The Foreign Service Journal, January 2005

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 39 fter 18 years in the Foreign Service, I had the opportunity last summer to sit on a selection board for the first time. I learned a great deal while reading over 1,000 efficiency reports on nearly 200 mid-level FSO generalists. Below are the lessons I took away from that experience. Although they represent the views of just one person serving on one board for one competition group, I think that other Foreign Service members might benefit from these insights from inside a promotion board. The Basics The purpose of selection boards is to identify Foreign Service members whose skills, experience and qualities establish them as being ready to perform at the next higher level. Those skills, experience and qualities are spelled out in the procedural precepts and core precepts that are nego- tiated between State’s management and AFSA. Having participated in those negotiations from 1999 to 2003 as AFSA vice president for State and then AFSA pres- ident, I know that careful attention is placed on using the precepts as a mechanism to shape the Foreign Service of tomorrow. In other words, the precepts instruct selection boards to recommend for promotion only those employees who exhibit the skills, experience and qualities that the department and AFSA have identified as being needed to meet the demands of America’s 21st-century diplomacy. The mechanics of how the boards go about their work were well described in the May 2004 Foreign Service Journal article “Preparing for Promotion Panel Season” by David Jones and Stephen Smith (available online at http://www.afsa.org/fsj/2004.cfm). T he article does contain one editorial glitch that was noted in a subsequent issue: the typical board spends 20 minutes (not two) reading each employee’s performance file. A Caveat Before I list tips that may be of use to employees inter- ested in rapid promotions, let me express one note of cau- tion. While promotions are important (providing a vote of confidence in one’s performance, the opportunity for greater responsibilities, and more pay), they are not every- thing. Arguably, the goal of a Foreign Service career is to enjoy and make the most of the journey, not to take an unbroken series of overwhelming assignments in an effort to claw up the ladder to some high-level job that may or may not ever materialize. Employees who focus only on getting the next promotion risk falling into the trap of “always becoming, never being.” They risk getting to the end of their Foreign Service journey without having enjoyed a rewarding personal life (for example, family, friends and hobbies). Ten Tips What, then, do selection boards look for in deciding whom to promote? The precepts list many things, but below are what I see as being the top considerations. While many of these “tips” may seem obvious, I think it is useful to remind ourselves of them. The quotes in each section are taken from the precepts, which can be read on the State Department Intranet at http://hrweb.hr.state.gov/pe/regulation.html. I NSIDE A P ROMOTION P ANEL W HAT DO SELECTION BOARDS LOOK FOR IN DECIDING WHOM TO PROMOTE ? H ERE IS A “ TOP TEN ” LIST OF TIPS TO MAXIMIZE ONE ’ S CHANCES OF CAREER ADVANCEMENT . B Y J OHN N ALAND John Naland, an FSO since 1986, has served in Bogota, San Jose, Nicaragua and numerous Washington assign- ments. From 1999 to 2001, he was AFSA’s State vice pres- ident, and served as AFSA president from 2001 to 2003. He is currently principal officer in Matamoros. A