Posted on Dec 31, 2013
Writing your own evaluation (NCOER/OER)? Is it really THAT bad?
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As long as your rater/senior rater agree with it (by digitally signing it), why do some feel it's 'taboo' to write your own evaluation?<br><br>Here's some (hypothetical) reasoning:<br><br>Rater takes criticism personally - When we sit down to discuss my evaluation, I point out misspellings or grammatical inaccuracies; I don't want this held against me during a promotion board, but my senior rater takes this personally and gets upset.<br><br>It's worked this far, why change it? - I've been promoted on a previous centralized promotion board (or two) and I've read all the promotion board AARs to keep myself current on what's being looked at as higher importance.<br><br>Too Busy - My rater is too busy or I don't want to be a burden. I think it's my career and I feel a certain obligation to 'write it up' for my senior rater for review it and provide all necessary documentation to justify the quantifiable ratings.<br><br>Not an articulate writer - I'm a much better writer than my senior rater. I have a degree in English and my senior rater doesn't have a degree. I'm not looking to use fancy words, just words that appear on an educated level greater than high school.<br>
NCOER
OER
Military Career
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 63
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LTC (Join to see)
Totally agree with you Sir! It has been mentioned a couple of times, but the Army has support forms that accompany the evaluation shell- produced correctly, the form will encompass all you have accomplished in your rating period. This is absolutely the responsibility of the rated individual- this is where you have the most input and responsibility. A lot of the reasons provided for why people should write their own evaluation remove all responsibility of the Rater and Senior Rater to execute their responsibilities as leaders. No matter how in tune you are with the Board AARs or the accomplishments of your peers, you will be missing a key component of essential feedback of your performance, how your rater/senior rater feel you can improve, and also, important career advice about how to handle the changes in your respective branch. Our leaders have insights that we don't at our level and we need to use and leverage that to ensure our future success, assuming that one is willing to put in the required effort.
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SSG Cliff Duffey
Yes that is true but you would be surprised how many NCO's out there end up writing their own! I know I had a hand in all my NCOER's, with the exception of my first one, which my 1SG wrote. Todays Army is much different than when I first joined!
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LTC (Join to see)
One of my BIGGEST pet peeves…EVER!! The rater should take on the responsibility of doing his/her job…which includes writing the evaluation. I mean, dang, if you gave him/her a good support form…and he/she actually conducted quarterly counseling...90% should be done already. A rater having you write your own evaluation is LAZY! Granted - they may not hit everything you want them to or it is not written as good as it should be…but you can address those prior to signing and request a tweak here and there.
Now - I do see the other side of the coin. If the rater doesn't care and wants you to write your own…of course you're going to write it like you're the best thing since peanut butter. Raters allowing subordinates to do that, however, are not allowing others whose raters do write their subordinate NCOERs to play on a level playing field during promotion boards, etc.
No Soldier, NCO of Officer that I have rated has written their own.
Just my humble input!
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SSG Daniel Deiler
Unfortunately I've been an NCO for several years and have yet to have my rater write my NCOER. I've always written my own and submitted to my rater for revisions and review. While this has helped me immensely with the experience of learning what a good NCOER looks like, it always made me feel like my leadership cared more about advancing their own careers rather than trying to teach and mentor their subordinate NCO's and future leaders.
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MSG(P) Quick,
If the rater/senior rater doesn't know how to convey the intended message to the board in an effective manner, then I personally believe it becomes the individual responsibility to help the rater/senior rater achieve "YOUR" desired results (maybe not all, but close to it). It is your career, so OWN it, is how I see it. I'm all for a draft write-up in addition to the support form. I am now in the process of training my junior Commissioned Officers on how to effectively annotate senior rater comments, especially for their Senior NCOs. For example, I am so sick of seeing generic bullets for our OUTSTANDING Senior NCOs and some may believe this is considered to be a good write up, but it's not in my humble opinion.
o promote to Master Sergeant ahead of peers
o send to First Sergeant course now
o assign as a First Sergeant immediately
o unlimited potential for increased responsibility
Now how many Senior NCOs are receiving evaluations as such based on the aforementioned?
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This is one example of a write up that I have done for my Senior NCO and they are all "different" form one another! I focus on the next promotion (short term), schooling, duty position, ranking amongst peers, and potential for future service (long term). By the way, this individual was promoted--first look.
o select for Master Sergeant in secondary zone; groom now for Sergeant Major
o send to First Sergeant course at earliest opportunity
o ready now to lead a Company of 200+ Soldiers, NCOs & Officers; must assign immediately
o leadership ranks in the top 2% amongst 91CMF's I have senior rated; he is #1 of 14
o possesses superior potential; clearly a future Command Sergeant Major
So if you have a great relationship with your rater/senior rater, and you walk on water in the organization then write your own and turn it in and they will be glad to receive your "working copy". Just my two cents MSG(P) Quick. Thank you for the post.
If the rater/senior rater doesn't know how to convey the intended message to the board in an effective manner, then I personally believe it becomes the individual responsibility to help the rater/senior rater achieve "YOUR" desired results (maybe not all, but close to it). It is your career, so OWN it, is how I see it. I'm all for a draft write-up in addition to the support form. I am now in the process of training my junior Commissioned Officers on how to effectively annotate senior rater comments, especially for their Senior NCOs. For example, I am so sick of seeing generic bullets for our OUTSTANDING Senior NCOs and some may believe this is considered to be a good write up, but it's not in my humble opinion.
o promote to Master Sergeant ahead of peers
o send to First Sergeant course now
o assign as a First Sergeant immediately
o unlimited potential for increased responsibility
Now how many Senior NCOs are receiving evaluations as such based on the aforementioned?
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This is one example of a write up that I have done for my Senior NCO and they are all "different" form one another! I focus on the next promotion (short term), schooling, duty position, ranking amongst peers, and potential for future service (long term). By the way, this individual was promoted--first look.
o select for Master Sergeant in secondary zone; groom now for Sergeant Major
o send to First Sergeant course at earliest opportunity
o ready now to lead a Company of 200+ Soldiers, NCOs & Officers; must assign immediately
o leadership ranks in the top 2% amongst 91CMF's I have senior rated; he is #1 of 14
o possesses superior potential; clearly a future Command Sergeant Major
So if you have a great relationship with your rater/senior rater, and you walk on water in the organization then write your own and turn it in and they will be glad to receive your "working copy". Just my two cents MSG(P) Quick. Thank you for the post.
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SGM Matthew Quick
You bring up some great points, ESPECIALLY the generic comments. A new thread is about to begin.
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Writing your own evaluation is removing the counseling responsibility that the rater owes to the Soldier. I believe that an evaluation should have a perfect blend of rater and rated Soldier during the building process. This allows the rated Soldier to build an evaluation report that has their input and the rater's input. If done right you can build what you have done and what your rater has seen. Blend the 2 together and chances are you will have one hell of an evaluation.
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SFC Casey O'Mally
It absolutely removes that responsibility. But what do you as an NCO do when your rater fails in that responsibility? If your rater refused to do their quarterly counseling, do you just accept whatever they throw together at the last minute?
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SGM (Join to see)
Absolutely not - at some point you have to take care of yourself and senior leaders know what the eval should have on it. I had a NCO seems me his NCOER a few years back and it was written with well intentions but nothing like how an NCOER should have been written. I had to explain to him that while it looked good the poor writing and grammar errors would prevent him from getting picked up.
As senior NCOs we need to engage our raters and hold them accountable as much as we can but in the end we have to take care of ourselves too.
As senior NCOs we need to engage our raters and hold them accountable as much as we can but in the end we have to take care of ourselves too.
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