The Foreign Service Journal, April 2020

20 APRIL 2020 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL SPEAKING OUT Breaking Away from “ Born, Not Made ” BY ANDREA SUSANA MART I NEZ DONNAL LY AND CHR I ST I NA T. L E Andrea Susana Martinez Donnally joined the State Department Foreign Service in 2004 after six years as an international trade specialist with the Foreign Com- mercial Service. She has served in Colombia, Iraq, Tunisia, India and Cyprus, in addition to assignments in Washington, D.C. After joining the department, she married and now has three young children, a dog and a working partner. Christina T. Le joined the Foreign Service in 2009 and has served in Mexico, Greece and Japan, as well as in Washington, D.C. She was president of the Asian American Foreign Affairs Association from 2015 to 2018. She was a co-recipient of the 2017 William R. Rivkin Award for Constructive Dissent and a National Security Fellow at the Center for a New American Security. T he Department of State’s Dip- lomatic Readiness Initiative hiring surge from 2001 to 2004 included active recruitment for specialized languages and experiences. The expanded hiring should have been matched with relevant changes to our organizational culture and accompanying systems like promotions, education, eval- uations and assignments. Unfortunately, it was not. It is often said by department leaders that great diplomats “rise to the top” and “hard work is rewarded,” but it isn’t clear how a person’s efforts will deliver promotions and opportunities. In fact, what allows some to rise over others? Director General Carol Perez’s recent personnel reform efforts have sounded the alarm, highlighting the need for a new organizational culture. But her endeavors alone will not right the ship of State so long as our community con- tinues to act on our antiquated thinking, and our personnel systems do not fully capture or keep pace with the diversity of our people. The rigid institutional identity underlying these systems— which can be summed up as a belief that diplomats are “born, not made”— remains pervasive. This organizational culture is pre- venting the State Department from realizing the full potential of the wide spectrum of people that make up our department, including not only the ethnic, racial and religious diversity of our colleagues, but also nontraditional structures such as international or interagency marriages, single parents, divorced tandem spouses and second- career professionals, among others. The situation, perpetuated now by mostly outdated systems, is unlikely to change unless we are aware of our out- dated views of the traditional workplace and break with this arcane thinking. It is incumbent upon each of us to recognize that diplomats should be made with expe- rience, mentorship and training, and that it is essential that the department mod- ernize the personnel systems on which we rely to ensure they reward talent and merit (not simply years of service). Training: Ready, Set, Diplomat We describe ourselves as learned, and the Foreign Service Act of 1980 explicitly directs the executive branch to develop a corps of well-prepared officers, “representative of the Ameri- can people” and “informed of current concerns and trends in American life, knowledgeable of the affairs, cultures and languages of other countries.” If the department’s role is to conduct foreign policy, it would stand to reason that continuous education is important. Yet although we pride ourselves on being smart, we do not hold education in high esteem. Many among us have fondly referred to learning the art of diplomacy as “on-the-job training.” Amore accurate descriptor is “learn as you go.” Newly arrived staff at a post, including first-tour officers, are lucky if they receive notes handed over by their predecessors. The majority of training (not education) a generalist receives throughout their career is in foreign languages or technical skills (e.g., budgeting and contracting). Mandatory leadership training for mid- level specialists and generalists is given for Without a more significant investment in education, we are abdicating our responsibility to prepare the next wave of diplomats.