Verbal Counseling Guidelines

Normally when we think of counseling we think in terms of a written counseling form.  Believe it or not you counsel soldiers every day.  A Formal Verbal Counseling could be calling a soldier in and having them stand at parade rest in front of you as you discuss, coach, mentor, train, correct substandard performance, and reward for exceptional performance.

Here are some tips for conducting a Verbal Counseling session

• Keep it short and to the point!
• Make a note in your leader book about the time/date of your discussion. You may ask, "If this is a verbal counseling why make a note?"  Here are several reasons:
  • You may wish annotate the item on the soldier?s month counseling
  • You may wish to keep track of it for future reference.  Let?s say the soldier is late to work with no excuse.  You verbally counsel and make a note.  3 days later the same thing happens.  You then type up a written counseling and in it, you state that you verbally counseled the soldier for the same reason on blank date and time.
• Advantages to making the note:
  • Helps show that you have done your job as a leader and tried to correct the problem at the lowest level
  • Shows the soldier you care about them
  • By making a note in your leader book in front of the soldier they understand that you are serious and expect correction
  • Provides you and the chain of command with a record of actions/corrective training
  • Provides a level of credibility to a situation that may be elevated. 
    • When you can look in your leaderbook and state on blank date and time I verbally counseled ____ about ____, senior leaders will receive that as positive action.