"The challenge we all face is how to maintain the benefits of breadth, diverse experience, interdisciplinary thinking, and delayed concentration in a world that increasingly incentivizes, even demands, hyperspecialization."

In practice, this means working hand in hand with the business to help define their goals, identify the actions or activities needed to meet their goals (roadmaps), identify metrics to track your success, and, most importantly, align their talent in such a way to be successful.

1. Understand your business

✦ Build into your individual development plans (IDP).

✦ Listening to earnings calls.

✦ Build formal relationships. Schedule regular 1:1s and show an interest in learning teams, and their work.

✦ Tap into your internal network. Ask colleagues to join you for coffee and go prepared with questions to learn more about their work.

✦ Surveys/interviews/focus groups/listening sessions with your employees and leaders.

✦ Attend strategy meetings.

2. Make time for strategy by removing transactional tasks

I like to think about this in two ways:

✦ HR governance model. What can be changed about our operating model to free up time for HR professionals to be more strategic?

✦ Self-governance. How can you prioritize your work differently to spend more time on more strategic needs?

3. Collect and analyze data

✦ The data you collect should be mapped back to your strategic imperatives and help track your progress against the goals.

A helpful way to think about data so that you don’t try to boil the ocean is to look at key performance indicators (KPIs).

4. Build strategic skills and capabilities

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1️⃣ The business partner model is not unique to HR

All spheres are under scrutiny to create greater value for their companies. Especially for work that can be standardized, automated, re-engineered or outsourced.

2️⃣ The intent of the business partner model is focus more on deliverables (what the business requires to win) than doables (what HR activities occur).

3️⃣ Being a business partner may be achieved in many HR job categories.

As business partners, corporate HR professionals define corporate wide initiatives, represent the company to external stakeholders, meet the unique demands of senior (and visible) leaders, leverage cross unit synergy, and govern the HR function.

4️⃣ HR professionals as business partners have unique information, insights, and recommendations to deliver competitive advantage.

Epstein argues against narrow specialization, and makes the case for “range”: to accumulate diverse skills/experiences that culminate in a late specialization that fits with your unique strengths and preferences.

People who pursue this path tend to go through a relatively unstructured “sampling period” where they try different things, develop various skills and learn about themselves.

Why and How to Develop Range

Head-starts are overrated: For every person who succeeds because of an early head-start, you can find a late-bloomer who succeeds after wide sampling and exploration.

To solve complex problems in a wicked world, you need a range of tools and the ability to integrate ideas across domains.

Understand the root of creativity and the role of wide-sampling in learning, discovery and innovation.

Fast vs slow learning: The most effective learning strategies are slow and effortful. Find out why you should embrace “desirable difficulties”.

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🔽 GET “Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World” by David Epstein” FOR FREE HERE 🔽