The Foreign Service Journal, October 2018

20 OCTOBER 2018 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Breaking Down Stovepipes Second, we need to improve the frequency and coherence of our com- munication. The department’s tendency to work in stovepipes and communicate only in our own verticals—rather than horizontally—is a common weakness of large organizations. Because we mostly transmit and receive information through our chains of command, we miss out on how our work affects and is affected by others. The economic section misses the anecdote from the political section’s labor officer about illegal foreign work- ers, for example. Or the public diplo- macy section doesn’t get introduced to the promising young businesswoman (and economic section contact) who would make a great candidate for an exchange program. More interagency and interoffice communication can help remedy this. Interagency working groups on topics such as trade and investment or coun- terterrorism are an excellent start, but working group members need to find ways to keep up the information sharing between meetings. One way to do this is through better use of technology like the Foreign Affairs Network, a Google- and cloud-based platform available to State Department and all foreign affairs agency employees that enables sharing of up-to-SBU (sensitive but unclassi- fied)information, regardless of whether the user is on OpenNet. Through FAN, users can collaborate in real time, such as by sharing and editing documents without having to email files to each other; create a team drive for file sharing and storage; or design a Google site for posting articles and other up-to-date information—all tools that can facilitate information sharing and collaboration without the need for more meetings. Low-tech solutions also work: copying others on emails, picking up the phone or walking down the hall to talk to a colleague. Leveling Hierarchies To improve the frequency and clarity of our communication, we also need to reward staff for putting as much work into building contacts within the U.S. government as within host countries. We should emulate the best practices of desk officers who spend their first few weeks in Washington cultivating the network they need to advance policy priorities. Find the staff whose portfolio overlaps or complements yours, build relationships with them and seek them out when making decisions, or when you come across new information that you know would benefit them. An occasional leveling of our hierar- chies would also help promote com- munication. Take the typical senior staff meeting, for example. These meetings serve to relay information among the unit’s senior leaders. In a well-func- tioning organization, this information and guidance will make its way to those below the most-senior levels. Even then, however, the nuance and tone of the information are often lost. Unfortunately, this phenomenon works in the other direction, too, as the most creative, unconventional ideas often lose their nuance or are stripped out entirely on their way up the chain. Leaders can remedy this by following the famously simple “Leadership by Walking Around” principle: seek out conversations with junior employees; take the long way back to your office one afternoon; find an outlet from the isolation of command. Breaking Down Walls Finally, communicating better as a department means removing obstacles to communication, both physical and cultural. The federal government is already moving to open workspaces, with the explicit goal of increasing col- laboration and communication. As we do so, we should consider research from Stanford and University of California Berkeley professors who found that the results of moves to open office spaces are mixed. Success or failure, they found, depends on leaders communicating the vision behind the new space and having positive attitudes about the move, and allowing teams the latitude to adapt work spaces to their needs. With this research in mind, I believe the department’s move to open work- spaces can be a net positive. Simply put, you are more likely to talk to people you see. Why does interagency com- munication work better in the field than in Washington? Because in the field we see our interagency colleagues in the cafeteria, in the halls and after work. We develop relationships, which then smooth the flow of information. Having more State Department To improve the frequency and clarity of our communication, we also need to reward staff for putting as much work into building contacts within the U.S. government as within host countries.