Observations and Suggestions To Assist Officers in Completing Attachment 1 to the COER
Developed by the Chief Professional Officers, USPHS
September 15, 2005
As part of the annual review process, officers are instructed to complete Attachment 1 to the Commissioned Officers’ Effectiveness Report (COER). In past years, each officer was asked to describe his/her “duties, accomplishments, and goals” as related to his/her job. The instructions accompanying the 2005 COER state that officers should also address “Activities and accomplishments evidencing officership, leadership, and force readiness in the context of a transformed Corps”. Although the Transformation of the Commissioned Corps is still in process, and final decisions have not been made that will have direct impact on its scope and impact, the following should provide some guidance as you complete Attachment 1.
Attachment 1 is a one-page document completed by the officer and utilized by the Rater (immediate or first-line supervisor) during the review and rating process. It is intended to give the Rater an accurate, concise picture of the officer’s duties, accomplishments, and goals. In addition, it can provide information related to officership, leadership, and force readiness as they relate to the officer’s job and additional responsibilities and activities as a Commissioned Corps officer. In particular, it has been observed that promotion boards often refer to this Attachment to give them a better understanding and appreciation of what an officer does that expands on the narrative of the billet. A more expanded version of this information should be placed in the curriculum vitae for review by various boards and hiring authorities.
Please remember that the primary purpose of Attachment 1 is to provide the Rater with information about the officer’s duties, accomplishments and goals. As the officer writes the narrative or bullets covering these areas, they should insert a few statements regarding leadership, officership, and force readiness; however, these areas should not be the primary focus of the Attachment 1 narrative.
Duties, Accomplishments, and Goals: These sections of Attachment 1 have been discussed many times, and will not be addressed here. It is sufficient to say they should be written so that the Rater can easily use them as a reference in scoring and commenting on the COER.
Officership: A universal definition of officership is not available. Some sources have explained “officership” as the essence of being an officer, an expectation to use professional judgment, the possession of moral fiber and values, and the relationship between service, the Corps, and society. Flag Officers in other uniformed services have defined officership as a blend of leadership, management, and professionalism – a balance of the motivational needs of the followers and the needs of the organization.
For the Commissioned Corps, characteristics of officership include: (1) knowledge, skills, expertise as a public health professional; (2) commitment to a common mission; (3) core values (loyalty, duty, selfless sacrifice, integrity); and, (4) competence, both as a technical expert and as a professional officer. Although all four are important, for this purpose, the officer should focus on indicators of officership that express contributions made to the Commissioned Corps and the professionalism of being a Commissioned Corps officer in the U.S. Public Health Service. Some examples include:
- recruiting activities – Associate Recruiter, school visits, recruiting booths
- actions demonstrating capabilities as a public health professional
- commitment to mission – for both the OpDiv and the Corps
- actions demonstrating competence – for both OpDiv responsibilities and those related to the Corps
- mentoring – Mentoring Program, mentoring OpDiv peers
- participation – on PACs, COA branches, professional organizations, community service organizations, OpDiv committees and workgroups
- teaching – precepting students, fellows, & Jr COSTEPs; adjunct professor; BLS instructor; local brown bag lectures, guest lecturer, agency teaching and education etc
- presentations – at institutional, local, regional, national, or international forums
- publications – in institutional, Commissioned Corps, or profession’s media – always identifying oneself as a member of the USPHS Commissioned Corps
- uniform wear – every day to work, during presentations, while teaching, while attending professional meetings.
- observing uniformed service protocol
- completing BOTC and IOTC – acknowledging the Corps’ history; embracing the Corps’ corporate culture
Leadership: Most members of the Corps think of themselves as leaders. Through various avenues, they have been taught and have learned leadership skills. However, just knowing leadership skills, without putting them into practice, does not make us leaders. While the potential may exist, leadership must be exhibited and demonstrated in order to be recognized by others.
In a recent study by the Army War College, the following attributes of a leader were listed (in order of importance).
- keeps cool under pressure
- clearly explains missions, standards, and priorities
- sees the big picture, providing context and perspective
- makes tough, sound decisions on time
- adapts quickly to new situations; can handle bad news
- gives useful feedback
- sets a high ethical tone
- is positive, encouraging, and realistically optimistic
Attachment 1 should reflect these and other attributes of a leader. Rather than simply restating the attributes above, the officer should think about how their actions exemplify these distinguishing characteristics. For example, how did they respond to a stressful situation? Do they provide strategic vision to their Team/Clinic/Program/Office? Have they led their group through a restructuring/significant program change? Have they been able to come up with solutions to new situations/challenges?
Additionally, the officer could address:
- any leadership positions held in their job assignments
- leadership roles for collateral duties, committees, PACs, organizations.
- leadership training they have completed
- leadership roles assigned during deployments
- difficult assignments accepted that required them to exhibit leadership attributes
Force Readiness: This particular responsibility has been addressed by many Corps leaders in a broad variety of venues. Readiness and response by our officers is a part of any transformed and vital Commissioned Corps.
In order to address this in Attachment 1, an officer may wish to highlight two or three items from the following:
- Current readiness status (e.g., meet Basic Readiness)
- Historical readiness status (i.e., OFRD roster since 2003, DMAT member 1995-2000/CCRF/OFRD roster since 2002, etc)
- Special training received related to readiness
- Recognition for Readiness (i.e., FMRB – 2002, NEPA- 2003, etc)
- Response participation and role (i.e., for OFRD missions, NDMS missions, and the officer’s agency response mission)
- Temporary Duty Assignments taken on behalf of the OpDiv