The Foreign Service Journal, November 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2018 19 JC Windham is a financial management officer, currently serving in Washington, D.C. His previous assignments were to Khartoum and Asuncion. As an FS family member before that, he served in Brazzaville. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, he worked as a civilian financial manager with the Department of the Navy in the Washington, D.C., area for nine years. He lives with his wife and two four-legged children in Arlington, Virginia. O ur jobs are complex; the environment we work in is constantly changing, both at home and abroad. We struggle to learn languages, new cultures and jobs; build relationships; effect positive change; and then do it all again after a couple of years. Unfortunately, the bureaucracy that supports that Foreign Service has become equally complex, for both good and bad, potentially hampering the Department of State’s ability to effectively accomplish our mission and affecting morale. In the following I propose several changes to our bureaucracy that I con- sider radical because they are substantial deviations from our current processes but are also simple. To be clear, “simple” does not necessarily mean easy: if our leadership chooses to implement the ideas below, it will require substantial work and, potentially, even legislative action. But the result will be worth it, and the future Foreign Service will be better for it. Generalists Need to Go: Cones Become Specialties The idea of a “jack-of-all-trades, master of none” or an individual being “a mile wide and an inch deep” is simply not effective in today’s world. Businesses and government agencies have been shifting to specialization for decades, while our generalists are still expected to perform duties outside their field to prove their initial worth (e.g., consular tours). We need to revamp both our hir- ing process and our current personnel system to better execute today’s and tomorrow’s mission sets. First, exist- ing generalists should be converted to specialists, and their respective cones to specialties. This conversion would have the fol- lowing benefits: a) Accurate data on the actual cost of conducting diplomacy, “doing busi- ness” and generating congressionally mandated reports can be derived from overtime compensation. b) Hiring practices and processes can be tailored to necessary and specific SPEAKING OUT skill sets and experience levels for each specialty. c) Individuals with more experience and relevant skill sets can be hired at higher grades, based on the cost of labor. d) The number of new hires can equal the number of positions. e) Tenure requirements can be removed and replaced with a standard three-year probationary period. f) The consular tour requirement can be eliminated for non-consular special- ties. g) The foreign language requirement can be removed for tenure and probation. h) A standardized orientation for all Foreign Service officers can be followed by specialty-specific tradecraft training. Forget the Foreign Service Exam With the conversion of generalist fields to specialists, the Bureau of Human Resources can develop and tailor specific hiring practices that will attract the most talented, experienced and diverse indi- viduals to excel in each specialty (similar to the way specialists are hired now). Further, each specialty can adjust the hiring grade (salary) based on the market rate and cost of labor. Radically Simple Ideas for a Better State: Foreign Service 2.0 BY JC WI NDHAM We need to revamp both our hiring process and our current personnel system to better execute today’s and tomorrow’s mission sets.