneath the surface.
One effective approach comes from a perhaps unexpected source: team role theory.
What If It’s Not About Generations, But About Roles?
Developed by Dr. Meredith Belbin, the Belbin Team Role framework provides a lens that helps teams focus on what people contribute to teamwork - rather than how old they are, or what their title says. The model identifies nine behavioral roles that people typically play on teams, such as the creative Plant, the action-driven Shaper, or the diplomatic Co-ordinator.
What makes Belbin especially relevant for intergenerational teams is that it moves the conversation from assumptions about age (“She’s young, so she must be tech-savvy”) to observable behaviors (“She tends to generate original ideas, which aligns with the Plant role”).
”As we grow older and progress in our careers, we become more definitive when it comes to declaring our Team Role strengths.” Belbin Intergenerational Research
Recent research by Belbin has shed new light on how these roles evolve across a person’s career. It turns out, younger team members tend to have flatter profiles - meaning they haven’t yet honed one or two standout strengths. They’re often still exploring where they fit. Older team members, by contrast, tend to show stronger, more clearly defined preferences. As the report notes, “As we grow older and progress in our careers, we become more definitive when it comes to declaring our Team Role strengths.” They’ve likely had more opportunities to practice, refine, and lean into their top team roles.
But perhaps the most surprising insight from the Belbin research is how it challenges common assumptions about age and capability. Roles typically linked to experience, like strategic thinking or coordination, do show up more in older team members, but not exclusively. For instance, the data found that “the highest concentration of strong examples of Monitor Evaluator was found among Millennials,” questioning the idea that only senior leaders think strategically. Similarly, while younger colleagues often score higher in idea-generating roles like Plant, the research notes that “older generations were more effective than their younger counterparts in creative roles.” In other words, older team members may contribute fewer ideas, but they often land better - more relevant, more actionable, and more aligned with the team’s goals.
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DescriptionThe Belbin Team Role model was developed in the late 1970s by Dr. Meredith Belbin and his research team at Henley Management College in the UK. The goal was to understand why some teams consistently outperformed others, even when composed of equally intelligent or skilled individuals. The breakthrough finding? A team of the smartest people doesn’t necessarily make a smart team. What mattered more was how individuals behaved and interacted—their natural tendencies in contributing to teamwork. The research identified nine distinct “Team Roles,” each representing a cluster of behaviors essential to team success. Today, the Belbin model is used in over 180 countries and headquartered in Cambridge, England. Its enduring value lies in shifting the conversation from personality and hierarchy to observable behavior and contribution—helping teams around the world become not just collections of individuals, but truly complementary units.
A Pharma Team in Tokyo: One Table, Three Generations
To bring these dynamics to life, consider the case of a mid-sized pharmaceutical subsidiary in Japan. The company had recently gone through a transformation effort, triggered by new product launches and an evolving competitive landscape. As part of the organizational refresh, the leadership team was restructured to include a more diverse mix of functions, geographies, and - crucially - generations.
Sitting around the leadership table were individuals in their early thirties to late fifties. The commercial lead, originally from Australia, was mid-40s. The head of Medical, a Japanese veteran of the industry, was late-50s. The finance lead had just relocated from Europe and was in her late-30s. While the group was aligned on the company’s strategic objectives, they found it surprisingly difficult to operate as a cohesive unit.
Some members pushed for structured discussions and detailed execution plans, while others preferred to brainstorm freely and challenge assumptions. Junior leaders hesitated to speak up in meetings, even when they had valuable insights. Senior leaders sometimes misread that silence as lack of initiative or engagement.
That’s when the team decided to apply the Belbin framework.
Each leader completed the Belbin Self-Perception Inventory, and colleagues provided feedback through Observer Assessments. The resulting Team Role Circle revealed a pattern: the more senior leaders showed strong preferences for Co-ordinator and Shaper roles - driving decisions, aligning teams, and ensuring accountability. Mid-career professionals were split between Implementers and Monitor Evaluators, playing pragmatic and analytical roles. The youngest leaders leaned into Plants and Resource Investigators - bringing fresh ideas and energy, but lacking influence in formal decision-making.
It wasn’t a case of conflicting personalities. It was a case of underutilized roles.
What Teams Often Miss - and How to Catch It
In this Tokyo pharma case, it became clear that three things were missing:
Recognition of Invisible Talent
Some younger leaders had latent Co-ordinator potential but weren’t being given space to lead cross-functional efforts or facilitate dialogue. They weren’t lacking ability - they were lacking opportunity.Too Much Pressure on the Middle
Middle managers were trying to bridge both directions - managing up and down, playing multiple roles without clarity. Their behavioral flexibility was valuable, but unsustainable without structural support.A Lack of Role Balance
The team had a surplus of strategic thinkers but lacked strong Teamworkers and Completer Finishers - the glue roles that ensure alignment and detail follow-through. These are often overlooked, but critical to execution in complex organizations.
By looking at the team through the lens of behavior - not hierarchy - they could rebalance tasks and meetings to better reflect individual strengths. Team leads began pairing up based on complementary roles rather than reporting lines. A junior Plant was matched with a senior Co-ordinator to co-lead a cross-functional initiative. Observer feedback helped emerging leaders see how others experienced their strengths - building both confidence and clarity.
What This Means for MNCs in Japan - and Beyond
Age-diverse teams are here to stay. Japan’s demographic shifts all but guarantee that leadership tables will include a mix of generations for the foreseeable future. The opportunity - and challenge - is to move beyond shallow narratives about generational differences and toward a deeper understanding of how people behave in teams.
Belbin’s intergenerational study provides a clear takeaway: strengths can emerge at any age, but they become sharper with time, reflection, and experience. Younger leaders bring energy, analytical insight, and creativity. Older leaders bring coherence, decisiveness, and clarity. And middle managers often serve as the critical link, adapting their style based on what the situation demands.
When teams learn to speak the same behavioral language, the labels of “junior” or “senior” start to matter less. What matters more is who plays what role - and how well they do it.
Practical Tips to Build Stronger Intergenerational Teams
Start with strengths, not structure. Use behavioral tools like Belbin to identify each team member’s contribution, regardless of age or title.
Encourage role visibility. Let emerging leaders experiment with roles like Co-ordinator or Shaper in low-risk environments to build experience.
Balance teams intentionally. Pay attention to missing roles - like Completer Finisher or Teamworker - that often get overlooked but are essential for success.
Foster mentorship across roles. Pair older and younger colleagues with similar Team Role profiles to promote skill development and trust.
Use feedback early and often. Observer Assessments can help younger professionals understand how others see them - accelerating their self-awareness.
Final Thought
The strength of a team rarely lies in everyone thinking the same way. It comes from recognizing the different contributions each person brings; and aligning those differences toward a shared goal. In Japan, where intergenerational leadership is not just common but often necessary, this becomes even more important.
Rather than defaulting to assumptions based on age or seniority, teams thrive when they shift the question from “How old are you?” to “What role do you naturally play when we work together?” That’s where genuine collaboration begins - and where teams start unlocking their full potential.
When to Reach Out
If your leadership team spans multiple generations, or if you’re navigating the subtle complexities of collaboration between long-tenured experts and rising talent, this might be the time to pause and ask: Are we truly playing to our strengths as a team? Or are we working around each other, hoping for the best?
At Kay Group, we help leadership teams decode hidden dynamics, cultivate trust, and translate behavioral insight into performance - especially within the layered cultural and organizational realities of Japan. From silent meetings to stuck decision-making, we’ve seen how small shifts in team understanding can lead to meaningful change.
Reach out when you’re ready to explore how behavioral clarity can transform not just how your team works; but how it thrives.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Karin Wellbrock is a leadership coach, organizational development consultant, and Partner at Kay Group K.K. in Tokyo. She works with executive teams in multinational corporations and high-growth startups to build trust, navigate complexity, and align leadership as organizations scale and evolve across different stages of growth.
Source: Belbin (2025) Intergenerational Teams