Communicating and Influencing is about building trust through clear communication, adapting complex messages and influencing people with different interests without losing honesty or impartiality. For a Grade 6 role, this usually means communicating decisions and recommendations to senior leaders, delivery partners, specialists and affected groups, including when the message is difficult or contested.
A strong example should make clear the outcome you needed from the communication, the different audience needs and how you tested whether the message had landed. The result should show agreement reached, a difficult decision understood, stronger compliance, reduced confusion, improved stakeholder confidence or a measurable improvement in communication effectiveness.
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What are the Communicating and Influencing criteria at Grade 6 level?
The official senior-grade behaviour guidance contains 8 points for Communicating and Influencing. Your vacancy may assess only selected parts, but the statement should make the relevant wording easy to see in your evidence.
communicate with others in a clear, honest and enthusiastic way in order to build trust.
explain complex issues in a way that is easy to understand
take into account people’s individual needs
deliver difficult messages with clarity and sensitivity, being persuasive when required
consider the impact of the language used
remain open-minded and impartial in discussions, whilst respecting the diverse interests and opinions of others
introduce different methods for communication, including making the most of digital resources whilst getting value for money
monitor the effectiveness of own and team communications and take action to improve where necessary
How to structure your statement
Use a simple structure: Situation, Task, Action and Result. Do not place these labels in the final statement unless the application specifically asks for them.
Situation
Use one or two sentences to set the context. State the service, programme, policy or professional area and the problem that made the example important.
Task
Make your accountability explicit. For Communicating and Influencing, the task should identify the outcome you needed from the communication, the different audience needs and how you tested whether the message had landed.
Action
Give most of the words to the decisions and actions that demonstrate Communicating and Influencing. Explain how you used evidence, led or involved others and responded when the situation changed. For this behaviour, keep the action centred on the outcome you needed from the communication, the different audience needs and how you tested whether the message had landed.
Result
Show what changed because of your action. A strong result may include agreement reached, a difficult decision understood, stronger compliance, reduced confusion, improved stakeholder confidence or a measurable improvement in communication effectiveness. Use accurate measures where they help, but keep the result tied to the behaviour.
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