Common mistakes in Communicating and Influencing statements
Most Communicating and Influencing statements fail in predictable ways: the message is described but the communication is not, or the audience is missing entirely. Here are the six mistakes assessors see most, and how to fix each one.
Why these mistakes keep appearing
Assessors read hundreds of statements in a sift window, and the same patterns sink the weak ones. None of them is about lacking communication skill; they are about hiding it from the reader.
The fixes below are deliberately practical. Apply them to a draft you already have and you will usually lift it by a clear point on the scale.
Mistake 1: claiming the trait instead of proving it
Common mistake
Opening with 'I am a confident communicator with excellent interpersonal skills'. Assessors cannot score self-description, and it uses words you need for evidence.
Fix: delete the claim and go straight to the situation. Let a well-told example make the point the adjectives were trying to make.
Mistake 2: writing about the message, not the communication
Common mistake
Spending most of the statement explaining the policy, data or procedure itself, so the assessor learns about your topic but nothing about your skill.
Fix: cut the background to two sentences. Spend the words on how you framed it, what you chose for this audience, and how people responded.
Mistake 3: a missing audience
Common mistake
No sense of who received the message: their knowledge, worries or mood never appear, so there is no audience awareness to score.
Fix: add one line showing you read the audience, mixed English levels, sceptical managers, worried parents, and one line showing what you changed because of it.
For example, 'I knew the managers were not data specialists, so I built the presentation around three charts, not tables' shows an audience being read and acted on.
Mistake 4: hiding behind 'we'
Common mistake
'We held briefings, we answered concerns, we won support.' The team sounds great; the assessor cannot see you.
Fix: rewrite the Action in the first person singular. Credit the team in the Situation if you like, but every scored action needs an 'I'.
Mistake 5: one-way communication with no friction
Common mistake
The statement is all transmission: you explained, presented, emailed, and everyone agreed instantly. Nothing shows you heard anything back, and nothing was ever in doubt.
Fix: add the moment you checked understanding or acted on feedback, and choose examples with real friction, an objection, a sceptic, a competing priority. Listening and handled disagreement are what the framework's second half looks like on paper.
For example, 'when a volunteer challenged the rule as bureaucracy, I explained the incident behind it and asked the group how they would have handled it' shows pushback used, not avoided.
Mistake 6: a result nobody can check
Common mistake
Ending with 'the communication was well received' or 'everyone understood the change'. There is nothing an assessor can verify.
Fix: close with something countable: complaints down by a third, 95 percent adoption, two named compliments, an agreement signed. Ordinary numbers beat grand adjectives. If you truly have no number, use a concrete change in behaviour or a specific piece of feedback instead.
A quick self-check before you submit
Read your draft once, looking only for these patterns. Most weak statements contain three or more, and every one can be fixed in a single editing pass. Ask a friend to do the same read; fresh eyes catch the 'we' problem fastest.
- No trait claims; evidence from the first sentence
- Background cut to two sentences
- Audience named and understood
- Actions written with 'I', not 'we'
- Listening or feedback shown
- Real disagreement handled
- Result with at least one number
Frequently asked questions
Writing about the message instead of the communication. Statements drown in policy or technical background and never show audience awareness, channel choice or listening. Keep context to two sentences and spend the words on what you said, how you adapted it, and how people responded.
In the Situation, briefly, yes: context often involves a team. But the Action must be first person singular, because assessors score your personal contribution. If a sentence describes something you did, write 'I'. Statements full of 'we' routinely score a point or two lower.
Look harder before switching example: most real situations contain a moment of hesitation, a question, a competing priority. That moment is your influencing evidence. If the situation genuinely had none, choose a different example, because friction-free stories cannot evidence persuasion at HEO and above.
Next step
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