What do you really think about writing your own NCOERs?

I think having an NCO write their own NCOER is a leadership failure. How are we supposed to trust leaders who can't even keep track of the accomplishments and performance of their direct subordinates?

I’ve had six Platoon Leaders as a Platoon Sergeant and now five different Commanders as a First Sergeant. Honestly, it depends on the situation. At the end of the day, someone must write the evaluation. If we have a rater unwilling/unable to write our report card, we must use it as a teaching mechanism.

The truth is many Officers (and NCOs) are not skilled at writing NCOERs nor are they versed in the SGM/CSM-isms that usually must be adhered to (different topic/gripe for a separate day). As NCOs are responsible for the training of individuals, crews, and small teams, we owe it to our Officer counterparts to mentor and develop them. I wrote NCOERs for myself, provided shells/examples bullets to help guide and shape the conversation, also I have done nothing and had the evaluation written for me. In my experience, those who counseled me regularly were good at writing the evaluation.

I have found it effective to help coach those poor counselors/raters along by sitting down with them and pointing them in the right direction using the following technique: Personally I like to reference previous counseling (unless that leader failed to counsel), and type out my thoughts in a MS Word document – full sentence, paragraphs, two-word thoughts, however. Once I have all my thoughts on paper, I work to quantify each thought. From there I begin to turn my thoughts into bullet format ensuring formatting is correct. Then I will crack open a few previous years’ worth of post-board AARs and ensure I’m keeping pace with ever-changing standards/best practices. Then we copy/paste the bullets onto the form, starting with the strongest bullets first.

I wrote my own NCOERs when I was enlisted. I can rate myself better than anyone else can. Plus I never trusted anyone else with my career. I also think my raters appreciated it because I was a better writer than they were. Maybe I just like to be in control because I never allow those who I rate to write their own. I can rate them better and give them the rating they deserve.

Always have, my OER's too. My bosses have always said, "who knows better what you did than you?" Plus it improves your writing skill. Not saying it's right, but that's the way it's done....

Once they are signed off by the senior authority they are no longer yours. It happens on occasion. Even in the private industry management asks for a "brag" sheet". If they don't know you well enough, it helps them. If they do, they are either agreeing or modifying it.
Quick story. A newly assigned CPO was instructed to complete evals for all his people. He explained he knew nothing about them and it wouldn't be fair. The response was an order to comply. He rated each and every one of them with the highest score possible. When called on the carpet as to why, he said, "Anyone that could work for a bunch of P****s like you deserves the highest rating". He retired as a CPO.

Always write it and get it read over by someone you trust who can spell and wordsmith. It helps you learn to write and helps your evaluator. That being said I will always work with my subordinates and help them with support form and write their evaluations and awards.

I wrote most of my OERs when I was in. I thought that was SOP.

The rater is supposed to write it and counsel the NCO quarterly as they build the report over the year. Unfortunately, I write my own because I am rated by officers and they tend to write them the way you do an OER. I provide my accomplishments but expect them to add their input. I do the same with my NCOs. I prepare the admin portion, duty description, and additional duties and have them provide me their accomplishments. I want them to understand how to write one. I then modify or add to what they have based on my observation of their performance. They can usually provide something specific such as how many actions they processed. I encourage them to think about things they do such as participate in activities outside of the military. I try to get them to think outside the box. I have to write my own because my officers don't pay attention to what I actually do, they know they need me but they don't know the details so I do it myself, it's my career and I want it reflected.

I never wrote my own EPR as that would be against regs. I did provide feed back to my supervisor in bullet format on the appropriate form.

My experience in the Reserves has predicated writing one's own NCOER. The meat of most Reserve NCOERs comes from activity done during Annual Training. Often, the rater and the rate are not in proximity to each other during the AT, in fact sometimes doing separate days all together. The other 48 days each year that might offer an opportunity to observe an NCO's actions are often spent doing mundane things like mandatory classes and briefs.

After having NCO's written by raters who have literally NEVER spent any time with me, I started writing my own. They are just too important for one's career to leave it to poor rating schemes. My most successful NCOER's have come when I track my accomplishments on a NCOER Support Form (2166-8-1) and forward that to my rater. He then generates bullets off of that, and then together we go over and polish the finished product.