I think its important to take 2-3 weeks (I took 30 days) to get to know him/her and learn the way the platoon operates before counseling. I like to be able to build a relationship and talk informally about family, career goals, etc. before getting to the actual counseling session. I think its important to develop that relationship early and waiting until you put it on paper is too long.

The PSG was there before you and will remain after. I would also not look to change too much unless it is really broken (I would suggest talking with your CO and 1SG for guidance prior to discussing any major issues). At the end of the day, you are the PL, but don’t go in guns blazing.

Lay out your expectations for him/her. The PSG will do his/her job and doesn’t need your guidance, but you two will need to agree on how things are run. For example, in my platoon my PSG likes to plan PT (and he is good at it). We discussed that in our counseling session so I told him go for it, but I told him my expectations were a 260 PLT APFT average and functional fitness.

Counseling your PSG is more about getting on the same page with each other than it is about giving professional guidance on how to do his/her job. Things like, “I expect you to keep me informed of all personnel issues and family problems” is important, or “We will jointly plan training events and I expect you to schedule medic support, and classes I and V” and so forth. Beans and bullets are obviously part of their job, but getting on the same page so no one is assuming anything is smart.

Lastly, look at successful PSG NCOERs from your branch to get an idea of what right looks like so you can communicate to them how to achieve a good rating. They need to know what to shoot for and what kind of performance warrants a top rating.

There is no exact science to this, just don’t come across pushy, like you know everything, or that you are telling them how to do their job. It should be a two way communication. Hopefully this helps some.