Persuading a manager can make a strong EO Communicating and Influencing answer when you show respect, evidence and a clear request. The EO Civil Service interview guide can help you prepare this now, before the panel tests whether you influenced a decision or simply made a suggestion.
Question
“Tell me about a time you persuaded your manager to change an approach.”
What Is Being Looked For
The panel wants to hear why the existing approach needed to change and how you built a credible case. At EO level, your answer should show that you understood your manager’s priorities and adapted your communication accordingly.
Use B-STAR to begin with a brief belief about raising concerns constructively. The action should explain the evidence you gathered, how you presented it and how you responded to challenge. Influence should remain professional. Avoid suggesting that persistence alone forced the manager to agree.
A strong answer includes a specific request and an outcome. You may have secured a trial, changed a deadline or gained approval for a new method. Show how you made the change practical and how you checked whether it worked.
Prepare for a follow-up about what you would have done if the manager had said no. A credible response respects decision rights while explaining when a risk would need formal escalation.
The best examples also show that you chose the right moment and format for the conversation.
Example Answer
I believe concerns should be raised with evidence and a practical alternative. A manager is more likely to support change when the problem and the proposed solution are both clear.
In a customer operations team, staff manually copied information from an online request into a tracking sheet. The process took time and created mismatched reference numbers. My manager planned to add another checking step, but I believed the duplication was the main cause.
I reviewed a sample of errors and recorded where each one entered the process. Most occurred during the manual copy. I prepared a short comparison showing the time spent on the extra entry and suggested using the system export already available. Before speaking to my manager, I tested the export on a small set of closed cases and confirmed that it contained the fields the team needed.
I presented the evidence in our one-to-one and acknowledged her concern about losing the visible check. I proposed a two-week trial with a daily sample review and offered to document the new steps. She agreed. I briefed the team, monitored the trial and sent my manager a concise update after the first week.
The trial reduced handling time and removed the reference-number errors in the sample. My manager approved the method for routine requests, while keeping manual review for exceptional cases. The documented process was later used when two new staff joined.
Prepare the evidence and the exact request before the interview. The EO Civil Service interview guide contains further Communicating and Influencing questions, so use it now to make sure your example shows a decision changed through credible communication.
