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Communicating and Influencing: Civil Service Behaviour at HEO and SEO
The behaviour Communicating and Influencing is about ensuring that your message is clear, purposeful, and adapted to the needs of your audience. At HEO and SEO grade, this means being able to build trust, explain direction with confidence, and use different communication styles and methods to achieve impact.
This behaviour is central to leadership and collaboration across the Civil Service. It requires you to respect the views of others while also ensuring important messages are delivered in a straightforward and engaging way. You are expected to create an environment where people feel involved, valued, and motivated.
A strong 250-word statement for this behaviour should include:
💡 A belief statement that shows you value clarity, honesty, and enthusiasm in communication.
💡 A situation that demonstrates the importance of your role in delivering a message or influencing outcomes.
💡 Clear actions that show how you adapted your approach, encouraged engagement, and addressed concerns.
💡 A result that evidences understanding, buy-in, or measurable improvement following your communication.
When writing, keep in mind that this behaviour is not only about what you said, but also about how you encouraged others to share views and how you responded to them. Using the B-STAR method keeps your example structured and ensures you balance your own actions with the outcome achieved.
The image above gives a complete example statement for Communicating and Influencing at HEO/SEO grade. Use it as a practical guide to shape your own example, focusing on clarity, respect, and the ability to influence effectively.
What Communicating and Influencing means at HEO/SEO level
Your existing guidance on clarity, purpose and audience is the right base. At HEO and SEO level, strengthen the statement by showing how your communication changed understanding or influenced a decision.
🗣️ Communicate clearly and honestly: choose a style that gives the audience the best chance of understanding the message.
💻 Use the right communication method: show why you chose a meeting, written briefing, digital channel or another format.
🎯 Keep a clear purpose: explain what you wanted the audience to understand or do.
👤 Consider individual needs: adapt language, format or level of detail where the audience requires it.
✅ Check understanding: show how you confirmed that important messages had landed correctly.
🤝 Respect different interests: demonstrate that you listened to other views while still moving the discussion towards an outcome.
How to strengthen the example already on this page
The image example gives you a complete statement. When adapting the structure for your own application, make the influence point explicit. Explain what the audience believed before you spoke to them, what you changed in your communication because of their needs and what decision or behaviour changed afterwards.
Use most of the word count on your actions. A strong HEO/SEO statement normally needs more than “I explained the issue clearly”. Show how you selected the information, adjusted the level of detail and responded when somebody challenged the message.
Example of the level of evidence to aim for
I believe communication is most effective when the audience can quickly see why the issue matters to them and what decision is required.
While leading a service improvement, I needed agreement from operational managers to change a process they had used for several years. They were concerned the new approach would create extra work during a busy period.
I reviewed the proposal and removed technical detail that was not relevant to their decision. I produced a short briefing showing the current failure points, the impact on customer waiting times and the expected workload under the proposed process. I met managers in a small group so they could challenge the assumptions directly.
When one manager raised a valid concern about training time, I changed the rollout plan and proposed a short pilot in one team. I followed the meeting with a written summary of the agreed measures and asked managers to confirm that the actions were clear.
The pilot showed fewer repeat cases and gave managers confidence in the change. The process was then adopted across the service with stronger support because concerns had been addressed before rollout.
Quick statement check
✅ Is the audience and their starting position clear?
✅ Have you explained why you chose that communication method?
✅ Can the assessor see how you adapted the message?
✅ Did somebody make a decision, change behaviour or understand the issue better because of your communication?
✅ Have you kept the focus on your own actions?
For interview preparation, see our HEO Communicating and Influencing interview guidance.
