Monthly NCO counselings

You have some valid points from both sides SFC Butler, with a young NCO I feel it is important to counsel them monthly but I wouldn't necessarily say with a 4856. As a SFC, the platoon sergeant should be sitting down discussing monthly with their SGT/E5 population on where they stand good and bad. As rifle company 1SG I made it my responsibility to bring in every SSG and have a counseling sessions with them. Sometimes I would do this in my office or while over lunch. I wouldn't just discuss what they did that month but where they feel they were among their peers and what they could do better for themselves or to assist their peers. Obviously some NCOs feel that they might be getting treated unfairly because they are being counseled monthly but sometimes it's out of our control, as in my unit that requires all NCOs to receive counseling monthly. Now we all have seen cut and paste counseling before and honestly that is what we should be avoiding if we are required to counsel monthly. In my humble opinion I think it's far more important to counsel NCOs monthly than a Soldier because that NCO has more responsibilities, and needs the time and attention to help mold them into leaders that can effectively be counselors themselves. It's funny to me how the Army emphasizes counseling but yet has never created one school to teach leaders HOW to actually be a counselor and no PLDC or WLC has not nor ever will teach our young NCOs how to! 

SFC Butler, I too agree with the previous responses in regards to counseling NCOs on a monthly basis if done correctly.  I feel that not only will it benefit the NCO in regards to letting them know how their performance has been for that month but it will show and teach them the right way to conduct a counseling session with their subordinates.  Too often do I now see NCOs improperly conducting counseling sessions.  Either the counseling is poorly written or they fail to counsel in the right setting.  It will become muscle memory and become a norm for our NCOs to properly conduct counseling's.

I applaud the monthly counseling but not if its sole purpose is for screw ups. Quarterly counseling is the minimum standard to meet. During that quarter there should be plenty of opportunities to conduct performance and event oriented counseling leaving the quarterly requirement as a summary. From my foxhole that could mean leader and team PRT and weapons readiness, performance on past or future promotion/recognition boards, job book status, inspections, and certifications. Beyond that, counseling subordinates is about making them better leaders, Soldiers, and humans. The only difference between counseling junior enlisted and NCOs is the the additional two responsibilities all NCOs live by. Accomplishment of their mission and the welfare of their Soldiers.