Civil Service behaviour: Leadership (with STAR example)

Updated · By the Tick the Spec team

The Civil Service Leadership behaviour is not only for managers. Success Profiles describes it as showing pride and passion for public service, creating and engaging others in a shared vision, and valuing difference, diversity and inclusion, ensuring fairness and opportunity for all. At junior grades it can mean role-modelling good behaviour and taking ownership; at senior grades it means setting direction and building an inclusive culture. Your statement should show one situation where you led people towards a goal, how you brought them with you, and how you made sure everyone was treated fairly.

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: taking pride in your work, being a positive role model, treating people fairly.
  • EO: showing pride and passion for your work, understanding the wider impact of your actions, role-modelling inclusion, addressing inappropriate behaviour promptly, giving credit to others.
  • HEO/SEO: making objectives and timeframes clear, championing inclusion and equal opportunity, considering the impact on stakeholders, recognising others' achievements, managing conflict and misconduct appropriately.
  • G7/G6: setting a clear vision, leading through change, building a diverse and capable team.

Step by step

  1. Pick a situation where you had to set direction or bring people together around a goal.
  2. Show how you explained the goal and why it mattered.
  3. Show how you involved people and drew on their different strengths.
  4. Show fairness or inclusion in practice: adjusting how you worked for someone, challenging unfair behaviour, making space for quieter voices.
  5. Show how you recognised others' contributions.
  6. Give a result for the work and for the team.

Worked example (fictional, SEO level)

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

Situation: I manage a team of nine in a regulatory casework unit. After a restructure, two teams with different ways of working were merged under me, and morale was low.

Task: I needed to bring the team together and meet a new target of closing cases within 12 weeks.

Action: I held one-to-ones with everyone in the first fortnight to understand their concerns and strengths. I then ran a team session where we agreed a shared purpose and three working principles, and set clear objectives and timescales for each person. I paired colleagues from the two former teams on complex cases so they learned each other's methods. One colleague with a hearing impairment was struggling in hybrid meetings, so I arranged live captioning and asked everyone to use cameras and speak one at a time. When I heard a comment in a meeting that undermined a colleague, I raised it privately with the person that day. I recognised good work in our weekly update, naming specific contributions.

Result: Within six months, the share of cases closed within 12 weeks had risen substantially, and our team's staff survey engagement score improved. Two team members were promoted.

About 245 words. It covers SEO indicators: clear objectives, inclusion, recognising achievement, managing conflict.

If you have no line management experience

Leadership can be shown by leading a project, a working group, a volunteer team, a sports club or a training session. Be clear about your role and do not imply formal authority you did not have.

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

  • leading a project group with no formal authority
  • taking over a team during a difficult period
  • making a team more inclusive, for example changing how meetings run
  • challenging inappropriate behaviour
  • leading a volunteer or community group towards a goal

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

Common mistakes

  • Telling people what to do and calling it leadership. Show engagement and fairness.
  • Forgetting inclusion, which is part of the official definition at every level.
  • No result for people, only for the task.
  • Identifying colleagues in conduct or performance examples. Keep it anonymous.
  • Using a leadership course as the example. Training is not evidence of doing it.

Tick the Spec asks how you led and who was involved, then helps you shape your real example into STAR; it is designed not to add achievements you did not describe, and it highlights anything it can't trace back to what you told it.

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