The Foreign Service Journal, June 2008

To accomplish these goals, Under Secretary Joseph established a T Family Foreign Service Officer Working Group, open to all FSOs in those three bureaus. Its activities are managed by a steering group that includes a Foreign Service rep- resentative from each bureau, the senior FSO in the T front office, the T family’s FSO HR manage- ment officer and me, a non-FSO facilitator. In the summer of 2006, after conducting several meetings with FSOs in the three T bureaus, meeting with FSOs elsewhere in the department, and analyzing responses to a questionnaire sent to all T family FSOs, including those serving in T positions outside of the Harry S. Truman Building, the working group reached the following conclusions: • Service in the T family is not perceived by the Foreign Service community as career-enhancing, with good reason. FSOs serving in our three bureaus face important impediments to advancement: The pro- motion system’s subject-matter requirements focus on regional expertise and do not require functional exper- tise; and promotion boards and assignment panels are largely, if not exclusively, made up of officers who lack functional policy experience. Further, under the current system, regional bureaus bring candidates to panel for jobs in their embassies, and ambassadorial and DCM- level positions are vetted by committees that have no T representation. • T he T bureaus’ issues, mission and organiza- tion are not well understood within the Foreign Service. One key misperception is that FSOs must already possess extensive technical expertise to work in T. In fact, while some positions do require such knowledge, most do not. And in many slots, a regional background can make the difference between successfully conveying our message and not being heard. • Cultural differences between the Foreign Service and the Civil Service (and the desire not to be in the minority) diminish the desirability of assignments in functional bureaus for FSOs. There is a heavy preponderance of Civil Service employees in ISN, PM and VCI, so the working culture in those bureaus largely reflects their values and concerns: sub- ject-matter expertise, limited career opportunities within State outside of the functional bureaus, and an ad- vancement and reward system in which formal evaluations are not as central to one’s career as they are in the Foreign Service. Expanding, Encouraging and Rewarding Functional Policy Expertise The group made a number of specific recommenda- tions to address these issues, subsequently endorsed by the under secretary, that are aimed at leveling the playing field for promotion and onward assignment in the Foreign Service and expanding Foreign Service under- standing of T issues. Here are some of the short-term steps that T has taken or is pursuing: Training sessions for all supervisors and Foreign Service officers on how to write employee evalua- tion reports that will support promotion in the Foreign Service. At T’s request, the Bureau of Human Resources organized three workshops focusing on this skill during 2007, all of which were well attended. In 2008, the FSO Working Group held two sessions for FSOs. Additionally, HR conducted a separate session for our raters and reviewers, who are largely political appointees or in the Civil Service. The latter session focused on what our raters and reviewers need to know to write Foreign Service evaluations that will get our stars recognized as such. Participation in Foreign Service promotion boards. While not specifically recommended by the FSO Working Group, consistent with its spirit, the three T bureaus have encouraged eligible FSOs to volunteer to serve on promotion boards, leading to a greater number of T volunteers for such boards. Active support and assistance to T FSOs and T FSO alumni during the bidding season. Last year, our under secretary, assistant secretaries and deputy assistant secretaries sent e-mails to bureau FSOs offering them active assistance and support. They followed up by advocating proactively with their regional counterparts and with assignment panels, upon request. Formal, high-level recognition of outstanding performance. The new Under Secretary’s Award for Excellence in International Security Affairs, announced F O C U S 38 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U N E 2 0 0 8 All Foreign Service generalists need functional policy experience and exposure to do their jobs well.