Communicating and Influencing EO Example Statement (250 Words)
At EO, assessors expect you to adapt your message for different readers or listeners and to pick the right channel for the job. Your example should show you thinking about what your audience needed, adjusting your approach, and achieving something concrete, not simply sending a clear email.
Example statement
SI worked as an office coordinator for a facilities company with 60 cleaners across eight sites. A new health and safety procedure for storing chemicals had to be understood by everyone within a month.
TI was asked to write the staff brief that would explain the new procedure to a workforce with very mixed English and reading levels.
ABefore writing, I spent a morning with two cleaning teams to hear how they described the task in their own words, and used those words in the brief. I kept the brief to one page, led with the three rules that mattered most, and replaced terms like substances hazardous to health with plain phrases such as never mix these two products. Testing a draft with four cleaners and a supervisor showed me I had buried the reporting step, so I moved it to the top and added a simple flow diagram. Knowing a noticeboard page is easy to ignore, I asked each site supervisor to talk their team through the brief at shift start, and I gave them a two-minute script so the message stayed consistent. I also arranged translation of the key rules into the three languages most spoken by our staff. Two weeks later I visited every site, watched the storage areas, and answered questions face to face.
RThe follow-up audit found all eight sites compliant within four weeks, up from three sites in the previous audit. The safety team adopted my plain-language format for two further procedure briefs.
Use this as a model, not a script. This is an original example written for this site. Adapt the structure to your own experience — copying it word for word risks plagiarism and will not reflect your evidence.
Why this scores well
- Shows you research your audience first (a morning with the teams, draft testing), which is what separates EO from AO at sift.
- Chooses channels deliberately: written brief, supervisor scripts, translation and face-to-face follow-up for a workforce with mixed English levels.
- Ends with verified behaviour change (all eight sites compliant in four weeks), not just 'the brief was sent'.
What EO level requires
| Grade | What assessors expect |
|---|---|
| AO | At AO level, Communicating and Influencing means getting everyday messages across clearly and politely, adapting your tone to the person in front of you, and checking they have understood. |
| EO ← this page | At EO level, Communicating and Influencing means tailoring your message to different audiences, choosing sensible channels, and starting to persuade with evidence rather than just passing on information. |
| HEO | At HEO level, Communicating and Influencing means communicating with impact across teams and external contacts, building an evidence-based case, and handling challenge constructively to win people over. |
Common mistakes at this level
- Ignoring pushback: EO statements score higher when you met a question or objection and handled it, not when everyone instantly agreed.
- Using a group example ('the team presented') where your personal contribution is invisible to the assessor.
- Ending with output ('the brief was issued on time') instead of outcome (fewer errors, better attendance, changed behaviour).
Frequently asked questions
A light influence helps but is not mandatory. EO descriptors emphasise clear, confident communication adapted to the audience. If your example includes persuading someone, a manager, a supplier, a sceptical colleague, with reasons or evidence, it will score better than pure information-giving, provided the communication choices stay visible.
Very. Presenting findings or proposals lets you show preparation, audience awareness, handling questions and follow-up, all in one story. Say how you adapted the content for that audience, what objections came up, and what you did about them. Finish with what changed: a decision, an adoption, a measurable improvement.
Something checkable: errors down by a percentage, attendance up, a proposal accepted, a method adopted by other teams. Avoid 'the communication was well received'. If you genuinely have no number, use concrete feedback or a specific change in behaviour, but most honest examples contain at least one figure if you look for it.
Next step
Get the free EO statement template pack — the same STAR structure used in this example.
Download the template pack