The Foreign Service Journal, September 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2018 33 Today State has a unique opportunity to reassert leadership of foreign policy by focusing on delivering the outcomes promised by strategies that are now aligned across the department. BY MATT BOLAND Matt Boland is an FSO who currently serves as a senior strategy officer at the State Department. He has also served as a diplomat-in-residence for the Boston Consulting Group and is a member of the Strategy Consortium at the Atlantic Council. His overseas as- signments include Madrid, Islamabad, Panama City and Vienna. The author wishes to thank the current and former State Depart- ment Foreign Service officers, Civil Service professionals and political appointees who shared their insights and experiences regarding stra- tegic planning and performance management, particularly the lead- ers and staff of the strategic planning teams in the Office of Foreign Assistance Resources and the Bureau of Budget and Planning. He also thanks BCG partners Sharon Marcil, Danny Werfel and Troy Thomas for their invaluable guidance and support. W hy is it that some chiefs of mission and deputy chiefs of mission are better than others at turning policy ideas into results? How do some seem to project a command presence—pro- viding overall direction, interagency coordina- tion and leadership of U.S. foreign policy in country—while others do not? After all, they are just like chiefs of mission and deputy chiefs of mission (DCMs) everywhere: they have access to the same mission-driven workforce, they struggle against the same outdated State Department technolo- gies, and they face the same pressure to react to events and respond to taskings from D.C. As it turns out, however, they all follow much the same routine. Many great government leaders think, act and com- municate in similar ways. The best leaders at State follow these practices, and we would all benefit if more leaders did so. The need to improve strategic planning and implementation has been highlighted in every major State Department reform initiative since 1992. One problem is that many at State believe You Have a Strategy. NowWhat? How to Turn Any U.S. Mission Strategy into Results CAN STATE DELIVER? FOCUS