Choosing the right career path – generalist or specialist?
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You began your career, as most of us do, being hired as a professional trainee and have spent several years developing your expertise, gaining a professional qualification along the way. Now you are at a crossroads. Do you continue on this specialist path or divert into a generalist management role? Consider the following points before taking action.
What is a specialist? Successful people following a specialist career path will have a deep knowledge and understanding of a particular area of expertise, provide thought leadership and insight for their colleagues and are well respected internally for their knowledge. They are likely to be known within their professional body/industry as an expert, or aspire to this, able to explain detailed technical information with ease to non-specialists adjusting their style of delivery to their audience. They will also be interested in developing their commercial awareness – understanding how their expertise/profession can support and improve the business either by reducing risk, improving processes or production. They are likely to enjoy being involved in projects and initiatives that require specialist/technical input, perhaps piloting new processes or products.
Successful generalists enjoy building teams of people, whether within one function or as multi-disciplinary project teams, to deliver corporate goals underpinning strategic plans. Later they will enjoy developing strategy as well as implementing it. They are likely to have built extensive internal and external networks which they can tap into when projects or initiatives need support, when they want to influence strategy or direction of a division or organisation and which alerts them to changing business and political conditions. Driving the business forward, as a whole, will be energising and motivational for them.
Which of these paragraphs resonates with you more as you contemplate your career journey and direction?
Now, consider your key strengths – what are they? Jot them down. Do they energise you? Are they abilities that come easily to you and mark you out from the crowd? It’s easy to under-rate our innate abilities because they come easily but these are the differentiators that will really accelerate our careers. Which area – specialist or generalist – do your innate abilities resonate more with?
What really motivates you right now? Do you enjoy being a subject matter expert, keeping close to new developments in your field, being a thought leader, trialling new ways of extending and developing your field of expertise? Do you enjoy working alongside like-minded people with whom you can share your thoughts and develop new models or ways of working? Do you enjoy sharing your experiences at industry forums and networks?
Or do you increasingly find you are less motivated by staying abreast of your professional peers and more by commercially focuses projects and goals? Do you enjoy coaching others, helping them to overcome difficult challenges, realise their potential even to the point that their career might – in time – outstrip yours? Do you enjoy managing others, feel a sense of achievement knowing that what you have delivered has been facilitated in a large part by the team you’ve built around you?
Whilst motivation changes over time – perhaps driving a career at one point, having time for a family at others – broader motivators and interests change less.
Finally, do you foresee further opportunities in the years ahead to change course if needed or wanted? If you continue along a more specialist path can you see opportunities to develop your broader business awareness through involvement in broader business projects or forums? If you choose a generalist path how might you keep up to date with developments in your original professional sphere? The future is too difficult to predict – organisations change, merge, or are taken over – so better to keep an open mind when it comes to your continuous professional development (CPD).
TAKE AWAY
Deciding whether to pursue a generalist or specialist career path isn’t always easy. Having a clear idea of what each path offers, the skills required to be successful, where your innate strengths are likely to bring the greatest rewards, knowing what motivates you and how you can utilise future opportunities for CPD is the best starting point. Good luck!
What is a specialist? Successful people following a specialist career path will have a deep knowledge and understanding of a particular area of expertise, provide thought leadership and insight for their colleagues and are well respected internally for their knowledge. They are likely to be known within their professional body/industry as an expert, or aspire to this, able to explain detailed technical information with ease to non-specialists adjusting their style of delivery to their audience. They will also be interested in developing their commercial awareness – understanding how their expertise/profession can support and improve the business either by reducing risk, improving processes or production. They are likely to enjoy being involved in projects and initiatives that require specialist/technical input, perhaps piloting new processes or products.
Successful generalists enjoy building teams of people, whether within one function or as multi-disciplinary project teams, to deliver corporate goals underpinning strategic plans. Later they will enjoy developing strategy as well as implementing it. They are likely to have built extensive internal and external networks which they can tap into when projects or initiatives need support, when they want to influence strategy or direction of a division or organisation and which alerts them to changing business and political conditions. Driving the business forward, as a whole, will be energising and motivational for them.
Which of these paragraphs resonates with you more as you contemplate your career journey and direction?
Now, consider your key strengths – what are they? Jot them down. Do they energise you? Are they abilities that come easily to you and mark you out from the crowd? It’s easy to under-rate our innate abilities because they come easily but these are the differentiators that will really accelerate our careers. Which area – specialist or generalist – do your innate abilities resonate more with?
What really motivates you right now? Do you enjoy being a subject matter expert, keeping close to new developments in your field, being a thought leader, trialling new ways of extending and developing your field of expertise? Do you enjoy working alongside like-minded people with whom you can share your thoughts and develop new models or ways of working? Do you enjoy sharing your experiences at industry forums and networks?
Or do you increasingly find you are less motivated by staying abreast of your professional peers and more by commercially focuses projects and goals? Do you enjoy coaching others, helping them to overcome difficult challenges, realise their potential even to the point that their career might – in time – outstrip yours? Do you enjoy managing others, feel a sense of achievement knowing that what you have delivered has been facilitated in a large part by the team you’ve built around you?
Whilst motivation changes over time – perhaps driving a career at one point, having time for a family at others – broader motivators and interests change less.
Finally, do you foresee further opportunities in the years ahead to change course if needed or wanted? If you continue along a more specialist path can you see opportunities to develop your broader business awareness through involvement in broader business projects or forums? If you choose a generalist path how might you keep up to date with developments in your original professional sphere? The future is too difficult to predict – organisations change, merge, or are taken over – so better to keep an open mind when it comes to your continuous professional development (CPD).
TAKE AWAY
Deciding whether to pursue a generalist or specialist career path isn’t always easy. Having a clear idea of what each path offers, the skills required to be successful, where your innate strengths are likely to bring the greatest rewards, knowing what motivates you and how you can utilise future opportunities for CPD is the best starting point. Good luck!