Many professionals reach a point when they are faced with the decision to go deeper into specialisation, or to broaden into more general management roles. But as there are advantages and disadvantages of growing your career in either direction, this can be a tricky career stage to navigate.
“If you’ve reached a fork in the road, the path that you choose will be contingent on your skills, strengths and ambitions and your particular area of specialisation” explains Chris Tan, Associate Partner. “You must also consider the capacity of your organisation to support the direction in which you wish to move.”
The case for specialisation
If you are deciding between deeper specialisation and general management roles, a SWOT analysis can help you to better understand alignment with your skills, attributes and career aspirations. “Getting the most out of this process requires maturity, self-awareness and honesty,” says Chris. “It’s also important to understand what’s driving this decision, as it will shape the direction that you take.”
Specialisation may be right for you if you are seeking deeper professional fulfilment, specialising to meet market or organisational demand, or playing to your strengths.
Pursuing deeper specialisation allows you to build a level of understanding, skill or technical expertise that may bring you profound sense of fulfilment or achievement.
You may benefit from specialisation if the market or your employer deems there to be value in your particular skill or expertise. “Your worth as a specialist will continue to grow for as long as demand remains,” says Chris. “Cyber security and AI specialists are currently great examples of this.”
Moving into general management requires a degree of competency in areas such as strategy development; decision making; people management; and finance. Specialisation allows individuals that lack capability or are not well-suited to these functions, to progress their career without moving out of their comfort zone or taking on these responsibilities.
Moving into management
Despite the benefits of specialisation, the opportunities for vertical career progression are limited for many specialist roles. “Some people feel pressure to conform to the notion of climbing the corporate ladder, which can be difficult in specialist roles,” says Chris. “If you are already a high achiever in your field, further specialisation can feel like stepping sidewards or backwards, which doesn’t sit well with everyone.”
When specialisation doesn’t present the opportunities that you need to grow, there are benefits in broadening your horizon.
General management requires certain skills, attributes and responsibilities. Moving away from specialisation provides individuals with the satisfaction of refining and developing in these areas.
Developing management skills typically reflects vertical progression, which naturally comes with increased status, responsibility and remuneration.
General management experience opens up the path to Executive roles. It also allows you to set your sight on the top job – which can be restrictive if you go down the path of deep specialisation.
Specialisation vs. pigeonholing – how to avoid the latter
Pigeonholing can happen if your focus becomes too narrow; you reach a level of mastery that renders you indispensable in your field; or the perception of you in your role is so strong that others can’t see you doing anything else.
“If, despite performing your job well, you struggle to move your career forward, you may have been pigeonholed – which can make you feel like you’ve fallen behind and/or you are denied further upward opportunities. In some instances, this sentiment may in fact be true, making it a very real trade-off that should be factored into your decision,” says Chris. “If you choose to pursue continued specialisation, the key lies in balancing the breadth and depth of your skills and experience, and the demand for the work that you do.”
To avoid pigeonholing:
Ensure there is clear and ongoing demand for your services, within your organisation and in the market. “Specialisation only works if demand is strong, if it differentiates you and adds value to your organisation – seeking deeper specialisation in areas with no future market demand can derail your career,” says Chris. “For example, choosing to deepen your engineering or design specialisation in fossil fuel combustion engines may not be wise when there is clear evidence that the market will eventually move towards Electric vehicles.”
Avoid focus so narrow that you no longer have the capacity to develop, or to pursue opportunities and interests outside of your specialisation.
Also consider your employment context. “Not all organisations have the culture and bandwidth to support deep specialisation,” says Chris. “Developing a progression pathway that leads to fulfilment whilst maintaining the benefits of specialisation is something that only a handful of companies do well.”
Developing the right talent strategy for your organisation
As an employer, it’s important to know when deeper specialisation is right for the talent in your team, and when your organisation can benefit from deepening a specialist skill or knowledge – perhaps it will create an edge for your organisation in the market? Deeper specialisation can also be beneficial if there is value in retaining a particular individual that is not well suited to general management progression.
“Employers must clearly communicate the capacity to help talent progress and realise further value in their specialist field. But this only works if employees are also clear and honest about their career ambition,” says Chris.
To facilitate specialisation:
Be clear on the demand for specialist skills and the capacity to support specialisation.
Develop clear career pathways; learning and development tools and champions.
Build a culture that recognises and rewards specialisation, not just broadening leadership and general management progression.
“If you are looking to pivot, or to grow and diversify your career, Gerard Daniels can help you to find the right direction, the right time and the right opportunity to realise your full potential and value,” says Chris. “If deepening your specialisation is the right move for you, having the right development plan in place will help you to grow and progress your career without pigeonholing. We also serve companies that want their human talent activated and achieving great results, helping clients to develop individuals towards general management if this capacity does not exist inhouse.”
To shape your career or support the targeted development of your team, connect with Chris or reach out to your local Gerard Daniels team.
