The Foreign Service Journal, October 2015

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2015 55 AFSA NEWS Reforming State’s Performance Management System After engaging in an 18-month review with the Department of State’s Bureau of Human Resources, the American Foreign Service Association has agreed to several reforms to the employee appraisal and selection board systems. The new approach to performance management is intended to enhance pro- fessional development and Foreign Service effectiveness and streamline the appraisal and promotion processes. Three major changes will go into effect in the 2015- 2016 evaluation cycle: • Introduction of a new Employee Evaluation Report form (DS-5055), which is shorter and designed to focus more on results and demon- strated examples of collabo- ration and less on tasks and individual precepts. • Adoption of revamped selection board review pro- cedures for Foreign Service officers, who will now be evaluated once in a compre- hensive, full-spectrum review, rather than twice by separate selection boards (i.e., class- wide and functional). The pro- cedures for Foreign Service specialists are unchanged. • Revision and better advertising of clear criteria for selecting officers in the Senior Foreign Service to receive performance pay. The EER’s increased focus on outcomes came out of an extensive HR effort to collect input frommore than 100 promotion panels and 23 information-gathering ses- sions. HR found that concrete examples demonstrating an employee’s effectiveness across the six competencies are far more persuasive than shallow vignettes highlighting only one competency when evaluating the employee’s promotion potential. According to HR officials, the department spends an estimated 82 staff years on the EER drafting, review and promotion panel process each year. The new system will dramatically reduce the time spent writing EERs and navigating the ePerformance platform (yes, even this clunky medium will become easier in 2015-2016). The department believes that all FS employees will learn of promotion decisions a full four to six weeks faster. Contributing to the shortened processing time is the elimination of the two-panel review system for FSOs, which will have a knock-on effect for all promo- tion boards, both officer and specialist. While the number of promotions for FSOs will continue to be determined by skill code and grade, based on the needs of the Service, the panel will comprise officers from every cone and will evaluate FSOs on their classwide and functional performance. The goal is to eliminate skill-code silos and ensure the Foreign Service is, in fact, motivating its officers to con- tinually challenge themselves and grow professionally across a broad spectrum of competencies. AFSA believes the changes will streamline the perfor- mance evaluation process and result in a more effective Foreign Service. The asso- ciation will, however, closely monitor its rollout over the course of the next year. n —Maria C. Livingston, Associate Editor AFSA/MARIAC.LIVINGSTON STAY CURRENT ON THE OPM DATA BREACH The American Foreign Service Association is closely monitoring developments on the recent data breaches at the Office of Personnel Management and updating our website with the latest information at www.afsa.org/opm-breach. On Aug. 9, AFSA President Ambassador Barbara Stephenson sent a letter (see www.bit.ly/1UXJ9te) to OPM Acting Director Beth Cobert regarding the reported breach. In the letter, Stephenson stressed the unique vulnerability of the Foreign Service, and again requested a briefing with OPM to discuss concerns specific to our members. AFSA will remain engaged with this issue as long as is necessary. We encourage our members to keep checking AFSA’s website, as well the OPM site, for additional information. n NEWS BRIEF