SPC.

Barco, Raymond V

The importance of counseling to the army

If you were to ask a soldier in the Army what counseling meant to them. What would they say? Most soldiers, particularly lower enlisted members, think that counseling is all negative. Counseling can be but are not always negative. When done the right way counseling will help soldiers meet individual goals and help units achieve organized goals. The purpose of counseling is to develop subordinates to achieve personal, professional development and organized goals and to prepare them for increased responsibility. Army counseling is made to develop both leaders and subordinates for higher levels of responsibility. Leaders are responsible for helping subordinates improve or maintain performance, attain goals and solve problems. Through counseling leaders learn about their effectiveness and more about leadership. Leaders also learn about their soldiers. What are the different types of counseling that the Army uses? Event Oriented and Performance/Professional Growth are the two main categories of counseling. Event Oriented Counseling is specific in situation and is more personal. This can be a situation where a subordinate or leader has exceeded expectations or has done below standards. Separation Counseling, Promotion Counseling and Referral Counseling are some examples of Event Oriented Counseling. Performance Counseling is done quarterly like NCOER, which are used to strengthen the NCO corps. Then there is Professional Growth Counseling which is future based. For example long term goals and pathway to success. Event Oriented Counseling helps to correct a problem or praise a soldier on his performance. Performance and Professional Growth Counseling are geared toward long term goals and help soldier achieve career and educational growth. Event Oriented and Performance/Professional Growth counseling help the Army in achieving organized goals. The goals of the Army are more easily attained when each individual knows what is expected of them. All Army counseling whether it be negative or positive tells a soldier what his tasks are and what is expected of soldier. This counseling will also tell the soldier how the soldier will go about accomplishing these task or goals. Leaders are responsible for ensuring that their subordinates understand what is expected of them and what the leader is going to do help the soldier achieve these goals. Once everyone understand what is expected of them the plan or goal set in the counseling are set in motion. Based on whether long term or short term this may be revises with additions. Upon completion of the task there should be an assessment that will say whether the plan was a success and if the goals were achieved. This assessment is feedback for both the leader and subordinate. It helps the leader see how his role as a leader helped in accomplishing the goal. The leader based on the results may change his leadership style to better suit the goals at hand or subordinates. Counseling from beginning to end are set on making better soldiers by helping them understand what is expected of them. Counseling is very important role in the army. It helps soldiers achieve goals individually while also meeting organized goals. Counseling gives soldiers an outline. These outlines tell them what to do and how to do it and gives then a time to achieve goals. If the goals arent meet then there are counseling to correct whatever the problem.