The Foreign Service Journal, November 2004

are much greater for changes to the pro- cedural precepts. In August and September, AFSAnegotiatedwithHR/PE to ensure that the procedural precepts for 2005 reflect the qualities that will ensure an officer is competitive on a classwide basis, while at the same time providing guidance for competition conally. The StateDepartment andAFSAhave agreed that, first, the 2005preceptswill re- emphasize theneed for expertise inanoffi- cer’s primary career field. Promotionwith- in cone will recognize competency in the primary field and the potential to fill posi- tions at the higher rank in that field. As before, the six core competencieswill form the yardstickagainstwhichanofficer’s pro- ficiency will be judged by a conal promo- tion board. Officers recommended for promotion will have shown proficiency across all six core competencies in a range of positions in their cone. Classwide competition, on the other hand, is designed to overcome the prob- lems of multifunctionality without disre- garding the skills and experience that offi- cers have gainedover their careers incross- functional and cross-conal positions. Department management has explained that theyneedamore all-inclusive and flex- ible tool than themultifunctional skill code withwhich to recognize these skills and to expand thepool of officers ready toassume leadership positions both overseas and domestically. Classwide competitionwill expand on conal expertise by recognizing potential andcompetency across function- al lines. The successful officerwill alsohave demonstrated proficiency across the six core competencies in a range of positions. In discussions with the State Department we have agreed on language to describe what the boards will also be looking for: • Demonstrated competence in cross- 8 AFSA NEWS • NOVEMBER 2004 S tate Cable 166110 promulgated to the field the decision to replace the multifunctional promotion boards withclasswideboards for generalist promo- tions from FS-3 to FS-2, from FS-2 to FS-1, and fromFS-1 toOCacross the SFS threshold. All generalist officers will be reviewed twice for promotion at these lev- els, once on a classwide basis and once in their cone. However, AFSA pressed to ensure that they will only be reviewed for low-ranking once — by the conal board. Statemanagement agreed. As a result, the classwide boardwill not reviewofficers for low-ranking. Note that FS-4 generalists already compete solely ona classwide basis for promotion to FS-3. AFSA has heard from a few mid-level officers concerning this change. Their gen- eral worry is that by abandoning themul- tifunctional skill code in favor of classwide competition, the competition group will become much larger and they will be adversely affected. We believe that, in fact, the skills gained intheirpreviousmultifunc- tional positionswillmake themmuchmore competitive in classwide competition. AFSA’s Position AFSA is supportive of the overall con- cept of broadening the skills andexperience base of all generalist officers as they progress through the ranks. We have long been concerned that concentration on obtaining the multifunctional skill code, which depended on occupying a particu- lar position for adesignatedperiodof time, didnot necessarilybroadenanofficer’s skills or experience. Inrecent years,multifunctional promo- tion boards have commented that they couldnot fathomhowanofficerhadgained themultifunctional skill code, as his or her EERdidnot provide evidence of anymul- tifunctional experienceor skills. Conversely, many officers who had filled so-called “conal” positions had gained multifunc- tional skills butwere not eligible tobe con- sideredmultifunctionally. Over the years AFSA has advocated change, but it has become obvious that tinkering with the multifunctional skill-code system would not solve the problem, but wouldmake it more complicated, less fair, and harder to administer. Admittedly, switching from multi- functional competition to classwide com- petition will bring its own challenges, but AFSAbelieves that therewill be fewerprob- lems than ifwehadembarkedona lengthy and detail-heavy attempt to redesign the multifunctional system. Changes to the Promotion Precepts CorePrecepts: AFSAhas reviewed the coreprecepts (availableon theHRIntranet Web site in theHR/PE section), andwe are confident that the qualities that make a broad-basedofficer competitive are reflect- ed in the six core competencies: leadership skills,managerial skills, interpersonal skills, communication and foreign language skills, intellectual skills and substantive knowledge. The important exceptions are that the “leadership skills” sectiondoes not mention leading people, and “manageri- al skills” section places “management of resources” and “management of security” aheadof “performancemanagement.” We will be taking this up in our consultations on the core precepts later this year. ProceduralPrecepts: The implications PERSONNEL MATTERS Classwide Review for Generalist Promotions in 2005 BY JAMES YORKE, LABOR MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST Continued on page 9 JOSH