The Foreign Service Journal, September 2018

36 SEPTEMBER 2018 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 1. Articulate a clear vision. Ambassadors should articulate a compelling vision for advancing the mission over the next three to five years. This will provide critical energy and direction for the mission. “Vision isn’t everything, but it’s the beginning of everything,” as David McAllister-Wilson, president of Wesley Theological Seminary, puts it. 2. Stay focused on the mission objectives. This may seem obvious, but it is incredibly difficult for officers to stay focused on the mission objectives because of the daily pressure to react to events and respond to requests fromMain State and home agencies. Ronald E. Neumann, who served as ambassador to Afghanistan, Bahrain and Algeria, tackled this problem by providing ‘top cover’ so that officers could and would say no. He said, “I told my staff: ‘Instructions come only from me or in front channel cables. Anything else is a request. If you think a request is wrong or will get in the way of something I told you to do, come see the DCM or me.’ If we didn’t want to accom- modate the request, I would tell the officer to message back, ‘I can’t follow your instruction because the ambassador says no, but he said you can call him to talk about it.’ The phone never rang.” 3. Constantly communicate the vision and objectives. Every mission’s integrated country strategy needs a consistent commu- nications effort if it is to succeed. Once leaders at the top and in the middle have internalized the strategy, they must help frontline employees see how it connects with their day-to-day work. Successful missions do things like the following: Discuss progress on the strategy at every country team meeting . For example, at every country teammeeting at the U.S. mission to India, former five-time Ambassador Nancy Pow- ell asked people to cite an achievement from the previous week or an upcoming challenge linked to a mission objective. Require action memos to link proposals to the mission strategy. “When a section or agency sends a decision memo asking the chief of mission or DCM to participate in something,” DCM Eric Khant says, “it should demonstrate how the leader’s participation will help advance mission objectives.” Communicate success stories in a monthly front office newsletter, including how the work of staff members contrib- uted to mission goals or eliminated obstacles to achieving key mission objectives. Organize a “look back and look ahead” town hall, where the ambassador reviews mission progress over the past six months and the key objectives for the next six months. When the strategy is continually reinforced through such meetings and onboarding “check-ins” for newly arrived employees, training sessions and other forums where people at all levels ask ques- tions and share ideas, it draws their support. Create ICS communications materials to raise awareness. Here’s one great example: The U.S. missions to Burma, Maurita- nia and Uruguay each developed and disseminated a collection of integrated country strategy (ICS) communications materials. Mission goals and objectives were prominently displayed on the intranet site and printed—in English and the local language—on wallet-sized cards, desk cards and posters. These materials were displayed in high-traffic areas within the embassy and could also be included in welcome kits. Establish Teams & Routines to Drive Implementation Once the mission strategy is developed, chiefs of mission, DCMs and the country team need to know—on a routine basis— how well the mission is implementing the plan and delivering the outcomes it promises. I recommend the following three-part framework for implementation: 1. Establish mission goal or objective teams. Unless it’s someone’s job, it’s no one’s job. At the heart of successful imple- mentation of the country strategy are mission teams focused on helping achieve its objectives. They can help ensure that the mission has clear, measurable and outcome-oriented objectives. They can also ensure that programs to implement the ICS out- line how the program will contribute to objectives, how progress and performance will be measured and tracked, and how the program will be evaluated. These teams should include Locally Employed staff and be the people at post the chief of mission and DCM can count on to be largely resistant to the crises of the moment, even when the front office has to respond to them. 2. Collect performance data. Doing an effective job of imple- menting and adjusting the strategy hinges on having the right It’s important to find ways to reward and protect those who take reasonable risks but achieve less than positive results.