Anyone here doing promotion boards at their squadron, too?

[Titan 25]

I just thought I'd ask because I know that not everyone in the nation gives cadets promotion boards to test their leadership ability before they let them move on. I have grown up with promotion boards ever since I joined and they have always scared the crap out of me!!

So who here does them at their squadron, too? Why? Why not?

[DBlair]

Technically, these are required at least once per phase, and there are phase-specific forms to be used. Any unit not using the forms, or not doing boards at least once per phase is not administering the Cadet Program properly.

I'm a fan of doing these each promotion as a way of giving a Cadet actual feedback as to how he/she can improve. Keep in mind that these boards may not test material already covered in achievement tests. Likewise, they should not be a waste of time with absurd questions or behavior, but rather to serve as an opportunity to provide feedback, suggestions, or guidance to the Cadet.

[jeders]

Technically, these are required at least once per phase

Cite please.

The CAPF 50-series is required once per phase, not a promotion board. However, if you do do a PRB, you should use the F50.

[A.Member]

Search is your friend, particularly on the Cadet Programs board.

[Bayareaflyer 44]

I think we owe it to our cadet corp to provide a some kind of feedback mechanism to a promotion candidate - and the promotion board is it.  Now it can be said that the cadet commander and his/her staff should be counselling and mentoring their cadets at all times so that there is no question where someone stands in terms of ability, but that sometimes does not happen.

So, at our squadron, the cadets that are promoting to C/SSgt and C/TSgt have a board of senior cadet NCOs and cadet officers verifying the candidate is ready to move on.  For C/MSgt and above, there are at least 2 senior members in the mix.  Again, the focus is making sure the cadet is ready to take on the greater responsibilities of an advancing grade, as well as ensuring that what we are trying to do with the program is making its way back into the individual.  Kind of a two-way validation step.

Bottom line - feedback is key for both program participants and administrators!

[DBlair]

Technically, these are required at least once per phase

Cite please.

The CAPF 50-series is required once per phase, not a promotion board. However, if you do do a PRB, you should use the F50.

...if you are completing a CAPF-50 series, then what would you call the meeting you are having with that Cadet? Call it a review board, leadership feedback meeting, or whatever you want, but it is essentially the same thing, whether formal or informal. Thus, while a 'board' itself is not required, if you are completing that form and providing a leadership feedback session, you are holding a defacto board.



Also, look at the 'suggested procedure' on the back of the CAPF 50 series, that which is being described is a Board.

[jimmydeanno]

I just thought I'd ask because I know that not everyone in the nation gives cadets promotion boards to test their leadership ability before they let them move on. I have grown up with promotion boards ever since I joined and they have always scared the crap out of me!!

So who here does them at their squadron, too? Why? Why not?

While I understand what you are trying to say, I think there is a fundamental clarification that needs to be made.

Let's looks at the requirements as laid out in 52-16

b. Leadership Feedback. Commanders must ensure each cadet receives constructive feedback using the CAPF 50, Cadet Leadership Feedback, at least once per phase. (The CAPF 50 series includes four forms – CAPF 50-1, CAPF 50-2, CAPF 50-3, and CAPF 50-4 – one for each phase in the Cadet Program). Senior members and cadet officers may conduct CAPF 50 evaluations (cadet officers may evaluate cadets who are junior to them in grade). Commanders may approve or disapprove the evaluation; ultimately the commander must ensure the cadet's progress is evaluated properly. The "Leadership Expectations" chart in Figure 2-2 outlines in broad terms what level of leadership skill cadets should be demonstrating during each phase of the Cadet Program. Commanders will use this chart as a guideline (not a definitive, absolute list of required skills) when making promotion decisions and mentoring cadets.

d. Promotion Boards. Although not required, units may hold promotion boards (sometimes known as boards of review), to help the commander decide if cadets are ready to accept the increased responsibilities that come with their promotions. If used, promotion boards must meet the following criteria:
(1) The commander (or commander's designee) must evaluate each cadet using a CAPF 50.
(2) Promotion boards will not re-test cadets on material they already passed through achievement tests.
(3) Commanders must apply local promotion board policies consistently, with all cadets being subject to the same process.

So, with that said.  It is important to remember that the purpose of the promotion board isn't to test their leadership ability.  The "test" is the time prior to the promotion board.  The promotion board evaluates that exhibited leadership of the cadet and determines whether or not they align with the established goals for the program.

So, a promotion board isn't a time to throw the situational leadership questions, etc but to evaluate the cadet's performance for the period on the CAPF 50.  It is an opportunity for the cadet to get some quality one-on-one feedback from their superiors and for both parties to gain perspective of the other.

As said above, I'm sure you understand their purpose, but for future readers, etc I wouldn't want them to get a misrepresented idea of what these were supposed to be.

With that said, every unit that I have been a member of did not have them when I transferred to them.  Eventually, I ended up taking over the cadet programs and instituting a policy of "every promotion gets a review board and a CAPF 50."  To me, it is only fair to the cadet that they get the feedback they need.  We know that things can get hectic during meetings and time is somehow lost - sometimes the feedback does to.  By requiring that the cadets give each other feedback at least each promotion we ensure that the mentoring environment is at least minimally present and that there aren't any surprise retentions.

Additionally, I think they are a great tool to teach C/NCOs and C/Officers how to provide feedback and evaluate other's performance.  It also aids in communication and organizational skills. 

Also, it ensures that the promotion requirements are evenly applied across the board.

[DBlair]

Agreed.

[Bluelakes 13]

When I was unit commander, I did them for every promotion.

Now that I train cadet leaders, I urge them to do the same.

[addo1]

Promotions review boards, by my squadron's policy, are required once per achievement. The review boards are carried out by the executive cadet staff in the squadron with a senior member present for commentary. This allows a time for the reviewing of the cadet's eligibility along with the meeting of the qualities that we expect (we refer to the stripes to diamonds expectations on gocivilairpatrol.com). In addition, this allows for a time that the cadets can give feedback to the staff and discuss any issues that they need to.

[Ron1319]

I wasn't a fan of the idea until I was exposed to it more.  I do find that for early promotions, they are primarily useful to encourage the cadets and to ensure that they know what they need to do for their next promotion.

I'm especially interested as to why they used to "scare the crap out of" you.  That's the part that I really want to drive home.  If they are discouraging cadets from promoting, then the squadron is doing something wrong.  These should be productive, a way to ensure that the cadets are getting what they want out of the program, and informative of what the cadets need to succeed.  This is very similar to a corporate review process.

Frequency is something that I'm still considering, as we are still doing them for every promotion, and I'm not entirely sure it's necessary for our more active cadets.  I do want the face time between the cadet staff and the new cadets in the review board.  I love that the cadets are running them in squadrons on this thread, as I've been working on saying less and personally being less involved in them.

Ron

[addo1]

I'm especially interested as to why they used to "scare the crap out of" you.  That's the part that I really want to drive home.  If they are discouraging cadets from promoting, then the squadron is doing something wrong.  These should be productive, a way to ensure that the cadets are getting what they want out of the program, and informative of what the cadets need to succeed.  This is very similar to a corporate review process.
Ron

Review boards can definitely be of great value when utilized effectively. As for the "scaring," I would agree that it should not be a process to go and get your butt chewed out or something to dread. I DO think that some nervousness is healthy as long as the individual can come in with confidence. The cadet going before the board should (if they have good staff) know if they are doing badly or well before the even go for review. I know as a basic that I was nervous about going up in front of high ranking officers. I think that was a good thing for me. With standards set and clear expectations, the cadet should know what they are up for and it should not be a scare show.

Now, I was a cadet who had been misbehaving and knows it along with his officers, yeah, I would not be too calm about the whole deal... 

[SAR-EMT1]

My unit traditionally gives an informal promotion board prior to each promotion to every eligible cadet using F50 as a guideline.

The CAPF 50 is FILLED OUT once per phase as required in regs.

The frequent boards were established some years back after a squadron "jeopardy" game session revealed that the majority of cadets at the time had forgotten most of the material they had covered in their last tests, be it AE or Leadership.

[Gunny Couture]

We do at our squadron. I think that at least once a phase it's good to have a board do an evaluation. The progress rating reports, are an evaluation that shows progress in a phase, but the review board is there to ask "has the cadet mastered this phase" before we move them on.

[Ron1319]

Ok, where do you place the bar for phase mastery?  I've been finding that in a world where c/Lt represents the top 1% of cadets mastery of Phase II is often described as what I would consider mastery of Phase III.  Junior cadet officers are supposed to be learning to be cadet officers.

[High Speed Low Drag]

At our squadron, we hold promotion review boards for:
SrA
SSgt
MSgt
CMSgt
Mitchell
Every Officer rank (but not interspaced achievements)
We use local forms that incorporate every thing on a Form 50, but also have added in the additional promotion requirements like (depending on level) classes taught, completion of NCO Leadership seminar, the required knowledge (Regs & pamphlets), non-squadron meeting activities completed, leadership questions etc.  All of these are ways to determine where the cadet is in terms of being prepared to assume greater responsibility within the cadet program.  We have a lot more promotion requirements then what is in 52-16 (MSgt has 18 items).  But, as NHQ pointed out when it rolled out the L2L online testing, passing the tests are not meant to be automatic promotion – that the cadets have to actively participate and be ready to promote. 

[DC]

Ok, where do you place the bar for phase mastery?  I've been finding that in a world where c/Lt represents the top 1% of cadets mastery of Phase II is often described as what I would consider mastery of Phase III.  Junior cadet officers are supposed to be learning to be cadet officers.

I use the leadership expectations chart found in 52-16 as a guide, supplemented by personal experience. I expect that by the end of a phase a cadet will have mastered the skills listed for that phase. Prior to that, between milestones, I look for signs of improvement and progress toward meeting those goals.

Where did you get your information saying that cadet officers represented the top 1% of cadets? According to the cadet demographics published by NHQ in April 2010 Mitchell recipients are the top 11% (rounding down a few tenths of a percent), Earhart awardees are the top 4%, Eaker awardees the top 1.2% and Spaatzen the top 0.32%. That seems to be a reasonable ratio of officers to airmen, roughly 1:9.

For those interested, Wright Brothers recipients account for about 31% of the cadet population, so excluding the 11% that have also earned the Mitchell or higher, you end up with a 2:9 NCO to Airman ratio and a 1:2 Officer to NCO ratio. Again, that sounds about right to me.

http://www.capmembers.com/file.cfm/media/blogs/documents/Stats_C091196AC47C8.pdf

[ElectricPenguin]

I just thought I'd ask because I know that not everyone in the nation gives cadets promotion boards to test their leadership ability before they let them move on. I have grown up with promotion boards ever since I joined and they have always scared the crap out of me!!

So who here does them at their squadron, too? Why? Why not?

I hate promotionboards, I was so nevervous I could barely say the oath properly. Though I do support it... though its why I don't promote very often.

[DC]

I hate promotionboards, I was so nevervous I could barely say the oath properly. Though I do support it... though its why I don't promote very often.

That's a fear you should work to overcome. Part of what I like about promotion boards is that it forces cadets to perform under a little bit of pressure (always self-induced, I don't stress them any more than I do written testing or TIG requirements). It's usually a real confidence booster when they see that they can go in and satisfy a board of their readiness to promote without falling to pieces.

You might want to talk to someone at you unit if you are having such serious trouble with the promotion board, I'm sure they can help you prepare more and feel a little more confident.