Interview: John Kringen Director for Intelligence

Black Collegian, Oct 2006

TBC: Is there a formal way of measuring your progress?

Kringen: Yes, First, on the recruitment side, Gertie pulls together a lot of the data for us. A second measure is how we are treating our mid-level officers: Did it look like they are getting comparable rates of promotions and the same career opportunities as others? Are they moving into the feeder group to move into management? We have seen this feeder pool grow significantly; so, that is an additional benchmark of success. The one area where I don't think we would claim any real success is at the senior level. In part, this reflects that for years, we did not have a large enough feeder pool to do that.

TBC: Is that one of your diversity targets?

Kringen: Seeing growth in this area is certainly an objective. These kinds of decisions are also discussed with other Agency senior managers. This issue is not isolated to the DI.

TBC: What are your plans for developing and retaining this diverse workforce?

Kringen: We are not yet where we need to be in the mentoring area. We are shooting for fall to come up with a formal mentoring plan that will involve all of the senior executives in the Directorate, including those of us in Directorate leadership, reaching down to the more junior level, perhaps a range of levels. This program will help coach those in the management and senior analytic feeder pool through career challenges and what they need to do to get to the next level. The program does not just include DI senior managers; we have a commitment from the Black Executive Board, as an example, to also play a mentoring role. What we need to do is put together a plan that combines the two sets of players. The other thing we are trying to do is improve the caliber of management and leadership training for all managers.

Medina: To prevent a problem from occurring we must pay attention. This year we started doing a quarterly report on retention for the Directorate. One of the things we wanted to learn is if the retention rate for minorities was any different than the overall retention. We are looking at it and we are paying attention. It's like preventive medicine; we are a lot better off preventing problems than reacting to them.

Starks: We have made some substantial gains in the past two years in development and retention. Our statistics show that minorities are moving well through our system, with impressive rates of promotion.

Kringen: I think we must ensure that we continue to invest in programs that Gertie manages for the DI and which have proven successful for us. But the real challenge is to ensure that our employees, particularly those we view as having potential for management, are given opportunities to grow and develop. For example, in an office I worked for previously, we hired a female minority manager who came in and all of a sudden there were four or five minority officers working for her within a year. You can say that's just coincidence, but that's not what intelligent analysis tells you. What you need to have is people in management positions so that they can be seen as role models for others and help maintain the momentum.