"[Management is] an
integrating discipline of human values and conduct, of social order and
intellectual inquiry, [a discipline that] feeds off economics, psychology,
mathematics, political theory, history, and philosophy. In short, management is
a liberal art..." - Peter Drucker
Businesses need specialists in order to be successful – this is nothing
new or earth shattering. Having people with specialized knowledge in
areas related to the company's products, services, processes, network
infrastructure, etc. enable the ability to serve customers and meet objectives
on a continuing basis. What many people do not realize, however, is that
having generalists – especially in leadership positions – is just as critical
to the organization’s success.
What is a Generalist?
A
generalist is someone who has broad knowledge and skills, and understands the
organization's high level system, including the hand-offs and interactions
between people and processes. A generalist is not usually interested in
working and developing his or her skills within a single area but is more
motivated to learning more about the big picture. He or she is much more
comfortable learning a little about many subjects than learning a lot about a
single subject.
An
organization can have the most talented specialists in the industry but be
completely ineffective if these people are not able to agree on what's
important and work together to turn their combined talents into commercial success.
By understanding the system, the generalist can bring value to the organization
by focusing on overall company performance rather than attempting to optimize
any single function or area. For this reason, generalists often excel in
leadership positions and cross-functional roles like project management and
planning.
Why Generalists Are Necessary
By
clearly understanding the company's high level value stream, the generalist is
able to continually align the objectives in one area to those of the
organization.
No
matter how talented a company’s specialists are; without a common direction and
continual effort to improve the way people interact and work together, there is
no "organization" - there are only individuals working on what each
feels is most important.
Peter
Drucker wrote that management is a liberal art in that it requires skill from
many different disciplines including psychology, sociology, history, and
others. W. Edwards Deming included psychology, learning, variation, and
systems thinking as components of leadership in his System of Profound
Knowledge. What Deming and Drucker were referring to was that management
is a role for generalists.
Harnessing the Company's Talent
The
obsession many companies have had with specialists over the last several years
has created a shortage of generalists that is hampering growth and
success. As a result, many companies are full of great ideas, new
technologies, and brilliant technical minds but aren't able to transform them
into consistent commercial successful. A company may be staffed with
highly skilled scientists, engineers, and chemists, but if it is not turning
this knowledge into viable products or services, it is compromising its future.
Whenever
hiring or promoting someone into a leadership position, I have found that a
person with a varied background tends to be more effective than someone whose
experience and training is completely focused on the function the person is
expected to lead. For example, I would tend to favor a candidate for a
quality management position who has experience in procurement and/or manufacturing
in addition to quality than one who only has quality control or quality
assurance experience.
It's in the Mix
Success
in business requires having and leading people to consistently achieve high
level objectives. To do this successfully requires respecting the
different talents people have and understanding how best to position and
organizing everyone to serve the customer effectively. This means having
the right mix of generalists and specialists to assure success.
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