The Foreign Service Journal, May 2013

the needs of male spouses and partners. • Consider allowing greater flexibility in planning the timing of overseas assignments, as this may help spouses to develop and sustain viable careers. • Institute specialized leadership training for women that focuses on how to navigate situations where they encounter gender bias, how to become aware of gender differences in communication and negotiating styles, and how to communicate and negotiate more effectively. • Design training to help women identify ways to highlight their unique leadership style and their suc- cesses and accomplishments as leaders. • Provide training and other assistance to women to help them learn to network more effectively and solicit sponsors to help them in their career development and advancement. • Assist women in identifying the specific training and skills development they need to further advance. Make access to specialized training available to those who need to focus on specific skill sets. • Task the Federal Women’s program with carrying out training modules for women on these topics. • Identify State Department resources that could be deployed to help build a formal network of women that could operate on a virtual platform, so as to be acces- sible by women in Washington and overseas. Such a site could help identify training opportunities and provide relevant online training, as well as allow for the sharing of ideas and resources and facilitate mentor- ing/sponsorship matchups. • Institute a mentoring requirement for all SFS officers, and make them accountable for their perfor- mance as mentors. • Include modules on effective mentoring in our leadership training, highlighting differences between mentoring and sponsoring. • Provide training to women so they can leverage their relationships with mentors and build stronger networks of support within the organization. • Assign all incoming female Entry-Level Officers both a senior female mentor and a male mentor, so ELOs can benefit from both perspectives. • Pair female Foreign Service employees planning a family with more experienced female officers who have successfully juggled work and child-care responsibili- ties. • Determine where the use of Flexible Work Arrange- ments could be expanded, both in Washington and overseas; identify barriers to their use; and learn from current best practices to overcome such bar- riers. (In the case of Foreign Service employees, the fear of missing out on promotions or good follow-on assignments may be a significant barrier. Moreover, an employee interested in an FWA is currently forced to ask for such an arrangement when bidding on a posi- tion, making it likely the employee will be passed over in favor of another bidder not asking for what is still considered a “perk” or “special consideration.”) • Allow for an open discussion of concerns about FWAs among middle managers and employees, and make use of tools provided by the Office of Personnel Management and others for this purpose. • Develop and implement metrics for FWA work output to reassure managers that work goals are being met and to ensure that employees’ evaluations prop- erly recognize the work being performed remotely. — Margot Carrington The Federal Women’s Program in our overseas posts also needs more care and feeding fromWashington. This might include something as simple as creating a platform for sharing ideas and program resources. THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MAY 2013 43