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Counseling – a leadership responsibility
Posted 2/7/2013 Updated 2/7/2013
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Commentary by Command Sgt. Maj. Bernie Knight
USARAK Command Sergeant Major
2/7/2013 - JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- About 20 years ago, as a new noncommissioned officer, I got a list of leadership priorities from my first sergeant. It read: "counseling, counseling, counseling."
I knew counseling was important, but I didn't take it too seriously back then. Now, after 29 years in the Army, I find myself telling NCOs the exact same thing.
I've learned along the way that counseling your subordinates is one of the most important parts of a leader's job.
Counseling is how you get to know what makes your Soldiers tick, what motivates them and how you can help them be successful.
To be able to provide purpose, direction and motivation as a leader, you must understand your Soldiers' strengths, weaknesses and professional goals.
Effective developmental counseling is not just writing up a counseling form and handing it to your Soldier to sign. It should be two people engaged in a constructive conversation about what will make the Soldier and the team better.
Counseling has to be a two-way conversation - about the training schedule, about physical fitness, about the Soldier's professional and personal goals, and family aspirations.
Counseling is about working with the Soldier to develop a plan for meeting those goals. Writing up the form should happen after the counseling. It should be a record of that conversation and an outline of a Soldier's plan for success.
Soldiers want to know what's expected of them, and they will respond to effective counseling, because they want to know what it takes to succeed in the Army.
An effective counseling session does not dwell on the past; it focuses on the future and what can be done better. It is the responsibility of leaders and Soldiers to work together to ensure goals are set and understood, observations are made, credit for successes are documented, and recommendations for improvement are acknowledged.
Counseling is one of the most effective tools we have as leaders to give your Soldiers the purpose, direction and motivation to succeed and accomplish the mission. It's how leaders ensure their Soldiers know and understand the mission and have the right equipment and training to accomplish it.
Counseling is so important, it needs to be on unit training schedules to ensure leaders have sufficient time to conduct it.
The U.S. Army Alaska Command General's Policy Letter No. 0-15, published Jan. 29, sets aside time for leaders to develop their Soldiers and conduct monthly counseling. It is one of the recommended activities for the morning of payday activities, on the first Friday after each end-of-month pay cycle.
Leaders, I urge you to use this time wisely and effectively to develop your Soldiers and set them up for success. |
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