EPR/OPR: The most important document you will touch as a leader Published Aug. 25, 2008 By Maj. Elizabeth Clay 305th Maintenance Squadron commander MCGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE, N.J. -- As leaders, one of our biggest and most important jobs is to write and review performance reports. EPRs and OPRs are documents that follow each Airman throughout his or her career and will make or break him. So, as Air Force leaders and supervisors our most important task is to learn how to give a good feedback and write a quality performance report. I don't necessarily mean that every report has to be a "firewall five", but it does have to be one that tells the facts. Well-written performance reports don't leave any doubt in an individual's mind about performance and are an invaluable tool for the next supervisor and commander. Now let's talk about a few ways to improve the content and quality of your reports. First, your subordinates need to document what they do on a daily basis. For both the officer and enlisted performance reports, there are key performance assessment factors listed which will guide your Airman on what they need to accomplish to be well-balanced. There is nothing worse than asking your Airman what they did this year and the response is "I don't know". Next, as a supervisor, you should compile all section, squadron, group and wing awards and let your subordinates understand what they do and how it impacts the Air Force mission. Finally, make sure you give quality feedbacks on time. It is our responsibility to let our subordinates know how they are doing. Initial feedback sessions allow your subordinates to know what your expectations are. Midterm feedbacks allow room for growth and should alleviate any surprises when it comes time for their performance report. Start writing early by putting a performance report for each of your subordinates on your desktop. When you see your subordinate doing something with big impact, type in a simple bullet and wordsmith it throughout the year. Keep it simple! You should include single bullets with an action, result and an impact. Here is an example of very clear bullet structure: Dedicated; earned 9 credit hrs; received CCAF degree/completed 1 class towards BS - remarkable 3.7 GPA. Don't use a bunch of big flowery words/phrases that don't mean anything. Use impact words like led, created, designed, trained and mentored. These words are straight to the point and leave zero doubt in anyone's mind exactly what was accomplished. When writing about education, annotate the facts - like how many credit hours completed this year, GPA and if they won any education awards. Other examples of hard-hitting bullets are: filling in for their supervisor, working outside of their Air Force specialty code, the number of Airmen they trained and program development. Community involvement always seems to be a shortfall for most Airmen. My advice for you as a supervisor to help with this is to make sure your Airmen are well aware of volunteer opportunities and schedule them to participate in those events. I hope this article simplifies your performance report writing process. Remember, performance reports follow you and your subordinates throughout your career. Your subordinates work hard for you every day, and you owe them the best possible document you can produce.