Army Performance Evaluations - Overview
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Army
Officer
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Preparing a winning OER!
 The
mission of the officer evaluation reporting system (OER) is to provide
information to DA selection boards and assignment managers for use
in making personnel management decisions. The OER is an assessment
tool for rating officials to give shape and direction to the rated
officer's performance and potential. Though it is widely believed
that the OER exists solely to provide performance information to selection
boards and assignment managers, what is of greater import to the Army,
is its power in creating and reinforcing behavior. Therefore, after
consideration of selection board and field reaction, we must go beyond
to its leader development role, which includes inculcation of values
and leadership doctrine, counseling transition of the new officers
into our culture, linkage of performance to mission and OPMS III.
5 Steps to Improving Your OER "SCORE"
Although the Army Performance Evaluation system is designed to observe and report your performance, there are 5 steps you can take that are virtually guaranteed to improve your evaluations.
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The OER is an assessment tool for rating officials. |
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Step 1. Start out by reading Army
Regulation 623-105. Understanding how the process works is key
to making it work for you. Pay particular attention to appropriate
evaluation form for your rank.
Step 2. Communicate. Talk with your evaluator (supervisor)
about your performance report. You should go over the form line by
line to determine their expectations. Ask your evaluator for their
advice on how to improve your OER and get the highest score possible.
Step 3. Be Opportunistic. Take every opportunity you
can to demonstrate the level of performance that your evaluator suggested.
Be sure to take the initiative and show that you're committed to performing
at the highest level.
Step 4. Record your personal performance. Keep a performance
diary, noting the times and situations when you demonstrated the skills,
initiative, leadership, and performance your evaluator suggested.
Step 5. Evaluate yourself. Complete your own evaluation
report including documentation and information. After all it is
your career, and you are the only one who knows exactly what you have
accomplished during the evaluation period. Submit your OER
and documentation to your evaluator.
Your evaluator has a rough job, he or she has to monitor you and your coworkers performance throughout the entire evaluation period. It is nearly impossible for an evaluator to remember every detail about your performance. In fact evaluators tend to remember negative situations more often than the positive ones. By following these 5 steps you will make your evaluators job easier, and when you make their job easier it can't help but to increase your OER SCORE.
Tips to writing a winning Officer Evaluation Report (OER)
The
key to a well-written OER is the quality of your input. Here are some
tips for writing a quality OER:
- Keep a weekly or daily log to document accomplishments—Not only what you did, but also its value or impact on unit mission or career development.
- Establish short, intermediate, and long-term performance goals; share them with your supervisor.
- Request specific recommendations in the Potential block. Examples may include promotion, graduate school, command, or a recommendation to chief warrant officer to lieutenant program.
- Ensure issues raised in previous OERs are brought to closure.
- Gain a thorough understanding of your written job description. If it is out of date, rewrite it. If there isn't one, write it.
- Clearly understand the relationship between your job and your unit's mission.
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