Assessing, learning, and adapting

G. Communicating what we learn

PD practitioners' work of monitoring, evaluating, reflecting, and learning is most useful when it is recorded and communicated. A best practice is a good work practice or innovation captured, analyzed, and shared to promote repetition and establish a model for implementing a practice or innovation. A lesson learned is a process, experience, or tool captured, analyzed, and shared to overcome obstacles and avoid replicating challenges. Sharing best practices and lessons learned helps develop a more systematic way to capture, analyze, synthesize, and share insights to make data-informed decisions.

A best practice or a lesson learned not recorded or shared is a missed opportunity for increasing institutional knowledge. Both individuals and teams are responsible for documenting and communicating what they have done, learned, and accomplished. These habits cultivate a culture of learning and continuous improvement in the PD community. Effectively collecting, analyzing, and sharing what we know based on evidence enables PD practitioners to:

• Advocate for additional resources and funding
• Allocate existing resources effectively and efficiently
• Prevent repeated mistakes or missteps
• Identify and fill gaps in knowledge and training
• Reduce knowledge loss and knowledge gaps arising from personnel turnover
• Support strategic decision-making and prioritization

There are many options and paths for communication, and each of them serves a different function for a different audience. When choosing how to report and communicate your results, consider the audience you want to reach and the purpose of the communication, just as you would with any PD message or program.

1. Reporting in PD Tools

One part of project management is project closing. PD sections are expected to enter details about section activities as part of this process. Full reporting in PD Tools enables PD practitioners in the field and in Washington to see PD initiatives and activities at different levels of granularity. For example, a PD desk officer could pull a report on all activities completed in a region, or someone in the R/PPR budget office could run a report that accounted for all .7 spending to date on a certain administration priority. PD practitioners could look at the activities and outcomes of another post around a key issue like elections and consult with them about best practices, or see how they had adjusted their programming in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic or after a natural disaster. These types of reports, which improve transparency and communication, are only as good as the data entered into the system. PD Tools’ reporting capabilities will not solve or address all data calls, but the database is a powerful tool for sharing information.

2. Peer networks and communities of practice

The PD community at the Department of State is dynamic and energetic. Foreign service officers move around the world between posts and assignments, and LE staff and civil servants often hone expertise and skills over years. Developing networks and communities of practice within this community is an important part of the Learn and Adapt element of the Framework. Learning from each other is a key part of cultivating a culture of learning. Communities of practice may be formed around any characteristic that people have in common: a job function (e.g., digital diplomacy and social media managers; LE staff supervisors; PAOs); a substantive issue area (e.g., countering disinformation, encouraging entrepreneurship); a region (e.g., West Africa, Central America). Communities of practice and peer learning networks can be formal or informal and are an integral part of the PD community’s efforts to cultivate a culture of learning.

3. Writing cables

Cable writing is the official channel for formal communication in the Department. It is simply part of a diplomat’s job. Cables are information currency in the Department, and they inform and shape policy in important ways. For example, cables can play a crucial role in officially conveying the ambassador’s view about what works and what doesn’t in their country. Monitoring and contributing to cable traffic keeps officers and offices apprised of emerging and evolving situations around the world. Cables prompt action and responses. Well-written cables can gain traction and attention in the Department and the interagency; therefore, it is important that cables represent and communicate honest and nuanced assessments of PD work.

For PD professionals in the field, there are four primary types of cables, described below, that help communicate and situate PD work within a broader context.

• Informing and shaping policy. These types of cables focus on the ways that foreign publics are affecting the policy-making environment in which a specific strategic objective is being pursued. A policy-shaping cable may analyze how a policy or message might be perceived by a foreign public audience, or it could explore potential interactions between foreign publics and U.S. government interests. A policy-shaping cable may focus on a particular group or objective.
• Reporting. These types of cables may focus on an event or program and answer the question, “What happened?” and, more importantly, “Why does it matter?” These cables may have varied audiences. For example, ECA or R/PPR may be interested in a report on some of the programs they funded, or the cable can help amplify a post’s work for an under secretary or other appointee. These cables should always be linked to policy objectives and articulate how the program advanced U.S. interests, and, if the program did not achieve its desired results, offer an analysis of why it didn’t. Whenever possible, reporting cables should include concrete quantitative data to support the claim about influence and effectiveness, in addition to providing qualitative evidence through anecdotes and narrative.
• Audience and situation analysis. These types of cables analyze how the PD section is moving forward with raising awareness; changing attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors; and shaping decision-making and policy environments, especially in relation to specific U.S. foreign policy priorities and objectives. What are the trends in media (traditional and digital), networks, and social listening that are shaping how posts plan and implement PD initiatives and activities? What factors influence public opinion regarding a certain policy area? What are the drivers of mis- and dis-information in the country?
• Best practices and lessons learned. These types of cables enable the programmatic collection, analysis, and distribution of materials related to best practices and lessons learned. Best practices and lessons learned cables help organize, share, and recognize the excellent work of practitioners. Collecting this information systematically provides grassroots input for the practice of PD and informs future guidance. Sharing best practices and lessons learned promotes the efficient use of resources and funding, prevents common mistakes, helps people work smarter and more efficiently, and identifies and fills knowledge gaps. This reduction in knowledge transfer time and loss of know-how, enables strategic decision-making and promotes a culture of learning and innovation. Best practices and lessons learned cables should be tagged with the KLRN cables tag in SMART. Resources, including cable templates and samples, can be found on the Best Practices and Lessons Learned page on PD@State.

Writing and clearing cables takes substantial time and effort. That’s why missions develop quarterly reporting plans. Consider taking a proactive strategic planning approach that factors in the time and effort necessary to craft a good cable. To best align incentives and motivations, consider when a cable about public diplomacy might be most effective. Because cables are part of the institution’s enduring archive and institutional memory, two situations are particularly suited for writing PD-related cables:

• When something is innovative, new, or different. Cables that highlight a change or innovation invite a continuing conversation about the future. Cables that focus on changing context and highlighting new information also allow other practitioners around the world to think proactively about adopting or adapting ideas and methods in their own context.
• When something is surprising. Cables that focus on the unexpected, surprises, mistakes, or misfires can be tremendously important tools for assessment and learning. These types of cables involve some level of risk-taking, as it can be uncomfortable to admit to and assess undesirable results; but if the focus is on learning and adaptation, the opportunity for growth and improvement is unmistakable.

Tips for effective cable writing about public diplomacy include the following:

• Write about why and how. Think of cable writing as an opportunity to make an argument and to answer analytical questions. Move beyond a litany of answers to “who, what, when, where,” and think about answering questions that begin with “why” and “how.” Why did the PD section design the initiative in this way? How did the activity advance a U.S. policy objective in a meaningful way? Cables about PD programs that are written after an initiative or activity has closed out can sometimes seem like an exercise in celebratory show-and-tell. Shifting to an analytical mindset enables PD sections to make arguments about why their work is important and how others might adopt or adapt similar ideas.
• Think about your audience and invite conversation. After some practice implementing the PD Framework, this idea should become second nature for PD practitioners. Whom would you like to read your cable? What information and context do they need to make sense of what you are sending and for it to stand out in a veritable flood of cables? What would you like that person to do after reading it? Consider that many busy policymakers might not read past the opening paragraph. What are the most essential items you want to convey to this audience?
• Plan your cable-writing approach. Perhaps there are specific areas you want to focus on for the year, or perhaps there are certain kinds of cables that should be written routinely. What are your section’s priorities and goals? What are the policy priorities where foreign publics are particularly important and influential? What audiences and publics does the PD section interact with on a regular basis, and how might those interactions contribute insight and analysis on topics such as press freedom, academic freedom, civil society development, human rights, and good governance? PD sections should be thinking about cable writing in concert with other parts of the mission’s reporting plans.
• Draft in partnership with other sections of the mission. Through strategic design, PD sections should work across the mission in planning to achieve policy outcomes. Drafting cables in partnership with political, economic, or other mission sections or elements is also a good way to convey the centrality of PD to mission efforts toward advancing policy priorities and achieving policy goals. PD sections should be involved in mission reporting plans and priorities, and PD sections should clear on other sections’ cables as well.
• Work with your regional PD office and PD desk officer. Working in concert with others can help your section determine what kinds of cables to write, whom they are for, and how to make them effective. Seek feedback and communication about their needs and your needs. Know your post’s reporting priorities and consider how your reporting can contribute to and/or complement other sections’ cables. Can your PD perspective influence imminent policy decisions? Can your PD insights help ensure Washington is funding the right initiatives the right way and that they are directed to the right audiences?