Civil Service behaviour: Communicating and Influencing (with STAR example)

Updated · By the Tick the Spec team

Communicating and Influencing is about communicating purpose and direction with clarity, integrity and enthusiasm, and respecting the needs, responses and opinions of others. In practice, assessors want to see that you choose the right message and method for your audience, check you have been understood, handle disagreement or difficult conversations well, and bring people round to a course of action. The best examples involve a real audience with a reason to resist or misunderstand.

A note on changes (November 2026)

In July 2026 the Civil Service announced it will scrap Success Profiles in favour of a model that emphasises skills and expertise. At the time of writing we could not find a published replacement on GOV.UK, and many adverts still ask for behaviours. Follow the advert you are applying for.

What assessors look for, by grade

  • AA/AO: communicating clearly with colleagues and the public; listening; adapting tone.
  • EO: communicating clearly and concisely, in writing and in person; choosing the best channel for each audience; handling challenging conversations with confidence; valuing different views.
  • HEO/SEO: communicating honestly and engagingly; using a range of methods including digital, with attention to cost-effectiveness; making sure messages have a clear purpose; checking understanding; respecting diverse interests.
  • G7 and above: influencing senior and external stakeholders, representing the organisation, communicating complex or contentious issues.

Step by step

  1. Choose an example with a specific audience and a goal: inform, persuade, calm, explain a change.
  2. Explain what you knew about the audience and how that shaped the message.
  3. Show the method you chose and why (meeting, email, briefing, visual, plain-English letter).
  4. Show how you handled questions, resistance or misunderstanding.
  5. Show how you checked understanding.
  6. Give the result: what people did differently.

Worked example (fictional, EO level)

Invented for illustration. The person, office and figures are fictional.

Situation: I am a team leader in a benefits processing centre. A change to our appointment system meant customers would have to book online or by phone instead of walking in, and staff were worried about the reaction.

Task: I was asked to brief my team of eight and help them explain the change to customers.

Action: I held a short team meeting rather than sending an email, because people had questions and concerns. I explained why the change was happening, in plain terms, and what it meant for them day to day. Two colleagues felt it would exclude older customers, so I raised this with my manager and confirmed we would keep a limited walk-in slot for people who could not book. I then wrote a short script with the team, in their words, and a one-page leaflet for customers in large print. In the first week I listened in on some calls and gave quick feedback, and checked at our daily huddle what customers were asking.

Result: The team felt confident explaining the change and complaints in the first month were lower than my manager expected. Another team adopted our leaflet.

About 230 words. It shows EO indicators: right channel, confidence in a challenging conversation, valuing different views, clarity.

How behaviour statements are scored

Many departments score each behaviour on a 1 to 7 scale, and a Defra Digital blog post describes needing at least 4 on each assessment to move on; the candidate pack will say if different rules apply. When there are many applications, some campaigns sift first on a "lead" behaviour, usually the first one listed, so make that statement especially strong. Statements are usually read without your name, and text over the word limit may be ignored, so check the limit on the advert.

Other examples that can work

  • explaining a policy or rule change to customers who were unhappy about it
  • persuading another team to change a process, using evidence
  • writing guidance or a letter for a non-specialist audience and testing it
  • presenting a recommendation to senior managers and handling their questions
  • a difficult conversation with a colleague or customer that ended in agreement

Pick the one where your own actions are clearest and the result is real.

Common mistakes

  • "I have excellent communication skills" with no example.
  • A presentation with no audience challenge. Influence needs something to overcome.
  • Ignoring the "influencing" half: show how someone's view or action changed.
  • No check of understanding.
  • Over-formal writing in a statement about clear communication. The statement itself is evidence.

Tick the Spec asks you who your audience was and what changed, then helps you fit your real example to the indicators and word limit.

Read next: STAR method examples for supporting statements (250 words) · Civil Service grades explained: AA to Grade 7 (what each expects) · Success Profiles scrapped: what it means for Civil Service jobs

Sources

All guides