The Foreign Service Journal, April 2004

must always be the department’s highest priority. No Quick Fixes in Sight ... Gratifying as DRI’s first three years have been, it will take several more years for DRI intake to percolate upward fully into the department’s staffing pyramid and correct the imbalances resulting from inadequate hiring in the 1990s. Thus, for exam- ple, some mismatches will persist between ranks of employees and the listed grades of jobs they are performing. But HR will con- tinue, as it has since before DRI began, to make the best matches between our new colleagues and the higher-grad- ed positions they often will fill. As a result, many of our new colleagues will have challenging “stretch” assignments. Meanwhile, many managers, especially at smaller posts, are assuming greater mentoring and career devel- opment responsibilities for their recently-hired staff members. But under DRI, many of these managers now also have the resources and flexibility to devise creative programs — including rotations between sections and temporary duty at other posts, among others — to enhance and accelerate the career development of our new colleagues. Indeed, Director General W. Robert Pearson recently directed every post to develop and/or reinforce such a program for its untenured employees. Finally, at all levels of the department, DRI is also mak- ing possible a return to the healthy balance between work and personal life that is critical to long-term, sustainable readiness. What DRI Means to Each of Us When DRI comes up, we in HR sometimes hear con- cerns expressed about perceived bottlenecks in future promotions. While it is true that fluctuating intake levels can complicate management’s efforts to ensure steady promotion rates, there is no reason to expect DRI- induced delays. Moreover, the cultural changes DRI is designed to foster offer attractive benefits that should transcend this concern. Indeed, DRI gradually is chang- ing our culture to one that puts more emphasis on the longer-term aspects of career development, with less short-term focus only on the next promotion. Survey results tell us that employees are deeply interested in improving the quality of our leader- ship and management capacities and that they see training as a critical ele- ment in meeting this challenge. DRI permits us, if we choose to seize this opportunity, to participate in training along the lines of the best practices of other government agencies and cut- ting-edge corporations, as exempli- fied by FSI’s Leadership and Man- agement Continuum and its just-re- leased Language Continuum. We are evolving from a system that placed little value on training — and offered few opportunities or incentives for it — to one that makes training and overall diplomatic readiness top priorities. Employee surveys and management literature tell us that our newer colleagues seek the opportunity for continual learning and thus are prepared to embrace this change. In sum, DRI is a work in progress that invites the attention and active participation of each of us. Potentially, DRI has the capacity to affect every employee at State, by changing what we do, how we do it, even how we see ourselves and our roles in service to our country. The Next Big Thing The director general, with strong 7th floor backing, is already moving the department forward to the next level of our DRI-empowered evolution, which he is calling “Operational Readiness.” As he discussed in his February FSJ interview, Amb. Pearson’s concept involves three basic aspects. First, we are developing a robust new IT system— a “skills inventory” — for managing and tapping effectively the full range of operational capabilities of the entire State work force. This cross-cutting system, includ- ing both Civil and Foreign Service colleagues, will allow all employees to make maximum contributions to our readiness and response capabilities. Second, we are pulling together a “Readiness Reserve” potentially com- posed of all active-duty, and many retired, State employ- ees to meet coming foreign policy challenges. And third, the department is expanding its training systems to maxi- mize the impact and effectiveness of the emerging DRI training complement. Together, these advances are intended to create a lasting legacy for the State Depart- ment, and the Foreign Service, built on Secretary Powell’s Diplomatic Readiness Initiative. F O C U S 28 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / A P R I L 2 0 0 4 The State Department work force that welcomed Secretary Powell on Jan. 20, 2001, had huge gaps in its ranks.