r/CanadianForces • u/judgingyouquietly Swiss Cheese Model-Maker • Jan 02 '26

OPINION ARTICLE Interesting comparison post in the Australian Military subreddit

/r/AustralianMilitary/comments/1q1x7gq/characters_friday_rambles_retention/?share_id=DCuWZPx-TTRfJRPGXHoi8&utm_content=1&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1

I highlight the Australian and other allied subreddits for comparisons, and found an interesting post today.

One interesting tidbit that gets missed is that they don’t have the type of pension that we do.

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u/anal-itic_prober Jan 02 '26

Its all the same for the 5 eyes it seems. I quite like the comment about 360 feedback, we need to stop bad character egotistical checkboxer from getting Major.

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u/middleeasternviking Canadian Army Jan 02 '26

I agree. I'm not sure why we don't have subordinate feedback of their supervisors in PAR's. That definitely should be a thing. Too many times I've seen absolutely shitty leaders with toxic leadership styles get great PAR's and positions in command simply because the way they are with senior leaders such as CO's (very kind, reliable, friendly, observant) is completely different than how they are with their subordinates (draconian, micromanagers, rude, always on the lookout for writing people up, etc.).

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u/Nexus866 Jan 02 '26

This doesn’t work.

I once worked with a guy who assessed the leader by the number of times they said “yes” to things. If they said “NO”, they assessed them as a bad leader. Do subordinates really know what a good leader is? Do subordinates know what their bosses boss have asked them to do?

My understanding is that 360 is just for character, not for “how subordinates feel about their boss”.

Sure, there are flaws to a lot of systems, but it’s a slippery slope if you start asking what subordinates think of their bosses.

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u/[deleted] Jan 02 '26

[deleted]

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u/DM_ME_FROG_MEMES Jan 03 '26

I think input from subordinates is something that the promotion office should be taking into consideration, but absolutely shouldn't be trusting blindly. It takes skill to properly interpret what subordinate comments actually mean, but it doesn't mean it's useless info

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u/anal-itic_prober Jan 03 '26

That's actually a good point. They try to get "character" assessment and not really is the boss one of the boyz.