TRIPOLI'S CONSULAR LEADERSHIP DAY

UNCLAS TRIPOLI 000109 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR CA/VO/F/P; CAIRO FOR RCO CHRIS ROWAN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: CVIS CMGMT PREL LY SUBJECT: TRIPOLI'S CONSULAR LEADERSHIP DAY ¶1. Summary: Post's Consular Section spent February 4 in observance of Embassy Tripoli's first-ever Consular Leadership Day, with the theme of "Practicing 360 Degree Diplomacy." Taking the time out from our usual schedule to focus on improving our outreach to the Libyan public and American citizens in Libya, as well as our coordination with other sections and within the Consular section, was a valuable experience. End summary. ¶2. To allow sufficient lead time to clear our schedule for an entire day, we scheduled Consular Leadership Day for February 4 this year. The day began with an hour-long discussion focusing on improving our outreach to the two communities we serve - the Libyan public and American citizens in Libya. Despite our being open for full NIV services for over 10 months, many Libyans are still unaware that they can apply for a U.S. visa in Tripoli. We brainstormed a range of public outreach initiatives that the Embassy could undertake to better get the word out to Libyans about our services. We also discussed a variety of outreach options to Americans in Libya, including instituting a quarterly ACS newsletter to send to all Americans registered with the Embassy, and a Consular Section open house devoted to ACS issues. ¶3. Following the brainstorming session, we spent 30 minutes doing "reverse interviewing," where our LES corrected some of the Arabic phrases the FSO's and EFM use at the NIV and ACS windows, and then the native English-speakers fine-tuned the English phrases the LES regularly use with our clients. That exercise was followed by a fiercely competitive game of "Consular Jeopardy," played on the roof of the Consular Section's new office facility, where all enjoyed the balmy weather and Consular trivia questions. ¶4. The Ambassador and DCM spent an hour sharing a brown-bag lunch with all Consular section staff, discussing the importance of the Embassy's Consular services to the US-Libya bilateral relationship. The Ambassador provided feedback on the outreach initiatives we had come up with earlier in the day, and we will subsequently move forward with several of them. After lunch, we undertook a team-building activity that highlighted the importance of good communication: as one person described a photo, his/her partner had to duplicate the photo, drawing it solely based on the partner's description. This was a useful reminder of the importance of providing detail and clarifying the context when explaining the various situations that regularly arise during our work-day. We then focused on ways to further improve our customer service, and make every client who appears in our section have a positive experience. ¶5. We capped off Consular Leadership Day with an hour-long open house, with colleagues from throughout the Embassy, including the Ambassador and DCM, stopping by to tour our new waiting room, and get guided explanations of the services provided at each window. Overall, our first Consular Leadership Day was a fun, productive experience, and we look forward to moving forward on the various projects we collectively came up with during the day, as well as to being more mindful in the future of the importance of "360 Diplomacy," and our outreach efforts, from daily interactions with our clients to broader initiatives. CRETZ