Some of the traits of a good third class petty officer are positive thinking, have a genuine interest in people, knowing how to lead, keeping the responsibility going between lower ranking people and upper management, initiative, maintain liaison between other units/ departments, promotes team work, discipline, and morale, but most of all is good to work with and stays out of the way of reaching the divisions' common goal.
A good petty officer is a good decision maker. A common complaint heard from subordinates is "You can't get a decision from them. " And that would affect the mission. They would also show fairness. People are always quick to call favoritism on leadership in the navy. A good petty officer would be humbled to be at such rank and understand where subordinate shipmates are coming from when a personal problem comes about for they, too were at such rank at one time. The Navy is full of people who tend to forget where they came from. People who don't want to be brought down to the level of lower ranking people with the work they do. I believe at the end of the day we are all fighting towards a certain goal and one person acting big headed and feels any type of work is below them is petty and a poor leader who can't lead by an example. .
Petty officers are supposed to be able to distinguish between something acceptable to the military's standards and something that is not. With everything from paying attention to detail to work ethic a petty officer should be able to notice someone who replies with a "yeah " instead of a "yes, chief " when talking to a chief. A petty officer should be able to notice someone wearing a brown tee in uniform with "bacon neck " going on at the neck. A petty officer can notice a person not performing up to the military's standards due to laziness or just having a bad day. And if they can't, they make it their business to address the problem.
A good petty officer knows when to be serious.