Recently, Kevin Wheeler had a very interesting and timely post about a possible return to a generalist model in The Cry for the Jack-of-All Trades. This one got me thinking a bit. As one who spent a little time as a generalist I began to ponder if returning to a generalist model would make sense given the trying economic conditions and so many companies finding themselves having to do more with less.
I decided to reach out to a few trusted clients to inquire on their view of returning to a generalist mode and what I learned was quite interesting. Now, before I share a little about what I learned and my comments please understand this was not a scientific study by any means. I merely chatted with a few talent acquisition and HR leaders in 7 different companies ranging from small to quite large. I was just curious to know what they thought and a few interesting ideas emerged.
First, all of them said that recently their senior business leadership had made inquiries as to whether their staffs should be reduced and the HR and recruiting teams should once again share the responsibilities of HR, OE, Recruiting, Payroll and Compensation.
Second, each of them responded to those business leaders with an emphatic no. They see little to no reason to hit the panic button and eliminate a model that had given them so much lift and so much credibility in the organization as subject matter experts. In 5 of the 7 clients the HR and Talent Acquisition Leaders were able to successfully demonstrate the viability of the SME model and stave off the temptation to return to a generalist quagmire.
And finally, the most interesting tidbit I heard is that all 7 of these clients made a bold statement about recruiting. The lead HR person and the lead Talent Acquisition person all stated that in a generalist model the very first aspect of HR that will suffer is recruiting and such a blow to an effective SME recruiting model may severely damage their ability to compete when things begin to recover. To a client they all made it clear that recruiting and HR roles have clearly defined and distinctly different sets of competencies that rarely are found in one individual.
So what is my take? I thought you would never ask!
I think all the talk of returning to a generalist model is a knee jerk reaction to a very poor economy and reductions in workforce. A dangerous knee jerk reaction at that. Having been a generalist I know that each person tends to drift, when things are difficult or when their time is limited, to the skills and activities they like the most or are the best at executing. Very often this leaves recruiting as the last priority on a list of competing priorities when it ought to be first. Talent is the fuel that fires the business engine. Without getting it, keeping it and maintaining a supply of it the engine stops.
The competency and skill argument above is very true and very real. I would love to tell you I was the greatest generalist in the world. While I was good I was CLEARLY a better recruiter and talent acquisition leader then an employee relations, benefits, payroll or compensation practitioner. While getting into the details of competency in this post would take entirely too much time, the fact remains that the skill, knowledge, traits, self-concept and motivation that predict and lead to success in each HR role are vastly different. Not long ago I wrote about the behavioral competencies I have found accurately predict success in a recruiter and how to use these to hire the best. The generalist model requires that HR professionals in a generalist role be everything to everyone - sort of a super human HR-bot capable of executing each skill and competency in the entire HR arsenal. While I am sure those stellar HR practitioners exist, they are rare and extremely expensive to acquire and retain.
Additionally, the vast majority of companies are ill equipped and, I might argue, not even capable of delivering the quality of cross functional training, leadership development and organizational effectiveness to make the return to generalist an effective and efficient option. Let’s face it, when the generalist model was in place in its previous iteration it essentially was a jack of all trades master of none that led to a whole lot of nothing getting done - especially in HR. In tough economic times organizations are not spending huge gobs of money on training and development (even thought it is the best time to do so) so HR and Recruiting professionals will likely be tossed into roles they are not equipped to execute successfully and have little to no guidance or training to improve.
While it might be tempting to move back to this failed model, giving in to this temptation will likely severely damage your companies ability to compete when the economy strengthens and competing for the best talent is critical to your success.
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