The Foreign Service Journal, December 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2014 45 USAID Promotions, ‘Promo-gate’ and Progress on Transparency About this time last year I wrote an article for the December 2013 FSJ titled “USAID Needs a Transparent Promotions Process.” In it, I focused on the importance of clear agency communica- tions regarding the promotion process. The lack of transparency and published statistics leads employees to doubt the integ- rity of the entire procedure and gives rise to unrealistic expectations. Eventually, this leads to disillusionment and declining morale. It’s only logical that these factors, in turn, cause a drop in productivity and a higher turnover of USAID’s work- force, as employees look for more mutually beneficial and respectful work environments. After that article was pub- lished, feedback fromUSAID’s Oce of Human Resources was inspiring. They seemed to “get it” and were committed to better communications, to publishing promotion data and to developing career paths for USAID’s Foreign Service ocers. In a perfect world, I’d be writing about the plethora of information and helpful points of contact now available to assist the agency’s FSOs with the logistics of their career. With this in place, our FSOs would feel confident that their agency is fair and transpar- ent and that it values their dedicated service, thus free- ing them to focus on the work they were hired to do. Unfortunately, things went terribly wrong this last promotion cycle. The USAID Foreign Service promotion list that was released included the names of 12 FSOs who were ineligible for promotion. At the same time, it omitted the names of nine FSOs who should have been on the list. The mistake was caught early, but not early enough to pre- vent the roller coaster ride of anguish and disillusionment over such negligence. It is perhaps necessary to repeat: if employees are to believe the promotion process is fair, the integrity of the process is extremely important; and the belief that the promotion process is fair is of utmost importance to employee morale, loyalty and retention. In March 2013, Administra- tor Rajiv Shah welcomed a new human resources team, which included a Civil Service director, a Civil Service deputy and a Foreign Service deputy. This was a controversial move because the HR director posi- tion had previously been filled by a Foreign Service ocer. The main argument for this change was that bringing in an HR professional would better serve USAID’s talent force. Development professionals know better than anyone that change doesn’t happen over- night. They are also intimately familiar with the magnitude of the reporting, justifying and tracking required on USAID projects. From a professional perspective, it’s clear that if HR were a USAID program, it would be time to start seeing progress. I feel a mixture of sadness and anger as I wonder how USAID can take its greatest asset for granted, which is what is suggested by the neg- ligence that resulted in what many have called “promo- gate.” I cling to the hope that we are still heading in the right direction for two reasons. One is that the most common and often most dicult challenge to organizational growth is establishing the necessary processes and structures to accommodate that growth. With the recent hiring of roughly 60 percent of our workforce, it would not be irrational to predict that things could get worse before they get better. Burnout (and associated errors) in this tran- sition stage before sucient resources, processes and procedures are put in place, should not be unexpected. The other reason for hope is that HR accepted the blame. You can learn from a mistake only after you admit you made it. The fact that the new HR leadership team put aside its pride, and both publicly apologized and indi- vidually reached out to those aected, is encouraging. If the HR leadership has the integrity and fortitude to admit its mistakes, it may also have the integrity and fortitude to see envisioned improvements through to fruition. HR has informed AFSA that as a result of the December 2013 article, they have been in the process of gathering statistics with the intent to publish promotion data that mirrors that published by the State Department. If that is the case, then by the time this column is published, USAID promotion statistics should be available. It’s time to start seeing progress and results. n AFSA I S NOW ON F L I CKR This summer, AFSA joined the photo-sharing social site Flickr in an eort to make photos from AFSA events more widely available. Flickr makes it easy to download copies of photos directly from the site, and social sharing is also available. You can even comment on photos, and help us identify anyone pictured. Feel free to browse the selection at www.flickr.com/americanforeign service. Views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the AFSA USAID VP. Contact: swayne@usaid.gov or (202) 712-1631 USAID VP VOICE | BY SHARON WAYNE AFSA NEWS