Cho,

Great question. I agree with a lot of what has been said in here. The way I counsel my NCOICs at any level is we just have a talk. We talk about my expectations, there expectations, and where we envision our unit going forward. After we had that informal talk, I would put everything we discussed on paper to make the counseling formal. By doing this you get the best of both worlds: Your NCOIC feels like you are listening to him and you have the formal paperwork to hold him (and you) accountable.

It is hard to counsel NCOs, but it only gets easier the more you do it. And the really good ones will want you to counsel them.