How does an incoming commander deal with a weak 1SG?

Don't come into the Company with a preconceived notion about what is or isn't the problem. Take what the outgoing guy is saying with a grain of salt. He's on his way out, maybe he's had a rough time with the 1SG. But, the fact that he's leaving you with what he considers a unit that's "in the toilet", when HE is ultimately responsible for that as the Commander... well... consider the source.

Have an interview with the 1SG - one-on-one - not to find out what's wrong with him, but to get a candid view from his side of the story. When you get there, do a Command Climate survey - or, better yet, see if the outgoing Commander will do one on his way out.

DO NOT GO INTO THIS COMMAND THINKING YOU HAVE A PROBLEM TO FIX. Assess the situation once you are in the seat. Talk to your NCOs. Talk to your Soldiers. Let the outgoing Commander go in peace and look forward, not backward. You can't change what's done, but your attitude will set the tone going forward. Be positive, build your company, build your team and show your Soldiers you care about them first.

Cpt D K - You have your work cut out for you and it likely will be neither easy or pleasant.
You do not say in what areas he is weak or if he is simply not a leader or has no desire to lead.
Therefore I suggest you give him several simple tasks and one quite complicated and watch his behavior measuring his performance against the current leadership model to determine where he misses the mark on those points. This can also be used to either validate the opinion of your predecessor or debunk it. (Sometimes an SM will not perform well if the senior leader is toxic - although that should never be an issue with a first shirt)
Bring your training officer / XO into the conversation to learn what they have observed and when you have witnessed and heard enough, bring the matter to the SGM to get their opinion on how to best approach the problem so as to bring your FSG into compliance for retention purposes.
Somethings are considered "Sergeants Business" and are better left to the NCOs to sort out and the SGM may well tell you "Leave it to me, sir - I"ll handle it." I've known of such cases and it works reasonably well. Frankly speaking, I'm wondering where the SGM has been on this issue - perhaps he was told not to get involved and that is something to consider as well.
At any rate, it may come down to replacing him and letting the Army take care of the matter for you.
There is a great deal to consider here and I hope this will help you in one way or another.
Good luck with this.

CPT (Join to see) I would pursue this route:
- sit down with the CSM and have a fact finding conversation about your 1SG and what has been going on. Do this before you take over if at all possible. Three things: if you have to relieve the 1SG, you'll need the CSM on your side. If he isn't, your going To have to work with who you have. second: there may be something you are not being told that is key to your situational understanding. Finally, if you engage with the CSM in a developmental/collaborative way, you'll likely pick up an ally and cross off your list someone you'll have to battle. It may also set the stage for the flow of the right NCOs to your formation.
- you need a long term operational goal to focus on to drive what follows. This should come from mission or mutually with the BN CDR.
- set clear, easy to understand expectations of soldiers and NCOs in your command philosophy and initial counseling. Aim for the elegance of simplicity in straight forward easy to remember things YOU believe, not that sounded good in someone else's philosophy. Do this off the bat. Brief your 1SG one on one, explain you need him on board. Then brief your officers and your 1SG off to the side. Fuse your relationship with the 1SG. How much of your 1SGs weakness is tied to crap support and being written off at the jump? If he fails, at least you gave him the benefit of the doubt. Then just brief the NCOs. Then you do a Company level roll out of these things. By doing this, you let the NCOs and Officers be in an environment to ask questions and get clarification without the rank and file there. It sets conditions so when Joe starts asking questions of the NCOs, you are all one voice.
- issue orders and intent. Give it to Officers to see through, but make it clear what things you expect NCOs to supervise and execute. Build their confidence and ability in small things and turn up the intensity, accountability, and feedback as you go. You don't walk into the gym for the first time and bench 450. You have to build leadership muscles.
- the immediate way to build credibility for NCOs is to show they care. They have to build soldiers and help them solve problems. A soldier problem that they help solve is the single best opportunity to build that trust and credibility. Opportunity for your First Sergeant is to build a NCOPD program that works on skills, knowledge, and abilities of getting soldiers to the right resources to enable them to solve their problems, and follow up, and follow up, and follow up.
- the next biggest source of NCO credibility is making them technically/tactically proficient. Your First Sergeant should be certifying them on soldier skillls and ensuring they are squared away. Checking that they know how to train soldiers in the same. Once you have a solid base of 10 level skills, start getting the NCOs proficiency at Squad, then Platoon Level. At the same time your Officers must be doing the same. Sometimes just as Officers, sometimes as a team building with their senior NCOs.
- you'll have to figure out when you start collective training and exercises. Tough and realistic training is a huge morale builder. Follow it up with disciplined AARs and recovery.
- look at taskings as an opportunity to build mission competence, planning capacity, problem solving, and NCO expertise and confidence. Give a young Sergeant a mission and some resources and have them Plan and execute. Do the same with your LTs with additional duties and larger taskings.
- Pair and officer and an NCO for all additional duty areas. Same reasoning. Even the grind of a CIP can build capability and capacity while ensuring readiness.
- focus on the METL and readiness. The BS before, was the BS before.
- what you want to build is a reputation for your company being competent, exercising disciplined initiative, and generally squared away. When your soldiers see they are more squared away than others, they'll start believing it, and morale will improve. Keep throwing challenges right on the edge of their capability so they can do it, but it will be a stretch.
- seriously get all your systems and processes to a B plus. Delegate as much as you can and spend time looking forward.
- a lot of success in company command grows directly from taking care of soldiers, building NCOs and officers worthy of being stolen by BN, doing routine stuff routinely, and being able to actually do what you say your company can do.
- unless you follow up and check on things you'll get yep'ed and nothing will change. Hold leader's feet to the fire. Follow up, schedule it on your calendar.
- Soldiers need to see you as someone who cares, but is tough, competent, practical, and takes no shit. But you have to be your authentic self. You can't play a part for 12-18 months.

CPT (Join to see) Start with Trust but verify.
Perhaps the entire issue is the out going commander. so trust what he is telling you, but dont act before you verify .
Perhaps the outgoing commander is a micromanager, which of course never works, and thus the company fails, he of course blames "them" for the failure.
Perhaps the company just needs leadership, trust, empowering the NCOs and PLs with a tasks, supporting their needs in both knowledge they lack and materials needed to be successful.
My advice..... listen to everyone, change nothing going in unless its unethical, immoral or illegal.
Trust , but verify, then after personal observation make changes as needed. They may surprise you or qualify the outgoing commanders comments, either way, the plan and needed changes will clearly present themselves.

I have nothing more to add beyond what others have said — but I just wanted to note that I love seeing threads like this. This is why we started RP in the first place...

I heartily second LTC Wayne Brandon's Motion. Determine what your consequence management plan is. Not big homework. When you talk to the XO, your E-9 SEL, and don't forget OPS, find out where, how, and why the Skipper is driving the Command. What are the big rocks that you and your NCOs need to pay attention to etc. Find out what the upline level of support or lack of it will exist. Find out what if/then actions will be supported. One thing being a senior O-3 is you're being flicked the duty booger. That can be by design (compliment). How you deal with it will be judged. Low external overhead that results in slow but measurable improvement may be better than churning the system in the short term. You'll get a sense of what level of tolerance and amount of rope you'll have. Don't hang yourself over it. Now you probably ask, why Ops? Ops will have an ongoing judgement of where your Company hangs in the balance vs. the other companies. Whatever the negatives are, you'll want to change that mind too. Your CC peers should be willing to give you some success pointers which are consistent with the mission and Command culture. Finally, just remember the toughest jobs are first line leaders. You're second line. You must make sure your PLs are supported and their NCOs are not running over them. You can't do it by yourself. I had a senior O-3 job where I followed an Alpha Hotel. Lots of things to clean up to get people looking forward to showing up the next day. It takes time. You may think there isn't much credit in house cleaning, but good O-5 Skippers will typically have more interest in that vs. finishing something a day early. Good luck son.

What an opportunity! It sounds to me like you've talked with an outgoing who couldn't handle the unit. He says he lost all of his experienced (favorite?) SNCOs and as a result his unit's "atmosphere and morale" is in the toilet. If there is anything an incoming CO can impact immediately and show significant changes in a short time it is atmosphere and morale.
Yes, there are weak NCOs and SNCOs, but they are in the minority and it sounds to me that you've been sold a bill of goods by an outgoing who expected excellence to be generated from the ground up by others instead of him enabling and developing it.
My first step would be talking to the 1SG; not about the outgoing CO's opinion of him or his opinion of the old CO, but about the unit's status. I assume you'll have briefing from your senior; compare the 1SG's opinion with your senior's opinion and share appropriate portions of that briefing. Then work with him on a plan to bring your unit to where you want it.
The outgoing CO has categorized your people as the second class vestiges of a good unit. That's BS. Nothing can cause a unit to underachieve as quickly as a CO who believes and demonstrates such an attitude. Most of your people want to be proud of their unit, have the same basic training as those who were transferred out, and just need a leader who doesn't consider them second class and will give them the opportunity and leadership they need to prove their excellence.

This is something you cannot do on your own. First, take command assess as you have been trained to do. Put out your goals and objectives to your leaders. Watch how the Company responds you your orders. Then assess whether if not the 1SG is weak. Sometimes Commanders are poor leaders. If the Company is broke, it would indicate that the Command Team may have been weak and your predecessor has failed in his responsibilities.

If after your initial assessment you believe that the 1SG is weak, seek the council of the CSM, and the XO. If the Company is broken they should know.

It is true that a poor 1SG can have a negative affect in a unit, but he can’t break it alone. Again, ask yourself why the outgoing admits the unit is broken but points the finger in every direction but his own. Ultimately, It is the command Team that makes it breaks units, not one or the other. Thank you for your service, you got this!

I spent most of my senior NCO time in staff positions or as a PSG, but I also had some fun playong 1SG here and there. A couple of thoughts from the "weak 1SG" side of things.
As that 1SG, I would ask of you to do EITHER one of two things. 1) Tell me what you want to happen and let me figure out how - but don't get mad if I don't do it "your" way (obviously, legal, moral, ethical constraints apply). OR 2) Tell me what you want to happen AND how to get it done.

When I was most successful as a PSG or as a 1SG, I had an Officer who followed that mold. When I ran into trouble, and became a less effective (I won't say inneffective) leader was when I had an Officer who wanted things done a certain way, but never communicated that. It leads to frustration, and it erodes my credibility, as my subordinates see that I (or we) have to keep re-doing tasks because they weren't "right" the first time.
I am not saying that this IS what happened between the outgoing and the 1SG, but just some food for thought.

And it is OK to specify some things and not others, 1SG should be flexible enough to accept both modes.

Once you have established 1SG's priorities, however, you need to be generous with both your support, and your feedback. If he isn't getting it done, let him know. Sometimes the problem is that he thinks he is doing great, because no one had the intestinal fortitude to tell him otherwise. A 1SG should never NEED a swift kick in the nethers to get them jump started, but sometimes it happens.

CAPT. B, LTC. Brandon and LTC. MacKay have all made excellent points and good advice.
I have had to remove a CSM and a 1SG. Don't take this route if you can possibly help it.
Spending time with the CSM is a good first step. He have be aware of the situation and may be waiting to speak to you about your 1SG. when you take over your new command. I would also
get one-on-one with your 1SG. and make it a social get together Q and A. Try talking about subjects
that are not work related. See how he responds and get an idea of his reasoning and thought process. Later publish and post your Command Philosophy including your expectations of your NCO's and enlisted people. Your 1ST. can get directions from this source as well

Likely you and your 1SG. will have sit down together and talk about his performance. Be very positive
but give firm directions. Measure his performance. A good question is to ask at some point when together is: "Is there anything I can help you with or Do you need my help with anything"? If his performance has not improved over a reasonable period of time. More formal counselling may be necessary. If so, document well each session.

Take Care, good luck and have a wonderful season.

Had this situation happen to me. Finally put enough pressure on the 1SG and fired him.
The outgoing commander should had taken action on this and left some counseling paperwork.
Talk to the Bn CSM and see what background info and what suggestions he has.
Develop a training schedule that encompasses team building. This may point out weak areas.

That sucks to hear. I'm curious what your 1SGs view point is.
Basically, something with teamwork. Get the company together and do some team building exercise. Make yourself the butt of some gentle jokes. It's fun. Maybe not for everyone, but most people really are positive in nature. Gotta find those negative "cancers" and weed them out. Correct that behavior. It has no place in the military life or the civilian life.
The sure fire way that always got our company moral up was a ruck march. They sucked. They were painful. They were long. But for some reason, everyone always had a good time. We all laughed and joked around, had some good gentle ribbing at the COs expense, and when we finally got back at night we slept like logs.
One thing our platoon sgt did(later our 1SG) was sound off with "What the fuuuuccckk" and everyone responded at the top of there lungs "WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUCCCKKKK". This was fantastic moral boost. Everyone got a good laugh. From what I hear this may not "fly" anymore, but if you can get away with it, it's worth a try.

This is my initial response before looking at the answers already submitted - I am speaking as a chaplain as well as an NCO. You will know all of this already but allow me to state the obvious.
1. If you're being handed a company that is "in the toilet" take everything the outgoing CO told you with a whole bucket of CYA salt. Ultimately, the 1SG, NCO's and soldiers of the unit take their lead from the Commanding Officer. If that unit is in the toilet, it is there by the old CO's doing -- full stop.
2. Everything you said about the readiness and morale of the unit indicates that you will need to take a very firm grip at the start, especially with your junior NCO's. Your senior NCO's will more than likely fall into step once they realize they have a CO who knows what he's doing. The junior NCO's may have only been NCOs under that one CO. They will probably not trust you at the outset. You need to set hard standards, meet them yourself, and be consistent in application of both correction and recognition. Be as fair as you possibly can be and be even-handed when correcting and praising. Do both. You can ease your grip over time but the standards must never drop.
3. If one does not already exist, create an open door policy and mean it. Anyone who comes to you IAW that policy needs to know that you have their back -- within the limits of custom, regulation and the UCMJ, of course. Tell your NCO's to do the same and convey to them that you expect them to resolve problems at as low a level as possible. Give them the responsibility and especially the authority to correct problems with tools like "extra training" and "voluntary" extra duty when appropriate. The UCMJ ought to be the last resort.
4. Trust your NCO's - this is something that will eventually pay huge dividends.
5. Spend as little time in your office and as much time as possible in the field with your men. Be there, be seen, be as good as you expect them to be. If your fitness is a bit low - nail that down. If you're not that good a shot, get good quick. Get the soldier's CTT manual and make sure there is not a single task in that book you cannot teach with authority and accuracy. Set the example.
6. Get your NCO's to do the heavy lifting with regard to morale, discipline and job performance. Meet with them often to set direction and goals but also to hear back from them. Have your 1SG be a gateway through the week (notwithstanding your open door) but meet with all the NCO's together at LEAST once a month.
7. If (as I suspect) your senior NCO's have been stressing hard with the last CO, make sure they each take a bit of time off within the next 6 months to reset.
8. Find ways to let everyone blow off steam. It sounds like you're taking over a pressure cooker. Do team sports for PT as often as the training schedule will allow. Have unit functions like "family day" or Company BBQ's using the MWR fund. Do training that builds team cohesion and fosters leadership while pushing them hard physically.
9. Be both a filter and a shield between your men and Battalion & higher. Give your unit reason to trust you when you say you have their backs. Have the courage of your convictions and the balls to tough out those moments when you and the BN staffers do not agree.
10. Pray that the BN CO is doing the same as you -- further deponent sayeth not.
Finally - recognise that while this may at first glance appear to be a poison chalice it is equally an opportunity for you to truly shine as an officer and soldier. Remember that a unit is only as good as the officer that leads it -- and an officer is only as good as the NCO's that support him. This has to be a team effort. Build it, lead it, mother it, and kick its butt as needed.
God bless and Good Luck.
Oops - I almost forgot: treat your junior officers the same way you treat your junior NCO's in private but in public, back them to the hilt. They and the rest of the unit need to know that those bars mean something. If you want your lieutennants to develop into good captains give them the chance to learn by doing and be there to pick them up when they fall on their faces (as they most assuredly will). You and your officers all need to be on the same page so let them know what you are doing and instruct them to immitate/emulate you. This of course means you cannot be slack in any element of soldiering because it will be picked up, transmitted and magnified hugely by your unit. Any flaw in your character will be reflected in them.

CPT (Join to see)

Sir, I will share a story with you, and although your dilemma is on a grander scale than mine was, perhaps my story might assist with some ideas.

As a new E-7, I was assigned to a section consisting of 6 soldiers who had no morale, motivation, nor did they care about their work ethic. In addition, I overheard the seniors who assigned me to these soldiers say “let’s see if this new SFC sinks or swims with them. They are all misfits on the way out.”

Initially these soldiers seemed to have no respect for me or my rank, or anyone for that matter. I met with each of them and wanted to know why they felt as they did; what did they want to get out of this assignment and also asked what I could do to help.

I understand individual sessions may be impossible given the amount of soldiers you have acquired, but perhaps having a meeting with your first sergeant, then senior enlisted and lastly your junior and lower enlisted may shed some first hand information.

Open the floor for them to speak and be honest but respectful with their concerns or grievances, while still maintaining control of the session. The restructuring may be only part of the problem.

For me, I found that one soldier wanted to go to board to E-5, but was never sent; one had 15 years and had never been considered for promotion and the others wanted to go further their education. Additionally, all wanted time off which they had not had in over 2 years.

Our section was also behind on work by about 2 because no one knew what the others job entailed. Therefore, no one could be granted time off because that section would seize to function in their absence.

I listened patiently, and when it was my turn to speak, I expressed my expectations for our office. I wanted each soldier to teach his job to one other person, which would allow for possible pass approvals; I then wanted them all to teach me their job so that I could assist where needed, as well as ensuring the section was functioning as it should.

This might help with cohesion and morale, as well as their senior ensuring they know their job.

With in 4 months of my assignment to the section, we cleared (me included) about 1 year of the 2 year backlog. We trained together, we learned together. I earned their respect as both a person and their Senior NCO. These soldiers excelled and exceeded my expectations of them and of those who called them misfits. I learned my soldiers were fractured but not broken.

Apologies for being so long winded however, my hope for you is that you too will be able to find the root of the problem in order to assist you with strengthen your soldiers morale, cohesion and pride in their work.

I wish you luck

Having made the mistake of starting off on the wrong foot I’ll offer this: No one will believe you care about their perspective if you’re the one doing all the talking up front. Others have said, gain as many perspectives as you can; Officers (BN too), NCOs, and your Soldiers. But you have to really hear their problems, ask a few leading questions, probe for the cause. Don’t expect to solve the issues immediately or on your own. Once you’ve gotten all the input, bring your key leaders together and develop a course of action. Build the team that will see you through command from day one, start by listening before speaking.

Sir, there is a great deal of good information in the posts of others on here, the sad thing is that some SRNCO's just want to wear a diamond and not be the diamond. I have replaced weak 1SG's before when commanders found out they had duds holding the job. I recommend as others have stated already, evaluate what you have after having a sit down with your 1SG and explaining your expectations and goals. Don't always take the word of the outgoing commander that what they say is golden because if its true, its their fault as well for not fixing it while they were in command. If after a period of time goes by he/she (this is 2019 as I have been told) isn't getting the job done you can look to replacing your 1SG from an outside source(Recruiting) or moving up from within even if they are not a E-8. I have seen a number of units with a SFC as the 1SG over the years. When you have a good 1SG you will know it as you two will be on the same sheet of music and mutually support each other while running a company with good morale and younger NCO's looking to be 1SG's themselves one day. There is nothing wrong with having a word or two with the BN CSM to get his take on things and to see if he is aware of the issues as he should be since its his job to mentor 1SG's. Any CSM worth his rank would have a large case of the ass at any 1SG that wasn't doing their job as it reflects upon him as well. Good Luck Sir.

It all starts with the commander and the type of climate they provide. I agree with the others that say take what he said with a grain of salt. I've had commanders I respected the heck out of and they held their NCOs accountable. I've seen commanders who sat back and let 1SGs do what they wanted to the point where it got too far out of hand. Your best bet is to come in and be very observant, but also get a command climate survey done. Whatever you do, make sure it can be anonymous and you can come to a conclusion as to the results.

If not there, pull soldiers of like ranks all together to have a commander's talk. Kick out all of the NCOs when you sit down with the junior enlisted. Then, sit down with all of the junior NCOs without the junior enlisted and senior NCOs. Then sit down with the senior NCOs (sans 1SG) and do the same thing.

Thank you for sharing a part of history not found in history books. Excellent share

I work for the state psychiatric hospital. I was in the kitchen for five years. I now am a mental health worker on 11 to 7. I will say the hospital CEO and Foodservice director in the previous administration were miserable people. There is a new COO, CEO, and Foodservice director. Because of the change, most of the problems have vanished. He will help on the tray line or dishroom wherever needed, says hi to staff, and for the 1st time in 7 years, the kitchen has a Christmas party. The union has no issues with the Director anymore. The FSW3s, just like your 1st Sgt is weak too, and its because they were afraid of the Assistant Director. The Assistant Director hid in the office most of the time, but god help you if she came out, and you weren't doing something her way, even if it violated the Board of Health rules or Hospital Infection Control protocols.

For example, she would assign people to wash all the garbage barrels and then go to the tray line and serve dinner without any time to shower or change clothes. They came up with the idea of doing drains at 6 am then having the drain cleaner doing the pots the cooks used. I went to the infection control nurse at the end of my shift. No way was I allowing that to go on. I do understand keeping busy in a kitchen. However, tasks need to be done in the right order.

They didn't want educated staff so they could tell them anything and they would do it without question. The kitchen Management actually would look for people that were not trained in culinary at my pay grade for that reason. I was Serv Safe certified and had a certificate in buffet catering and most of an Associates in the applied science of culinary arts. So I would ask them to assign me to other chores if I was serving dinner. I outright told them I would follow serv safe or board of health rules as applicable.

Leadership is always from the top. I question that the Sgt is week. Maybe it was your predecessor. I worked in the Grafton Job Corps, right after school, and the man in charge of the kitchen was a retired mess Seargent with20 years in. He was not weak by any means. He ran it with military efficiency. I was picked to deal with the Board of Health inspection since I was fresh from school and had up to date knowledge. In the kitchen, there is a minimum staffing level of 8 FSWs and three cook 2s on days. I don't know the 2d shift. Being understaffed all thew time kills morale as everyone is always tired. I was mandated many times in the kitchen. I know it for a fact.

I also worked with a retired CSM (Command Seargent Major) from the army with 37 years in. This coworker was at a part-time job in the Deli that I had. We did things with military precision every night. The slicers were sharpened every night, and All boxes were labeled with date-time and what was in them. CSM William Pierce could do the work of 3 people, and made it look easy.

Knowing the SGTs I know, I can't imagine that they don't know their job. Maybe it was a personality issue or complete understaffing with no help from above. I'm pitching for you, but I can't catch come to mind i,e. I can't do it all.

Tighten him up, don't let him be a " BUTTER-CUP" under Your watch, Sir ? ! ?