Thank you to @vanezzaospina and @george-l-gurrola for reminding me about this topic.

Bottom line up front: I believe that Senior Rater Counseling can and should be utilized as an effective a tool to combat toxic leadership at all levels. I would like the opinions and thoughts of the professionals here.

We’ve all been in the Army long enough to have seen how “toxic” leaders (pick your definition) at all levels, can destroy units and Soldier moral. Leaders across the services denounce toxic leadership as one of the major problems facing the military today. Articles and studies have looked into the matter extensively.

What do all of these studies have in common? None of them really have an answer as to what to do about toxic leadership. Many agree that it’s hard for leaders to identify toxic leadership within their organizations, simply because most toxic leaders are “effective” at meeting mission requirements, at least in the short term. Looking down, it’s often hard to see when a subordinate is tearing the heart and soul out of their Soldiers, when they are meeting the goals you set for them. Soldiers serving under toxic leaders have no recourse if their leader isn’t doing anything illegal, immoral, or unethical; so they often suffer in silence, leaving the service instead of reenlisting, and departing with enmity toward the organization that did nothing to help them.

So what can the Army do?

As I said above, I believe the Army already has an effective tool in its arsenal that could be used to combat toxic leaders; the Senior Rater Counseling.

It is my understanding that no matter who you are or what your rank is; Officer or NCO; CPT, LT or SGT; leaders should be meeting with, or at least speaking to, their Senior Rater quarterly as part of their own professional growth and development. As that higher level leader, utilizing the senior rater counseling session as an opportunity to get a “bottom-up” view of a subordinate leader’s abilities, competence, and leadership, would without a doubt go a long way in solving the toxic problems that plague many units. At least at the company and platoon levels. Reaching down to all of those NCO/Officers that a leader senior rates allows for multiple perspectives, which would avoid the issue of personality conflicts between a leader and single subordinate.

I have a firsthand example of how this method works and can be used to fix subordinate leaders who are or are borderline toxic. As a platoon leader, I senior rated my platoon’s Team Leaders. During our sessions, I purposefully asked how their Squad Leaders were performing (the NCOs I rated). One NCO in particular was highly effective; accomplished every task he was given; and pushed his squad to have the highest APFT score in the platoon. However, he was toxic. He was abusive, a poor listener, was overly sensitive to criticism, and lacked empathy for the feelings of his Soldiers. After identifying this, I was able to look for it, confirm that it was in fact taking place, and then counsel the NCO in order to put them back on course. Did it work? Absolutely! The squad remained effective, and moral shot through the roof.

How many toxic leaders could have been identified, counseled, and corrected before they had the chance to destroy the moral of an entire unit? What if a company commander simply asked the squad leaders that he senior rates, how they felt their PL was doing, before the PL’s toxicity (or other deficiency) destroyed the moral of an entire platoon of Soldiers and NCOs? Go one further; what if a battalion commander simply asked the platoon leaders that he or she senior rated, how they felt their CO was doing, before the CO’s toxicity destroyed the moral of an entire COMPANY of Soldiers and NCOs?

Now, mind that I said “tool.” I don’t believe that it would be a silver bullet, however I do think that if senior raters looked at those they rate a little more from the bottom up by conducting senior rater counseling, those leaders might get a better, more rounded picture of the subordinate leaders they rate.

So what do you think? Could using the Senior Rater Counseling in this manner be a (not the) solution to the Army’s Toxic Leadership problem?