{"id":609,"date":"2020-11-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/reports\/epp-webinar-why-the-specialist-generalist-model-creates-the-best-chance-for-winning-and-development-in-high-performance\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:12:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:12:07","slug":"epp-webinar-why-the-specialist-generalist-model-creates-the-best-chance-for-winning-and-development-in-high-performance","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/epp-webinar-why-the-specialist-generalist-model-creates-the-best-chance-for-winning-and-development-in-high-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"EPP Webinar: Why the Specialist-Generalist Model Creates the Best Chance for Winning and Development in High Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n Nov 09, 2020 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

EPP Webinar: Why the Specialist-Generalist Model Creates the Best Chance for Winning and Development in High Performance<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Category<\/div>\n Leadership & Culture<\/a> <\/div>\n
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https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/epp-webinar-why-the-specialist-generalist-model-creates-the-best-chance-for-winning-and-development-in-high-performance\/<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n\n\n
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Exploring this growing trend with the England & Wales Cricket Board, Football Association and Elite Performance Partners.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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By John Portch<\/h6>\n
\u201cIs the next evolution in high performance sport towards a more generalist model?\u201d<\/h6>\n

That was the opening question posed by host Mo Bobat, the Performance Director at the England & Wales Cricket Board [ECB] at this Elite Performance Partners<\/a> [EPP] webinar, which explored the rise of the specialist-generalist in high performance frameworks.<\/p>\n

EPP, a search, selection and advisory firm working across elite sport and specialising in performance, feel that this shift preceded the pandemic, but is it set to continue and is it the advisable way forward?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe the specialist-generalist model is the best way to develop the leadership capabilities of organisations,” said Dave Slemen, Founding Partner at EPP.<\/p>\n

Joining Bobat and Slemen were Bryce Cavanagh and Aaron Danks, who serve as the Head of Physical Performance and the Assistant Coach of the men’s Under-21s at the Football Association respectively, and 150 attendees drawn from members of the Leaders Performance Institute as well as a selection of high performance practitioners from across the globe.<\/p>\n

Here, we explore the main questions raised on the day and consider the implications of moving towards a specialist-generalist model.<\/p>\n

What is a \u2018specialist-generalist\u2019?<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s clear one thing up: high performance sport is not discarding specialist expertise. Rather, in these straitened times, as budgets and staff numbers are reduced, organisations will welcome those T-shaped practitioners with breadth of experience and <\/i><\/em>depth of expertise. Slemen says: \u201cThe people who are best placed to break through the ceiling from practitioner to leadership have gained a number of transferable, softer skills and experiences along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why would a specialist-generalist make a good leader?<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d suggest it\u2019s people who have been in more places and have more skills and can see through more lenses,\u201d says Slemen. \u201cThat\u2019s why the specialist-generalist model is the best way to develop the leadership capabilities of organisations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does this trend towards specialist-generalists pre-date the pandemic?<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

While, the pandemic has proven to be an accelerant, the sports industry was already moving in that direction, given the aforementioned leadership implications. \u201cSome would argue the changes we\u2019re seeing are long overdue,\u201d says Slemen. \u201cPractitioners in the early part of their careers are they\u2019re gaining breadth earlier,\u201d he adds, \u201cnot only the experience of the environment but technical capability.\u201d<\/p>\n

How is this changing how teams hire their staff?<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing analysts that want to be coaches as well,\u201d says Slemen, \u201cbecause if you\u2019re going to do that work for the coach you probably want to have a decent feel as to what it is to be a coach as well. We\u2019d argue that it\u2019s more useful to have a second type of breadth that comes with slightly less depth in your first specialism. By having experience in other areas, it means you don\u2019t only experience the world with one lens and, equally, clients are starting to hire for this as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

What are some of the concerns practitioners share with the current model of specialists?<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

Cavanagh illustrates the risk of what he calls \u2018cognitive entrenchment\u2019. \u201cWe\u2019ve been blindly participating in a bit of an arm\u2019s race,\u201d he says. \u201cThe ability for a generalist-specialist to not only have empathy but an understanding and experience of different facets allows us to collaborate or complement each other. The more we go down the route of specialisms, the more we risk ending up with only one tool.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are potential implications for athletes too. \u201cWe talk in cricket a lot about wanting to develop independent cricketers,\u201d says Bobat. \u201cYet wrap specialists around them and there\u2019s an element of them becoming dependent on that support.\u201d<\/p>\n

So turning to specialist-generalists can help to optimise your performance environment?<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe answer for me is that you have to create an environment that enables learning and development beyond the academy,\u201d says Slemen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important to create immersive experiences within the current world or the current job that they have,\u201d says Cavanagh. \u201cIt can be an experience-based thing that you provide support or a mentor in that space.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to be creative about what that looks like,\u201d adds Danks. \u201cFor example, we trained all of our coaches to become analysts. So they took responsibility for a lot of the video clipping and element of the analysis side. It meant our analysts themselves could do a little bit more around the data and the metrics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cavanagh is of a similar mind: \u201cWe look for someone who can be a generalist with a more holistic view in camp or in a tournament where we can\u2019t afford to bring specialist staff, but that they bring a specialism off camp.\u201d<\/p>\n

What if that specialist expertise is no longer in the building?<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

Then there could be opportunities for consultants, or what Bobat calls \u2018super specialists\u2019. He says: \u201cIt might be that they want to maintain that discreet impact that they can have in a sport; and they might do a set number of days with one team and then another team; they come in and have value impact in an acute area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slemen concurs. \u201cOften, as you get more senior, you quite like a portfolio-type career,\u201d he says. However, \u201cyou have to be somebody that can earn or develop trust quickly, as you\u2019re not truly a part of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Might a training field of specialists be preferable, though?<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

That will depend on your specific context and will be an outcome of clear, decisive leadership. Danks says: \u201cIt\u2019s sometimes easier when there\u2019s less of you, but that\u2019s not necessarily the best; and there\u2019s a difference between easy and best.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest advantage of a larger coaching group is actually noticing skills; we notice more and weigh up more what\u2019s going on in the sessions and the games. When you\u2019re on your own you miss so much; just having that humility as a coach to go and say having someone beside me who\u2019s noticing something different or the role and responsibility of noticing something different had a big impact on me and the way I worked. That means being clear about roles and responsibilities in the planning phase.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been times where you have a gut feeling that there\u2019s too many staff around and there\u2019s also times where you say we haven\u2019t got enough staff or resources,\u201d says Bobat. \u201cYou can have too big a management team and you can have social loafing, but equally, you can get the opposite and people hunt and look for work; the danger there is that it\u2019s all well-intended but you start creating complexity and silos.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is it really a choice between specialists and specialist-generalists?<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. As Slemen says, \u201c\u2018generalist\u2019 sounds a bit derogatory; specialist, you\u2019re special, generalist, you\u2019re not – the people who are the best are both. They might be a specialist-generalist because they\u2019ve got an ability across more than one specialism, but it\u2019s also when a person is able to interact with others, their emotional intelligence, their empathy – those are the sort of skills that will be seen as generalist but are arguably the most important and difficult skills to develop.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re always going to have discreet functions,\u201d says Cavanagh, \u201cbut it\u2019s when you start adding multiples within those functions that the generalist becomes more valuable, or you\u2019ve got a constraint like financial or human resource, where you can only have one person in that space. The generalist becomes more valuable.\u201d<\/p>\n

In summary, EPP call these specialist-generalists \u2018comb-shaped\u2019 in recognition of their technical specialisms – their \u2018major\u2019 and \u2018minors\u2019, to use an analogy from the US university system – and for the breadth they bring in terms of experience, environment and through their \u2018softer\u2019 skills. Comb-shaped practitioners not only learn their trade but seek that strong understanding of other areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Download the latest Performance Special Report<\/strong>,\u00a0The New Now: Navigating High Performance During an Ongoing Pandemic<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 featuring a selection of insights collected from practitioners around the globe as we all continue through these unprecedented times.<\/p>\n