The Big Four - Performance

To be entirely precise, the PERSMAN calls this first one of the Big 4 "performance evaluations," however, the Commandant calls it just performance in his Guidance to Boards and Panels, so I'll stick with that. Do not fall into the trap of thinking this is just how high your marks are. Performance, in the way that boards look at it, is the sum total of your ability to perform your duties, across all the OERs you have received.

In my last entry, I introduced the concept of record weakness. From what I have observed, getting continuously promoted along the way in the Coast Guard is really about managing weakness in your record. When I say weakness, what do I mean? Let's look at it this way. Our promotion system is all about making Flag Officers. Since our service does not allow us to hire executives from outside the "company" like say Xerox, IBM or GE, we have to grow all of our own uniformed executives (SES civilians are excluded from this discussion) from lower ranks. If you accept that, then our promotion system is all about taking a given officer from junior ranks and selecting the ones best suited for continuing on - all the way up to O-7. Okay then, what are we looking for in our senior executives? They have to be absolutely committed to the Service, willing to pretty much move wherever and whenever the Boss needs them next, they have to be experts in their chosen fields of endeavor (often in several), they have to be seasoned leaders and able to handle people, resources, information, technology and negotiate in the national and international arena. Almost all have distinguished themselves in large O-6 commands, all have advanced degrees, have experience in multiple geographic and functional areas of the Coast Guard, and did I mention they are absolutely committed to the Service?

So as you look at your career history, record of performance, and documented potential, ask yourself where you see weaknesses. Have you been unwilling to move out of Florida, New England or Alaska? Have you made a conscious decision to end your operational career (or allowed it to happen to you), minimizing your chances for O-6 command? Have you been overly operational, or overly assigned to staff? Have you avoided straying outside your comfort zone, or resisted the need to pursue your education? These are all potential sources of weakness. Of course, it goes without saying that a violation of the UCMJ, civil court conviction, DUI, alcohol incident, violation of the drug policy, maximum allowable weight policy, or 8H policy inject often unrecoverable levels of weakness in an officers record. If you stray into one of these "trap doors," you should realize that you have committed an act of severe career jeopardy. We'll discuss this more when I blog about professionalism.

So when your detailer is calling to offer you a job that is nowhere on your e-resume, she is probably trying to shore up a weak area in your record, to give you needed exposure or experience in a performance dimension to make you more competitive for promotion and keep you on track (or put you back on track) for promotion to O-7. That could be a resources job, it could be a west coast job, it could be an OPS Boss job. Ask your detailer how this assignment helps you professionally. Often, this is the biggest reason for those "out of the blue" job offers - and you should be aware of what you are turning down when you say no. Your detailer (and the board) has no access to what your family/spouse wants to do, where you own property, or where your elderly parents live. Those factors do not play much into what the Coast Guard needs...but they do play into what makes you happy. So it isn't that they aren't important - it is just that they don't usually factor into an assignment decision. So it becomes up to you to know what the best next step is for you, and ask for jobs that satisfy both needs (your personal desires and the needs of the Service). But realize that if you eschew the advice of your detailer, because your personal desires are more important, you may be adding weakness to your overall record. Maybe that weakness won't hurt you at your O-3 board, maybe you can sustain through O-4 board, but maybe it catches up with you before the O-5 board. I get calls all the time from officers non-selected at O-5 or O-6 boards, whose career decisions as an O-3 and O-4 presented weakness that they were unable to overcome. The tough part is, before the board, it is hard to tell how much weakness you can carry, or what pushes you past the tipping point and into the non-select pile. Where possible, take the harder job, the one that maximizes the value you offer to the Coast Guard.

A brief anecdote from my own career: about half-way through my tour as a detailer, I knew I needed to head back to operations as an O-4. I had already been a DWO in a 180' buoytender, and XO and CO in a 140' icebreaking harbor tug. It was very tempting to take the easy road and screen for command of a 225' buoytender. The harder road, but one better for my career was to go as XO of a WMEC. The balance between three years in WLB command and two years as WMEC XO was one of fun versus value. In the end, I asked to remove my name from the command afloat screening panel and requested orders to 210's and 270's as XO. In the end, I increased the measure of value I offer the Coast Guard, learned a whole host of new skills, and had fun anyway (though it is no lie to say that it was a lot of work)!

Okay, the final point I'll make on performance is this. In general, for two officers performing equally, the Board will give higher credit to the officer doing the harder job. Let's look at a couple of examples: two LTjgs, one qualified as DWO and boarding officer in a 270', the other qualified as EOIT in a 270' and completed her DWO and boarding officer quals as well. Often the detailer, board and/or screening panel will credit the EOIT more for the same marks because the EOIT's job was harder. She represents a higher individual unit of value to the Coast Guard. Let's look at another case: two O-4 pilots, one only rotary wing qualified, duty stander and in the OPS track, and the other qualified both fixed and rotary wing, in the aviation engineer track and serving as assistant department head...both the same marks. You guessed it! Here's a harder one: two O-5 WMEC COs: both have east and west coast experience, both have advanced degrees, but one has never served in a Headquarters staff tour, the other served in Coast Guard Headquarters in an O-4 staff assignment. With equal records, my money is on the CO who has been to HQ. So if you are an O-3 select coming off your 87' CO ride, you can bet your next conversation with the afloat detailer is going be about OPS on a WMEC/WHEC, as opposed to back to command of a 110'. If your recent operational job was as Supervisor of an MSD in the Virgin Islands, you can bet the prevention detailer wants to offer you that ACID job at a large Sector, even if the Gulf Coast isn't on your e-resume. If you are a senior O-3 or O-4 pilot with Miami and Savannah under your belt, and you haven't been to the proving grounds of Kodiak, AK...yep, that's probably what the aviation detailer is calling you about. And if you haven't been to HQ before O-5, I would include some choice HQ staff jobs on your initial e-resume.

You can ask for the right jobs, coming out of the gate at e-resume deadline, or you can play the high-stakes detailer game, and ask for all stuff you want, but which adds weakness to your record. If you are smart, you'll compete fairly and strongly on a realistic eresume. If you are less lucky, you'll be revising your e-resume late, when many of the jobs that might have been good for you are gone. If you are less lucky still, you might get what you ask for over your detailer's good advice, and weaken your record in the process. But this is really a situation where it's better to be good than lucky. Because, eventually, everybody's luck runs out.

Next up - Professionalism. ~ jea