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Time for a weekend quick fire LPD. Today's topic is a mashup of two subjects I see junior officers routinely struggle with: Counseling and NCOERs! Buckle up for my patent-pending method for killing two birds with one stone. 1/
Nearly every new 2LT has anxiety about counseling their Platoon Sergeant or NCOIC. "I'm 23 and brand new, they are older and have way more experience than I do. How do I not make it awkward?" 2/
First, I'd offer it's a system that's worked for over 200 years. So take deep breaths and chill. Your NCOs will respect you for counseling them, because you're setting the standard and showing that you care about their development. But how you do it is important. 3/
Rogue 6 method: use a working copy of the NCOER to drive the counseling! Officers fail at NCOERs for multiple reasons, but one reason is they wait until they are due or late to start working on them. 4/
So, once a month, sit down with your NCO and that blank copy of the NCOER. Go down the line, and talk about what they did over the last month to develop bullets for their NCOER. It's MUCH easier to recall the last four weeks of activities than 12 months. 5/
These discussions are great segues into how the team did and how you're working together to accomplish the mission and take care of your troops, without it being confrontational or awkward. "Okay let's brainstorm a bullet or two for you on 'Leads.' How about that rifle range?" 6/
Add in some quantifiable metrics, and some impacts, and you got the makings of some good NCOER bullets. Can't think of things for particular areas? Maybe these are areas for improvement for them and it turns into the performance plan! 7/
Don't try to fill the whole thing out, just 1 or 2 per area. This discussion could easily fill an hour. By the end of the rating period, you have a buffet of GOOD NCOER bullets, not the BS generic copy&paste bullets. (P.S.: I will nuke you for these. They show you don't care.) 8/
For only an hour a month, you've done your duty to counsel in a non-awkward way, you're building their NCOER as you go (and they have input), and it will be a much better product that truly reflects their accomplishments! 9/
Lastly, tagging in @PanelSgm1 @VelvetHammerSGM @PanelExpertSGMs @PanelSgm3 @PanelSGM4 @PanelSGM5 @first_sausage @jj10til8 @broadcastmike @XXIV3dRCSM @CsmBlaisdell who I'm hoping can add more helpful hints on writing effective NCOERS for our Junior Officers! 
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