The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2023

38 JULY-AUGUST 2023 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL evidence suggests women and people with disabilities do more of.) We conducted diversity recruitment and instituted scored panel interviews with set questions that would interview all at- grade, in-cone bidders. WHA doubled down on adding senior- level “out-year-language program” positions on the bid list to give officers who had spent careers in other regions the time to learn a WHA language. We catalyzed a multibureau bidder feedback survey to measure success. We mostly succeeded, but not without unintended consequences. Notably, the new requirements took considerably more time. In the process of this work, we discovered some challenging realities. Difficult Truth #7: Most employees don’t see procedural changes to advance DEIA as their responsibility. With several notable exceptions, I found mid-level staff more hesitant to change the priorities and rules they had learned to live by and expect to get promoted by, even when they had the authority to do so. Entry-level and senior-level personnel tended to be more open to systems and culture changes, but many senior-level per- sonnel don’t do enough to examine the DEIA outcomes under their control and insufficiently challenge their own teams and portfolios. Difficult Truth #8: The diplomatic advantage of a diverse workforce is clear, but the route from the department staff we have to a racial, gender, and ethnic composition that mirrors our country in fewer than several decades isn’t clear. Nor is account- ability clear. Who should be held responsible when the depart- ment’s workforce doesn’t represent the demographic diversity of our country? And how should we hold them accountable? Difficult Truth #9: Even obvious “curb-cuts” often get dis- missed as infeasible due to lack of resources or siloed portfolios. For example, the 360-reference system was an improvement when it was built but now adds little value to the Foreign Service assignments process. A system that includes an element of feed- back from random subordinates and peers (not just the hand- picked ones) would provide interview panels with better insight and could incentivize more collegiality. This requires pulling together information from disparate IT systems controlled by several bureaus, a challenging and perhaps costly undertaking. Difficult Truth #10: The State Department encourages team- work, but few rewards actually incentivize teamwork, much less inclusive, diverse teamwork. The most important incentives—pro- motions, assignments, awards—prioritize individual performance and are competitive and limited, creating a mostly “me vs. you” career ladder. Incentivizing diverse and inclusive collaboration, rather than constant competition, may produce better teamwork. b The good news is that the State Department has a history of successfully combining employee-driven change with leader- ship from the top to make procedural and cultural “curb-cuts,” although they weren’t called that at the time. “The Macomber Era, ” as AFSA’s Tex Harris dubbed Ambassador William Butts Macomber’s 1969-1973 period as under secretary, “introduced the cone system and open bidding for jobs, emancipated wives from ratings and unpaid work, mandated gender equality, pro- vided for due process in evaluations, allowed officers to see their ‘secret’ performance appraisals and much more” in the Foreign Service. Fifty years ago, Amb. Macomber set up dozens of task forces with hundreds of employee volunteers examining how the department conducts business. This is exactly what many offices and bureaus in the department as well as outside organizations have done over the past few years. The State Department is in the midst of an equally monumental era of change. We need to face difficult truths by holding more uncomfort- able conversations and dedicating sufficient resources both human and financial. We need to consider the cost of not making “curb-cut” changes rather than just the immediate price tag of making such changes. We need to collect and analyze data and measure progress. We need to consider equity outcomes in our foreign affairs policies and programs early on, and engage more on equity with foreign counterparts and affected communities. Most of all, we need to accelerate the consideration of diverse identities, backgrounds, and experiences as our work- force’s superpowers. These qualities make us more effective at understanding, persuading, and negotiating with other cultures and countries. And we need to embrace the national security imperative to seize this historic, urgent moment to strengthen democracies’ collective ability to attack the consistent bias and discrimination that corrodes our societies. There is no better inoculation against authoritarianism than a democracy that delivers equitably for all. n The State Department encourages teamwork, but few rewards actually incentivize teamwork, much less inclusive, diverse teamwork.