The Foreign Service Journal, January 2005

U nder the present system, Foreign Service promotion boards at State and the other four foreign affairs agencies meet each year to weigh all of the accumulated evidence in each FS employee’s per- sonnel file, based upon general guid- ance in the form of promotion pre- cepts. They then rank-order all employees for possible promotion. In most instances, this system works well to reward the top perform- ers and identify those in need of improvement. However, it leaves the majority of officers in the middle tiers uncertain of their prospects for future promotion. In addition, while the process is intended to be objective, in reality some of the most difficult deci- sions are made behind closed doors without explicit written guidance. Switching to a cumulative, points- based promotion system could dra- matically increase the transparency of the process, greatly increase the pre- dictability of promotions, and signifi- cantly simplify the work of Foreign Service selection boards. Under a points-based system, pro- motion panels would continue to meet annually. However, rather than con- sidering each officer’s entire personnel file, they would rank employees based only upon those documents added to the personnel file during the past year. In addition, rather than receiving pro- motions based directly on the annual rank-ordered list, each employee would receive a certain number of “promotion points” each year based upon his/her position in the overall ranking. Those points would be added to the total each employee had accu- mulated since his/her last promotion. The department or agency would then award promotions according to each employee’s total accumulated points until all the slots available for that cycle were used up. After each pro- motion, an employee’s point total would be reset to zero pending the next year’s review. Moving to a point systemwould not fundamentally change the EER process. The evaluation forms, the review panels, the precepts and every- thing else that the department and AFSA have worked so hard to assem- ble would continue largely as they are today. But once the initial investment needed to compile initial point totals is completed, annual promotion boards would face a much easier task since they would review much less material for each officer. While the procedural changes involved in implementing a points-based system would be fairly minor, the impact would be profound. Increased Transparency A point system would allow the department to bring much more transparency to the evaluation and promotion process. Even given the exhaustive work that goes into prepar- ing and agreeing upon specific promo- tion precepts each year, many key questions remain unanswered under the current approach. Many of these are highly contentious. For example, how long should a consistently average employee wait for promotion compared to a consistently excellent employee or to a consistent- ly above-average employee? Then there’s the perennial issue of how to evaluate officers who turn in slightly substandard, but still acceptable, per- formances year after year. How many of us know someone who, after a dozen or more years at grade, was finally promoted even though his/her performance (and EER) was as tepid as ever? And how does a single bad EER affect future promotions? Under the present system, who — except board members themselves — can say how heavily a single poor evaluation from three or four years ago weighs against an employee’s promotion chances this year? Lastly, how exactly do long-term language study and other training affect promotion odds? Does (or should) earning an outstanding final score in Russian at FSI be given the same weight as doing an outstanding job in Russia? Under the present system, promo- Switching to a cumulative, points-based promotion system could dramatically increase the transparency of the promotion process. Toward A Points-Based Promotion System B Y K ENNETH J. F AIRFAX J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 5 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 15 S PEAKING O UT w