Communicating and Influencing EO Example — 250-Word Statement
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
SAs a sales administrator for a retail chain, I analysed weekly till data for 12 stores. I spotted that one store had far more voided transactions and longer queues than any other, especially on Saturdays.
TMy manager asked me to present my findings to the store managers at their monthly meeting and recommend practical fixes.
AKnowing the managers were experienced retailers but not data specialists, I built the presentation around pictures, not tables. I converted the figures into three simple charts showing queue times, voids and staffing levels side by side, and practised explaining each in one sentence. I opened with the customer impact, queues of up to nine minutes, before any numbers, because that was what would get their attention. When two managers pushed back, arguing the data ignored staff sickness, I welcomed the challenge and showed a second cut of the data with sickness days removed; the pattern held. I then invited the manager of the best-performing store to explain her Saturday rota, which turned my findings into a peer recommendation rather than head-office criticism. I finished with three specific, costed suggestions and asked each manager to trial one for a month. Afterwards I sent a plain-English two-page summary and phoned the two most sceptical managers to answer questions individually.
REight of the 12 stores adopted at least one suggestion. After three months, average Saturday queue time at the worst store fell from nine minutes to four, and voided transactions dropped by 22 percent.
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 EO-level influencing: you translate data for a non-technical audience and lead with what the audience cares about.
- Handles pushback with evidence rather than defensiveness, and borrows credibility by letting a peer make the case.
- Uses more than one channel (presentation, written summary, follow-up calls) and ends with adoption and measurable improvement.
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
- Describing a well-written document or email without explaining the audience thinking behind the choices you made.
- Staying at 'I communicated the update' level, with no detail of how you adapted tone, format or channel for different people.
- Writing the whole statement about the information itself (the procedure, the data) rather than how you landed it with people.
Frequently asked questions
At EO the bar moves from clear everyday communication to deliberate audience adaptation. Assessors look for you analysing what a particular audience needed, choosing words or channels accordingly, and persuading rather than just informing. An AO statement might explain a policy clearly; an EO one shows you shaped the message so different groups would act on it.
Yes, writing counts fully. A staff brief, report or newsletter works well if you show the thinking: who would read it, what you changed for them, how you tested or improved the draft, and what happened after publication. The mistake to avoid is describing the document without any audience or outcome.
Around 60 percent. Assessors score what you did, so keep the situation to two sentences and your task to one, then spend the bulk walking through your actions in order: how you judged the audience, what you chose, how you handled reactions. Close with a short, specific result.
Next step
Get the free EO statement template pack — the same STAR structure used in this example.
Download the template pack