Posted on May 2, 2017
As a fairly new NCO, am I supposed to give my soldiers initial and monthly counsellings (PSG is asking for monthly)?
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Advise
NCOs
Mentorship
Counseling
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 172
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Yes. Council routinely. And nit just negative councilings. Positive ones too. You're "advised" to do so, and every junior enlisted hates the NCO that only councils you negatively
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SPC Kelly Grindstaff
SPC Fred Harrington - Spit Shined and all Uniforms Lightly Starched I even bought extra uniforms for if and when they were needed and ever one of them that was not in the laundry bag was squared away razor creases and lightly starched. PFC at 8 months, E-4 at 13 months, Promotion board at 24 months spent the rest of my time in the service waiting for the points to go below 1000 which only happened once a year and I still had 990 points. A lot of people were in the Ranks above just no slots..
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SGT Ronald Audas
Only counseling I remember in 66 was ,keep your head down and your ass lower.Worked for me.
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1SG Ernest Stull
Yes. And to help yourself please read and the FM. for counseling. And do not be afraid to ask questions about how to conduct counseling.
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Monthly counseling is the standard, whether is is done or not... SGT (Join to see)... Counseling seems to be a lost art of late.
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PFC Bradley Campbell
take a college level writing class. and on your own initiative make it your style to do it monthly whether anyone above you follows through or not, as you progress in rank and responsibility make this your way.FYI there are few things worse to read , whether by police officers or NCO's. both have terrible writing skills by the local culture and by limited writing skills and vocabulary. whether you move up to officer ranks or not, getting educated and learning to write better is a skill to help and enhance your career for the rest of your life. slackers and non hackers need not apply.
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SFC Charles McVey Sr.
PFC Bradley Campbell - Back in my early years in the Army they had a course called "Effective Military Writing," which amounted to the KISS principal (Keep It Simple Stupid). Worked great.
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SGT (Join to see)
Seeing 'SPC', I think I am going to have to give you a slightly different answer than I originally intended. I think YES you need perform the initial and monthly counselling if you were directed BUT the under the guidance and supervision...at least initially...of the NCO over you. Because we do not always have all the details in these questions, who is delegating the counseling to a SPC and why? This could be awesome leadership or an example of someone needing a throat chop?
Seeing 'SPC', I think I am going to have to give you a slightly different answer than I originally intended. I think YES you need perform the initial and monthly counselling if you were directed BUT the under the guidance and supervision...at least initially...of the NCO over you. Because we do not always have all the details in these questions, who is delegating the counseling to a SPC and why? This could be awesome leadership or an example of someone needing a throat chop?
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MSG Brad Sand
SFC Kelly Fuerhoff -
Ah, makes more sense, but will stand by my comments about guidance and supervision regardless. Sounds a bit like someone is enforcing standards upon others but not doing the same in their own life...but we do not have all the latest information...as your reply confirms. :)
Ah, makes more sense, but will stand by my comments about guidance and supervision regardless. Sounds a bit like someone is enforcing standards upon others but not doing the same in their own life...but we do not have all the latest information...as your reply confirms. :)
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SSG Corletta Madison
I'm now a veteran who's only been out for a year now. It's a standard as you stated MSG as you pointed out; though I too suggest to the newly appointed SGT, develop your Soldiers as if you want to be developed. When I earned my SSG stripes I was thrusted into hold a PSG slot while their was a PSG already appointed to the slot, didn't bother me at all I took charge indeed, it made it difficult to not only take the helm as PSG yet all the time still trying to develop my NCO'S in my squad. I found a way to make it work, through the art of mentorship, my holding Squad based NCODP's where I started training my troops how to counsel which eventually went into learning how to write NCOER's and Awards. The training sessions didn't just stop at performance counselling, reception and integration, crisis, financial, etc. There should never not be a opportunity available to render proper communication and feedback between you and your Soldier's. Though this form of communication is lacking and has been for years.
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Congratulations! Welcome to the NCO Corp. Counseling while not a glamorous job is a necessary part of being a leader. You should do an initial counseling detailing your expectations of your soldiers. You should create counseling packets for all your soldiers and keep good records of all their counseling's. Monthly counseling's are a minimum requirement to let your Soldiers know how they are progressing. But you can also counsel your Soldiers when they do things that are above their normal scope of duties. For example if you have a high speed specialist that helps another Soldier every day after work on his PT, you can give that Soldier a positive counseling. Positive counseling's are a lost art this days. Most NCOs don't take the time to do them. These can assist you down the road when putting in the Soldier for awards and recognition such as coins and COA's. And don't just put the paper in front of them and say sign (another pet peeve of mine) take the time and sit down with them and go over it with them and open it up for discussion on what they can improve on and what they would like assistance from you on in the future.
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PFC Pamala (Hall ) Foster
Mentor, motivate, boost morale and most of all-BE the NCO others admire and do it right by standing up for your team. I was NOT an NCO, but heard that 'The best NCO's got in trouble by being the one who STOOD with their team and got in trouble when their guys were right and nailed them when wrong'. You are new, so breathe, follow your gut instincts and most of all-BE YOU. Don't change to fit some jerks idea of an NCO; this is YOUR job so make it yours and no one elses. And YOU GOT THIS!
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The number one priority as a leader should be effectively communicating standards and expectations with your subordinates. The way the Army formally recognizes this is with the good ol' DA 4856. Read up on ATP 6-22.1, "The Counseling Process". Take it to heart.
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If you do not know the answer to this question..... maybe you should reconsider calling yourself a NCO
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I know this is old, but wanted to give my own advice and experience for the next young NCO or Officer looking into counselings. When I was a young PL, I had an E7 that was a stud. He knew his job to a T, had the badges, tabs, deployments, ect. He was a medic, when somebody went down, the guy's speed, momentum and expertise were unrivaled. I gave him a counseling, I spent hours putting it together. When we got done, he said, "Sir, that was really good, I never received a counseling before from my PL". It's not only for your Soldiers, it's to develop yourself as a leader as-well. Those types of actions actually make you look more squared away to your Soldiers. I counseled every Soldier in my platoon. Those were different than my first line supervisors though and my PSG. I left the administrative counselings up to my NCOs. I did counselings to see what their goals were and how much progress they made getting to those goals. In the long run the counseling is to allow you to give your intent, but to also learn about your Soldiers. Counseling is a direct reflection of how much you actually care about the success and career progression of those underneath your leadership.
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How are you an NCO, regardless of newness, and do not know you gotta do counselings...?
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Suspended Profile
Did you ask SGM Google? Different ranks have different counseling requirements.
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Make sure you do an initial so Soldiers understand your expectations. These counseling are needed when recommending Soldiers for promotion and UCMJ.
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