There\u2019s a beauty and a complexity to being a generalist. How do you build and strengthen your professional identity when your range is broad?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I feel one of the things I want to work on this year is being more comfortable owning the label of a generalist. When I started out, it felt like a bit of a strategic move \u2013 keeping my options open. It meant I could take on lots of different work without being constrained by a particular label, and I hoped it would mean I had more opportunities available. Something I didn\u2019t consider was how difficult it is to introduce yourself well when you do lots of different things. It\u2019s so much snappier to lead with \u201cI\u2019m a researcher\/graphic designer\/coach\/HR specialist\u201d etc. Much less easy to explain you\u2019ve had a quite a varied career, gained a load of useful skills and can flex to lots of different work and therefore have done facilitation, evaluation, policy, communications and resource building \u2013 so far!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However. While I need to get better at developing a jazzy elevator pitch for myself when I look over that varied career and that load of useful skills \u2013 there\u2019s a kind of superpower there. I\u2019ve done process improvement, local authority strategic partnerships, charity restructure, wide-scale volunteer management, strategy and business-planning, organisational-wide training programmes, facilitation, systems project management, communications. It\u2019s a long list and when you look at pulling the lessons learnt, it\u2019s powerful stuff. I hadn\u2019t quite appreciated how powerful until I started mentoring someone. It was brilliant to pull through bits of relationship management, governance, communications\/marketing, personal development and business planning into our conversations to support him in his charity\u2019s growth. I also hope it helps me see the connections across things since the lack of a single specialism hasn\u2019t made me in danger of developing tunnel vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For now, I\u2019ve got \u201ccharity consultant\u201d on my email address, website and LinkedIn. I\u2019ve never been a huge fan of the word consultant \u2013 it\u2019s always sounded a little \u201cdone-to\u201d rather than the collaborative, supportive and flexible approach that reflects my personality. I\u2019ve spotted a growing trend online towards skipping the word \u201cconsultant\u201d and either focusing on the specialisms such as \u201cfacilitator\u201d or even using a description of outcomes. Definitely good for thought about how I can use this to better describe what I do and how I am help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve recently come across a generalists network for freelancers and I\u2019m intrigued! I love that someone recognised there was a niche for support. I\u2019m fascinated to see what common themes will emerge as I\u2019m guessing it\u2019s a cross-sector group and so far I\u2019ve mostly been involved in ones focused on the charity\/social good sector. I wonder whether my frustrations over introductions, names and ownership will resonate with many others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An unexpected benefit of being a generalist is the personal and professional development that\u2019s come alongside it. I\u2019ve taken on work that\u2019s been completely in my comfort zone and I\u2019ve taken on work that\u2019s stretched and developed me. I really like the agility that I\u2019m developing and nurturing by taking on a range of work \u2013 it\u2019s kept me really motivated and engaged and opened my eyes up to a whole host of fascinating work that\u2019s out there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So for now, I\u2019m a proud generalist. I suspect I\u2019ll be a generalist for at least another year to continue exploring some passion projects as well as some stretch work and see what comes my way. Definitely on my to-do list is setting aside some time to do some personal strategy work and see what emerges as my priorities for the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Photo by\u00a0Hans-Peter Gauster<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Unsplash<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There\u2019s a beauty and a complexity to being a generalist. How do you build and strengthen your professional identity when your range is broad? Awkward Introductions I feel one of the things I want to work on this year is being more comfortable owning the label of a generalist. When I started out,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":483,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[38],"tags":[13,11,12,21,25,10],"class_list":["post-482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-development","tag-charity","tag-consultant","tag-freelance","tag-non-profit","tag-self-employment","tag-start-up-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t