Counseling comes in two flavors: formal and informal. Of the two, you are likely to do informal counseling far more often than formal. As a general rule, if you are doing anywhere near as much formal counseling as informal counseling, you have a problem. Either you have the worst behaved Cadets in the history of CAP or you are far too eager to create paper on someone.

Informal counseling consists of nothing more than pulling someone aside for a quiet word about some problem they're having. It can be done on the spur of the moment about something that happened only a second ago. In fact, this is probably the best use of this type of counseling.

The important thing to remember about informal counseling is to use the Golden Rule of Counseling - praise in public, reprimand in private.

Don't ever bite a big piece off of someone in front of everybody. It will embarrass them unnecessarily and can destroy their self-esteem. It will also make you seem like a complete tyrant. No one wants to work for someone who, if something goes wrong, will make them feel stupid in public.

Informal counseling is really very easy, there are only a couple things to keep in mind:

• Counsel them for something immediate and specific. When you talk to them, it should be about something that just happened and can be immediately corrected. Perhaps they're giving the instructor a hard time or not paying attention. Talk about just that and nothing else.


• Practice two-deep counseling. If it is at all possible, have someone else there just to keep everyone honest. No on wants a conversation to unjustly haunt them in the future.>/li>
  
• Get it over with and get back to work. Once you've said your piece, send the person you're counseling back to what he was doing. Don't stretch it out.

When you counsel them, make sure you explain not only what you want from them, but why it is important. People respond better when they understand how they fit into what's going on. For instance, don't merely say, "You need to be quiet and pay attention." The individual knows that. Explain that his disruption is making it hard for the others to pay attention and making it difficult for the instructor; and tell him why what he's learning is important.

As you can see, informal counseling is short, sweet and to the point. Don't let the Cadet you're counseling drag you into a gripe session. In fact, he probably doesn't need to talk at all. If you need to cover more ground or discuss things more in depth, then it's time for a formal counseling session.

As a leader, your ability to make an impression upon the Cadet you're counseling is vital. Incidents that should receive an informal counseling and don't get one could easily escalate and lead to a need for a formal counseling session - or worse. If that is the case, you haven't done your duties as a leader and you've failed the squadron and the individual you should have talked to.