During a trip to Tokyo, Teamwork@State facilitators stand with Ambassador Rahm Emanuel (center front) and members of Mission Japan in January 2023. Photo by Robert Hong
By Jennifer White
Department of State teams and offices around the world advance American diplomacy in a variety of ways. Whether exploring difficult issues related to an effective Mission-wide hybrid work policy at Embassy San Jose; addressing costly delays in the long-term procurement process at Embassy Panama City; improving team efficiency and communication in the Office of Global Criminal Justice (GCJ); or creating a roadmap to support high priority events throughout Mission Japan; every team requires a space to plan and collaborate more effectively to identify and achieve goals.
These teams and others have approached Teamwork@State (T@S), a group within the Department’s Office of Management Strategy and Solutions, for a neutral and customized facilitation to help address their challenges.
T@S provides a free, professionally trained resource that leverages public and private sector expertise, management best practices, Department-specific knowledge, and overseas field experience to deliver customized assistance that helps teams operate more effectively and strategically. In FY22, T@S worked with 83 different clients and engaged more than 3,500 Department employees in a variety of consultations, trainings, facilitations, and workshops.
In Panama, T@S helped the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement team map the procurement process, which ultimately led to finding problem areas in their workflows. Addressing these challenges systematically helped the team identify pain points related to customer lack of awareness, as well as their own pain points related to following the requisition process. As a result, post was able to adjust the process and reduce the number of returned requests by 50% within months, improving timeliness and customer satisfaction.
For GCJ, which advocates for transitional justice and war crimes accountability in places like Ukraine, Cambodia, Rwanda, and Ethiopia, T@S facilitated a current-state brainstorming activity, where the team thought through shared strengths, challenges, and opportunities as they were currently experiencing them. Following this activity, the GCJ team generated solutions to some of the key challenges they were facing, such as prioritization and proactivity. T@S helped triage solutions the team developed during the session and as a result, GCJ holds regular meetings to ensure they are consistently reassessing priorities and keeping everyone on the same page. Recently, the team has also implemented a variety of standard operating procedures that enable the team to be more efficient conducting their work.
At Embassy San Jose, T@S facilitations resulted in the publication of the first-ever Mission-wide hybrid workplace guide to provide post-specific standards of practice to personnel. The facilitation equipped leaders to manage a hybrid workforce and leverage technology to increase collaboration. As a result, the embassy workforce is more connected, and employees are more engaged.
“We’ve noticed more effective teams and less friction,” said Acting Management Counselor Mary Anne Shepherd.
Thanks toT@S engagement with Mission Japan’s Bureau of Information Resource Management (IRM) team early this year, the Mission has already begun implementing an impressive 60-milestone operational plan.
“We have achieved a higher level of support for the G-7 Summit and rapidly adopted better industry practices,” said Information Management Officer Todd Cheng.
By creating the plan with T@S, Mission Japan’s IRM team has already addressed two critical information technology risks and has developed a more active monitoring plan, while moving 15 milestones into production.
Beyond these bespoke facilitations, T@S has a library of self-service tools and templates on its SharePoint site (internal link) for everything from process improvement to change management, and the office has been adding and updating these offerings since its launch in 2015. Along with live and recorded trainings, T@S also provides advisory support to team leads to help them run their own offsites, brainstorm sessions, or prioritization activities. These interactive events provide teams with the space and structure to engage in productive conversations. As diplomacy evolves, so too do the resources provided by T@S.
“We’re acutely aware that the way the Department works has been changing rapidly in recent years,” said Management Analyst Jenipher Young, the T@S lead. “We’ve heard that teams, offices, and missions need help to set expectations and guardrails, clarify team operating norms, and rethink how we work. Our new Future of Work Change Management offering is a collection of tools and facilitations to do just that.”
During the pandemic, T@S executed its own change and pivoted to offer fully virtual client engagements and offsite facilitations. T@S offers virtual and hybrid options to clients, making it easier than ever for teams across the Department and the globe to tap into the office’s free-of-charge resources.
For teams looking to take a step back, reassess, and return stronger, T@S is ready and available to help them help themselves.
“T@S is a team of people who believe strongly in the value of collaboration to meet the Department’s challenges. We stand ready to assist,” said Young.
For more information about T@S offerings, visit the T@S SharePoint site (internal link), or submit a consultation request.
Jennifer White is a facilitator with Teamwork@State.