Navy Tribe

First, the down and dirty:

Precepts for eval layout:

-Eval Summary opens with ranking and subjective praise. It should be a strong opening, significant award, promotion recommendation. This is a “Bumper Sticker”!

– Next lines are leadership; What did you do, who did you supervise, performance bullets, ect. You can make almost anything a leadership bullet. Just be sure to ask yourself “who gives a shit?” and “so what?”. See our Eval Bullets (Performance) for some ideas.

– Next is time on board, mentorship/sailorization.

– Then education, community service, command involvement, ect.

– Lastly the closer; Another “Bumper Sticker!”. Recommendation for advancement and next career milestone.

Gouge and Reminders:

* White space is ok, but not at the cost of content.

* Each bullet should tie to command or operational impact.

* Measurable vs. Immeasurable.Quantify things that are measurable (25% increase in quals, 100% warfare qualified, etc.). Don’t quantify things that are immeasurable ( 40% increase in command effectiveness, 25% increase in operational readiness).

* Garbage in = Garbage out

* Cause and effect

* Try not to use “his/her”

* Try not to use the member’s name

* Get involved with the command

* Cut words and pack punches

Eval Economy

* Abbreviate where you’re able.

* Avoid overuse of flowery adjectives (double, triple adjectives)

* Avoid overuse of same nouns (inspections, detachment, maintenance, etc)

* Save space by omitting meaningless descriptors – “more than,” “volunteered off-duty hours,” use name intro/conclusion, but not in text

* List numbers, vice spelling out (1, 2, 3, etc.)

_______________________________________________________________

It never fails. The Chief asks for my brag sheet, and what I should have been doing, what I could have been doing, comes back to bite me in the ass. If I had just kept track of what I did, logged some noteworthy stats, achievements, and accomplishments.  It would be so easy to just spit shine something like that! But nope, I’ve got nothing. A blank templet, starting from scratch and scrambling to recall, fudge, and generate something that, at least, won’t get immediately kicked back!

We’ve all heard it dozens of times, but few of us heed it. “Update your brag sheet regularly!”. Maybe you’re the exception; one of the few that actually takes the time to keep notes on what you’ve done. Maybe you’re oppressed by “The Man” and forced to do this weekly, monthly, whatever, hating it now but contemptuously grateful later. The harsh truth and reality is, if you don’t put it in your brag sheet, it never happened. Good work and solid effort wasted, your ranking order is slipping down like Blockbuster stocks. How many people have I trained? How many of this? How much of that? Your ranking hinges on what you are able to produce here. Better kick it into gear! Save a draft of your brag sheet. Update it at regular intervals (Friday morning works best – you’ll be in a great mood, reflecting on the weeks progress, it will all flow.). In a few weeks you’ll have developed a great habit, have a brag sheet on hand ready at a moments notice… you know, should the chain of command have a hard-earned award to write. Its a habit worth starting. Just start small and keep it short and simple.