How to GetComponent from Class that uses Generics

Hi, i'm tweaking a State Machine Class that allows to work with Generics to simplify work. I'm getting an error that i can't decode:

 Assets/Scripts/Entities/Character.cs(60,33): error CS0309: The type `StateMachine<Character>' must be convertible to `UnityEngine.Component' in order to use it as parameter `T' in the generic type or method `UnityEngine.Component.GetComponent<T>()'

Here's the code i'm using:

 _stateMachine = GetComponent<StateMachine<Character>>();

And The State Machine Class format:

 using UnityEngine;
 using System.Collections;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 
 public class StateMachine<T> where T : MonoBehaviour {
     
     private List<State<T>> _states = new List<State<T>>();
     
     public void onState()
     {
     }
     public void setState(int state)
     {
 
     }
     /// <summary>
     /// Adds the state.
     /// </summary>
     /// <param name='s'>
     /// a state component.
     /// </param>
     public void addState(State<T> s)
     {
     }
 
 }

Character Class extends MonoBehaviour, so i don't understand what it's the nature of the problem.

Any ideas??

Thanks in advance.

Francisco.