In the Guard and Reserves, counseling comes down to preparation before drill.  There isn’t enough time to do the mandated counseling (e.g. APFT/HT-WT failures, MND noncompliance, AWOLs, etc.), let alone the solid, developmental counseling that is needed to develop subordinates.  Leaders in the reserve components need to not only put in the time preparing good counseling statements, but also spend the time during drill observing and speaking to their subordinates.

Ultimately “valuable” counseling can be as simple as “doing it.”  However I don’t want to waste my subordinate’s or my time, so I make sure any counseling I do includes an honest assessment; good, bad, or neutral.  I’ve found that being honest with subordinates, right from the outset, and then continuing that honesty, sets them up for success.

How can we improve? As I said, simply DOING it is an improvement. However until the things like counseling, that can’t be tracked by metrics, start to matter, there isn’t much that will be done. Some leaders, like those here, will counsel because it’s the right, regulatory, and CYB thing to do, however many more will continue to do the bare minimum in order to check the block.

I posted a couple of templates I use to assist RC leaders at:

Performance/Growth and Positive Counseling Templates

Brock