The Foreign Service Journal, April 2023

20 APRIL 2023 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL the past six months were almost three times (!) more likely to be engaged in the workplace. I created a workbook for each of my employees, making sure we went through the evaluation process a step at a time throughout each evaluation period (usually a year or less). Walking through the process each year, I learned a lot, came to understand my staff better, and was better placed to mentor and support them and the organization. A key was robust counseling ses- sions that built one upon the other, with the employee speaking at least 80 percent of the time during each session. I applied my worksheet process to all of my employees equally, across special- ties and cones, from local staff to direct hires and to embassy family member employees. One critical element of inclusion and support to diversity is a need for manag- ers to give equal support, attention, and opportunities to all without bias. My worksheets helped me do that. 2. Or, consider evaluation writing like the harvest season. Another way to think about the evaluation cycle is as EER “season.” I always considered the weeks we write, review, and submit evaluations to be a bit like the harvest— when we reap what we have sown, nur- tured, and cared for over the previous year. This works for our own evaluations and for those we write for our staff. Our bounty this year depends on the skills, techniques, strategies, and lessons we learned or tried in prior years. We may choose to leave some areas fallow (for example, taking a job that may not allow you to supervise others but gives you substantive experience) in order to improve other aspects of our skill set or career. In other years we have amazing rains at all the right times and enjoy a bumper crop; and those are very “pro- motable” years/evaluations. 3. Put in the time. An evaluation is as good as it is genuine and reflective of the effort and time all parties put into it during the year. To the “season” analogy, if you don’t appropriately leverage other parts of the year—including planting thoughtful goals and position descrip- tions, and regularly tending to perfor- mance through focused counseling ses- sions—there will be very little of value to harvest at the end of the growing season. The time put into the evaluation cycle is important. I routinely set aside hourly sessions with each of my direct reports three to four times a year. To those who say, “I don’t have time for that!” my response is that you need to make time, just as you make time for other impor- tant priorities. If I could do it as a DCM and chargé, including during periods of political or other crisis, so can you. Indeed, there is no better investment you can make into your staff, your office, your post, or the future of the department than these hours. Let me put it another way: Imagine your own supervisor prioritizing time with you a few times a year, a regular meeting you can count on where, unin- terrupted, your supervisor sits one-on- one to ask you thoughtful questions and genuinely listens. How would that make you feel? Seen? Recognized? Respected? Valued? Heard? Would it impact how you worked with your supervisor? Or how you felt about the job? Data suggests strongly that it would. And you have the power to do that today for each and every one of your direct reports. Why wouldn’t you do it? What could possibly be more important? 4. Be consistent. Leverage evalua- tion forms. Eliminate surprise. Many workplaces, including the State Depart- ment, have required forms for counsel- ing. They may require you to write a narrative once or more a year, prior to a final evaluation. Or perhaps you are only required to submit an annual evaluation and no other paperwork. Final, formal evaluations should never contain surprises for the employee. Low rankings or areas for improvement should have been raised, documented, and addressed with guid- ance and time to show improvement during the rating period. Anything less is simply unfair to the employee and the workplace. If your office does not require (or does not enforce the requirement for) written or formal counseling sessions prior to periodic evaluations, do them anyway. Providing both written and verbal counseling and evaluation is your responsibility as a fair supervisor. People absorb information differently, and as a supervisor you should adapt your meth- odologies to support your employees and their growth. When your employee has multiple mechanisms and opportunities to bene- fit from counseling, they are more likely to grow and improve their performance. Studies reinforce that a manager who engages employees in the evaluation process has a striking influence on the employee and the workplace.