General Medical Officer (GMO) Manual: Administrative Section
Enlisted Evaluations
Department of the Navy
Bureau of Medicine and Surgery
Important points to know
- One of your responsibilities as an officer is to motivate and mentor your corpsman and other enlisted personnel. Facilitate this process by ensuring that each Sailor's evaluations are an honest and impartial representation of their performance. Nothing destroys morale and unit cohesiveness as quickly as an unfair evaluation.
- The Navy depends on the enlisted performance evaluations for advancement, selection for advanced education, and duty assignments.
- BUPERSINST 1610.10 provides specific guidance on specific types of evaluations. Become familiar with all the provisions of this instruction; this will assist in the fair evaluation of your personnel. This instruction provides the schedule and deadlines for evaluations, and other formal counseling guideline. The instruction also delineates what comments may or may not be included in the evaluation.
- The service member views a performance evaluation as the primary indicator of their performance. Factors that may be read into an evaluation include the following information: what you think of the an individual, and how much you value them as a member of your team. Dedicated naval officers have turned many careers around working with enlisted members to improve their performance. Don't hesitate to do this.
- The evaluation process is ongoing throughout the year. For assistance, you may want to keep a division officers record (DOR) on each member assigned to you. Remember if you keep a DOR on an individual, you must inform the individual and allow them access to the DOR at their request.
- Notes can be an excellent reminder of noteworthy accomplishments. Encourage your junior personnel to keep a record of their own personal accomplishments at work and outside of work during the entire evaluation period. Also include any informal counseling sheets that you may have done to document substandard performance.
- Avoid waiting until evaluation time to counsel a member on outstanding or substandard performance. Effective counseling must be prompt and specific. Call the member into your office and give them an honest appraisal of their performance. Take every opportunity to reinforce positive behavior and correct negative behavior.
Reference
Reviewed by HMCS(FMF) Johnny West, MED-911, BUMED, Washington, D.C. (1999).