Changing and Improving: what each grade expects
The same behaviour looks different at every grade. At AO, assessors want openness and ideas; at SCS, they want organisational direction. Use this grade-by-grade breakdown to pitch your Changing and Improving example at exactly the right level.
Why grade level changes everything
Assessors score against the level requested in the advert, not against your seniority. A Grade 7 applicant who describes improving their own filing system will score like a junior candidate. An AO applicant who claims to have transformed a company will not be believed.
The pattern across grades is a widening circle: your own work, your team's work, other teams' work, then the whole organisation. Match your example to the circle your grade owns.
Grade-by-grade expectations
| Grade | Expectation | Typical example scope |
|---|---|---|
| AA/AO | Open to change; suggests ideas; responds to feedback | Your own tasks or a local process |
| EO | Suggests and helps implement improvements | A team process you use daily |
| HEO | Reviews practices and leads small changes | A process others rely on, with a measured trial |
| SEO | Leads change across a team; handles resistance | Team-wide change, training and follow-through |
| Grade 7 | Leads significant change beyond own team | Service-wide change with budget and risk |
| Grade 6 | Drives improvement across a large area | Directorate-wide redesign or culture programme |
| SCS | Sets direction for improvement organisation-wide | Strategy, investment and culture across the organisation |
Junior grades: AA, AO and EO
At these grades, nobody expects you to have led change. Assessors want to see that you notice better ways of working, say so constructively, and respond well when your own work is criticised or changed.
Frontline examples are ideal: a shop process, a care routine, a booking system. What lifts your score is personal initiative — you spotted it, you suggested it, you helped test it.
A useful test: could someone with no authority beyond their own desk genuinely have done this? If yes, it is pitched at junior level — which is exactly right for these grades.
Middle grades: HEO and SEO
Here the expectation shifts to leading smaller changes properly. Assessors look for a method: you reviewed evidence, designed a fix, involved the people affected, measured the result and embedded the change.
At SEO especially, show how you brought others with you. Handling a sceptical colleague well is stronger evidence than pretending everyone agreed.
Show the whole cycle in miniature: evidence, design, trial, adjustment, result. Missing stages are what pull a HEO or SEO statement down towards the grade below.
Senior grades: Grade 7, Grade 6 and SCS
At Grade 7 and Grade 6, assessors expect change beyond your own team: budgets, governance, stakeholders and honest risk. Show that you built the case, not just the solution.
At SCS, the behaviour becomes directional. Assessors want strategy, investment decisions, culture-building and legacy — improvement that continues after you have moved on.
Why this scores well
Whatever the grade, the scoring constant is evidence of your personal actions and a measured result. Level changes the scope, not the need for proof.
At these grades, also show what you stopped or de-prioritised. Senior improvement is as much about choosing what not to do as about launching new work.
Pitch your example at the right level
Take your best example and ask: who did this affect? If the honest answer is 'my own desk', do not dress it up as transformation. If it affected three teams, say so plainly and show your role in coordinating them.
Tip
If you are applying for promotion, pick the example with the widest genuine scope you have. Stretching a small example reads worse than telling a modest one well.
Frequently asked questions
At AO, assessors want openness to change, willingness to try new ways of working, and ideas for improving your own tasks. A frontline example where you spotted a problem, suggested a fix and adapted to feedback is exactly right. Nobody expects you to have led a project.
At Grade 7, assessors expect you to lead significant change beyond your immediate team: building the evidence, securing resources, managing risks and bringing sceptical stakeholders with you. Results should be organisational, such as service-wide time or cost savings, not just local tweaks.
You can reuse the underlying experience, but you must re-pitch it. Emphasise your personal initiative for junior applications; emphasise leadership, stakeholder management and scale for senior ones. Never exaggerate the scope — experienced assessors and interview panels spot inflated claims quickly.
Next step
Get the free STAR template — the same structure used in every example on this site.
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