The Foreign Service Journal, March 2021

50 MARCH 2021 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL First, constructive dissent drives innovation. The private sector knows this. Forbes magazine recently argued that one person’s dissenting views can drive the creativity of an entire group, promoting divergent and unbiased thinking that enhances decision-making. Dissent is also an important part of working in teams, where each voice brings a unique perspective. For diplomats, our ability to give honest policy recommendations will only be as good as our ability to have honest conversations with each other and within our own institution. Second, constructive dissent creates a safer, more open work environment. Dissent without fear of reprisal is crucial to gen- erating new and different ways of thinking. When leadership encourages constructive dissent, employees understand that their ideas are valued and are more likely to contribute to the common good—especially diplomats from diverse backgrounds whom the department has had a chronic problem retaining. Third, constructive dissent is a measure of the strength of leadership. The best leaders recognize and protect dissent because they understand that it allows them to shift some of the burden of decision-making from themselves to the strengths and talents of their team. It also prevents the irra- tional and dangerous phenomenon of “groupthink.” Being an effective leader means that you actively encourage individu- als to speak their mind—a value that lies at the heart of our democracy. Seeing dissent as a positive attribute and not a threat helps to create trusting partnerships between leadership and employees, and results in better workplace safety, more inclu- sive policies and higher ethical standards. Organizations die from conformity, not dissent. FSOs Amelia Shaw, Moises Mendoza, William E. O’Bryan, Roshni Nirody, Elena Augustine, Luke Zahner, Christina Le, Anna Boulos, Jefferson Smith , Thomas Wong, Wendy Brafman, Maurizio Visani , Kathryn Kiser, Cecilia Cho and Mariju Bofill are past winners of AFSA awards for constructive dissent. Address Resources and Organization To reinvigorate U.S. diplomacy, changes that are both inter- nal and external to the State Department are necessary. First, Congress should provide a consistent budget and timely annual financial flows. Period. No more continuing res- olutions. The U.S. Foreign Service should be able to count on at least an annual budget and financial flows—even better, a real two-year budget. We all know that no business could remain viable if it operated the way our government has operated over the last 20 years. The financial fits and starts, or shutdowns, make it extraordinarily difficult to plan or implement anything. Second, foreign affairs professionals should be leading U.S. foreign policy. The National Security Council and Department of Defense, as well as Congress, have taken on larger roles while State Department talent—which focuses all its time and effort overseas and is physically located around the globe—has been sidelined. From a global operational perspective, several priorities stand out. First, the U.S. government needs to focus on building global trust and being a reliable, consistent partner. For the last 10 years (at least, and likely since 9/11), U.S. motives have been questioned, and we have not been able to sufficiently answer concerns, even from our strongest allies. Second, we need to be able to effectively communicate in a world that is on 24/7. We need to ramp up our capacity and resources so that we can be a positive and strong influence and model in the global chat room. But we also need to ramp up our ability to meet face to face with the world. In other words, there should be increased emphasis on and resources for exchange programs. Current State Department exchange programs are the gold standard globally. Finally, to develop and align personnel resources to be where they are really needed, the State Department’s human resources systems should be completely overhauled, especially the evaluation, promotion and assignment processes. Profes- sional development and training should also be more fre- quently required. Though State attracts great talent, its internal operations are often nontransparent and decades behind the rest of the country. Susan Shultz is a recently retired State Department FSO in Arlington, Virginia. 3 Retention