DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
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OFFICE SYMBOL                                                                                      Date

MEMORANDUM FOR SEE DISTRIBUTION

SUBJECT:  Staff Guidance

1.	General. This document provides my general guidance for how the staff should  operate.

2.	Staff purpose. The staff’s primary purpose is to enable our commander and subordinate  commanders to understand problems, visualize and describe solutions, and direct subordinates so that they can lead their troops and assess their units’ actions. We enable command teams to do these things by harnessing time, space, and resources  and by providing purpose. This is how the staff takes care of our personnel.

a.	Time: time is the most precious commodity; don’t waste it. The Army’s “one- thirds, two-thirds” rule is superb, backwards planning is essential, and the key method for saving time is to be as clear and concise in delivering your plan as possible. Also, always ask, “who else needs to know?” Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs) save time: we are only as good as our successors, and we influence our successors with SOPs. SOPs are only good if they are employed, so put effort into your SOPs. Use them. If you don’t use them, it’s probably not useful to the companies or your successor.

b.	Purpose: know the purpose for every task you receive or assign. If you do not know the purpose, ask.

3.	My role. First, I owe you deconfliction of priorities. If you are overwhelmed, come to me and I’ll tell you what the most important task is and help to resource this priority. Second, if an action requires work across different staff sections, I owe you the timeline. Third, if you have an issue with a problem you’re working to resolve, come to me for guidance. If I don’t know the answer – which will be more frequent than not – then we will work it together. Fourth, when your staff section succeeds, it is your section’s success. When you mess up, it is my fault. Finally, if a subordinate command or higher staff section has an issue that you cannot resolve, bring it to me

4.	Your role. First, train your shops. NCOICs train your OICs and OICs train the rest of the staff and commands. Second, be available for our commander and subordinate commanders. Remember, you support the commander and his or her units, not the other way around, so always ask how you can help the subordinate commands and not the other way around.

5.	Physical training. We will conduct PT as a staff. Different staff officers will develop a PT plan on a monthly basis. Do not schedule events during PT hours unless unavoidable.

6.	Summary. Treat every job you have like it is your last job in the Army. That is, work as hard in a staff position as you would in a “key developmental” position. A battalion succeeds or fails based on the commander’s ability to see the unit, see the terrain, and see the enemy, and very little of this visualization can occur without an effective staff. If you remember that you are fallible, if you work relentlessly, and if you collaborate to create shared understanding, we will become an effective staff.

7.	Point of contact for this memorandum is the undersigned at (123) 456-7890 or first.m.last.mil@mail.mil. 

FIRST M. LAST 
XXX, XX
Executive Officer

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