Communicating and Influencing: Civil Service behaviour examples and how to write yours
Updated · 3 min read
Communicating and Influencing is about getting your message across clearly and with respect, adapting it to your audience, and persuading people when it matters. The strongest examples involve someone who needed convincing, and show how you understood their point of view and changed how you put your case.
Communicating and Influencing is one of the nine behaviours in the Civil Service Success Profiles. If a job advert lists it, you'll usually write a behaviour statement for it at application, often up to 250 words, and may be asked about it again at interview. Our guide to behaviour statements covers how they're scored; this page goes deep on Communicating and Influencing alone.
What assessors look for
- You adapted what you said, and how, to your audience.
- You listened to other views and responded to them, not just repeated your own.
- You were clear and concise, especially with complex information.
- You persuaded someone and can show what changed as a result.
How it changes with grade
Every behaviour is described at several levels, roughly: AA and AO, then EO, then HEO and SEO, then Grade 7 and Grade 6, then the Senior Civil Service. At AO and EO, clear communication with colleagues and the public, and persuading people on day-to-day matters, is ideal. At HEO and SEO, expect to show you influenced stakeholders outside your team or explained complex issues simply. At Grade 7 and above, it's about influencing senior people and other organisations on contentious issues. Always read the indicators for the level on your advert, on the Civil Service Careers website, and use them as a checklist.
How the question is usually worded
- Please provide a behaviour statement for Communicating and Influencing.
- Tell us about a time you persuaded someone to change their mind.
- Describe how you explained something complex to someone without specialist knowledge.
An example statement
I worked on a project to move our team's records from paper to a new digital system. Our records manager, who had run the paper system for 15 years, was strongly against the change and had told colleagues it would lose information. Rather than push the project's case in a team meeting, I asked to meet her one to one to understand her concerns. She explained that the paper files held handwritten notes that weren't captured anywhere else, and she was worried they would be lost. I agreed this was a real risk. I asked the system's suppliers whether notes could be scanned and attached to records, and they confirmed they could. I then wrote a short plan, in plain English, showing exactly how her notes would be kept, and asked her to check it. I also suggested she lead the scanning of the most important files, since she knew them best. In the team meeting, she presented the plan alongside me. The team agreed to the move, and it was completed a month ahead of schedule with no records lost. Our records manager now trains other teams on the new system. I learned that listening first is often the quickest way to persuade someone.
- Starts by listening to the person to be persuaded
- Treats their concern as real and solves it
- Adapts the message (plain English, one to one)
- Shows a clear change in view and outcome
Use an example from your own work, volunteering or study. Assessors read a lot of statements and can spot borrowed ones. The structure above is what to copy, not the story.
Common mistakes
- Describing a presentation you gave without saying who needed persuading or what changed.
- Persuading through authority or pressure instead of understanding and evidence.
- Forgetting the 'communicating' half: how you made complex information clear.
Once your Communicating and Influencing statement is strong, save it. The same behaviour comes up again and again across departments, so next time you'll adapt it for the grade and role instead of starting from a blank page. See the STAR method for the structure behind every good statement.
Frequently asked questions
- Does writing count, or does it have to be speaking?
- Both count. A well-written briefing, email or guide that changed what people did is a good example.
- What if I didn't fully persuade them?
- Partial agreement can still work if you show how you listened, adapted and found common ground. Be honest about the outcome.