The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2005

or find a quiet area to study can attest, overcrowding and noise remain real problems. Louisa O’Neil, who was an FSI student from January to June 2004, comments that “it seemed odd indeed that the facilities for conversing, study- ing, thinking and reading were virtually non-existent. … During the winter, the cafeteria was the only place available for studying or group study sessions, yet televisions constantly blared.” Still, she emphasizes, “the students, teachers and administrators do the best they can in an extremely crowded, stressful environment.” FSI’s Training Philosophy Director Katherine Peterson (see interview, p. 41) describes FSI’s priorities as “developing leadership and management programs; supporting the Secretary’s Diplomatic Readiness Initiative with orientation, trade- craft and language training; enhancing consular/border security training; increasing critical language training; and, expanding and enhancing our public diplomacy training.” The institute also offers area studies, informa- tion technology training, overseas security instruction, and courses aiding employees and their families in tran- sition to and from overseas assignments. An important element of FSI’s approach is the belief that Foreign Service training should both develop the particular skills needed at each level of an officer’s career and provide a foundation for an officer to move into areas of increased responsibility. As the Training Continuum for Foreign Service Generalists observes: “An officer’s early career is focused more on operational issues. At more senior levels, broader strategic, leadership and management responsibilities are the norm. Most early training is focused on tradecraft courses designed to teach employees basic knowledge, skills and abilities — the tools — to do the work in a particular cone or assign- ment. The tradecraft courses, in combination with the basic A-100 orientation course, lay the foundation for fur- ther studies and experience. Because management and leadership skills are so important to officers at every level, leadership and management modules are embedded in tradecraft courses for all grade levels.” As newly-tenured personnel assume positions of increasing influence and greater leader- ship and managerial responsi- bility, the Training Continuum encourages officers to “focus on training opportunities that will build on their experience on the job and that will broaden and deepen their understanding and capabilities in leadership and management.” Generalists are encouraged to con- sider the special training (and assignment) opportunities available outside the department, such as one-year assignments to the Armed Forces Command and Staff Colleges, the Corporate Placement Program, the Princeton Woodrow Wilson School Program and the public policy fellowship program at Princeton, and the Pearson Program. Still, the Continuum acknowledges that no single guide, however comprehensive, can serve all employees in all situations. It therefore encourages officers to “take an informed, active role in making decisions about the training they need to achieve their career aspirations.” Along these lines, the new FSI Language Continuum , unveiled in January, is not simply about formal training: it is a strategic document, designed to help officers plan a career-long approach to language learning and use. It presents an integrated view of language-learning options that includes a new approach to post language programs, innovative distance learning programs and expanded use of overseas field schools. For instance, FSI is working to increase immersion training and make focused media skills training available at institutions overseas, beginning with a pilot program at FSI/Tunis. A Road Map to Diplomatic Leadership “In the past, talented professionals could rise to senior positions in the Department of State with little or no for- mal training in areas other than language,” FSI’s current Leadership and Management Training Continuum notes. “That is no longer the case. Our global challenges and our resource management issues have become too com- plex, and our people and national interests have become too vulnerable to accommodate haphazard professional development.” The department’s current emphasis on leadership and F O C U S 20 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 5 During the past year, over 40,000 students (a record enrollment) took more than 425 classroom courses, including some 60 languages.