Communicating and Influencing: the Success Profiles definition
Communicating and Influencing is about getting your message across clearly, adapting it to the audience in front of you, and winning support for your ideas. It is one of the nine behaviours in Success Profiles, the framework behind most Civil Service applications.
What the behaviour means
The Success Profiles framework describes Communicating and Influencing as communicating purpose and direction with clarity, integrity and enthusiasm, whilst respecting the needs, responses and feedback of others. In plain terms, it is two skills working together: saying things well, and caring how they land.
The first half is communication: plain language, the right channel, a message shaped for its audience. The second half is influence: listening to the response, handling disagreement, and moving people towards a decision or action. Statements that only cover the first half usually score in the middle of the range.
From the official guidance
The full definitions and level descriptors are published on GOV.UK in the Success Profiles behaviour framework at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles. Departments choose which level to assess for each vacancy, so always check the job advert. Guidance as of July 2026.
How the level descriptors work
The framework sets out six levels for this behaviour, each describing what good looks like with rising scope and complexity. Level 1 covers clear everyday communication. The highest levels cover national negotiation, ministerial briefing and setting an organisation's voice.
- Each level lists indicators: short statements of what someone at that level typically does.
- Assessors match your evidence against the indicators for the advertised level, not against a perfect ideal.
- Higher levels assume the lower ones: a Grade 7 answer still needs the Level 1 skill of plain, clear writing.
- Departments pick the level per vacancy, so always read the advert.
How the levels map to grades
The mapping below is the standard alignment used across most departments. It is indicative rather than guaranteed, because a vacancy can specify a different level, so treat the job advert as the authority.
| Grades | Level | Typical focus |
|---|---|---|
| AA and AO | 1 | Clear, courteous two-way communication with customers and colleagues |
| EO | 2 | Adapting messages and channels for different audiences |
| HEO and SEO | 3 | Persuading with evidence; influencing across teams |
| Grade 7 and Grade 6 | 4 | Briefing senior leaders; negotiating with partners |
| SCS | 5 and 6 | Setting narrative strategy; ministers, media and national stakeholders |
The five strands assessors look for
Read the descriptors closely and five strands run through every level. A strong statement touches most of them, whatever the grade.
- Audience awareness: you understood who you were talking to and what they cared about.
- Clarity: plain English, well-structured, no jargon for that audience.
- Channel choice: you picked the right medium, face to face, written, presentation, and can say why.
- Persuasion with evidence: you built a case, not just an opinion.
- Handling pushback: you listened to disagreement and responded without damaging the relationship.
For example, an AO statement might show three strands clearly; an SCS statement must show all five at organisational scale.
How this behaviour is assessed
Most candidates meet Communicating and Influencing first as a 250-word statement at sift, though some adverts ask for 500 or 750 words at senior grades. Assessors score it against the level descriptor using the standard 1 to 7 scale.
At interview it is probed with questions and follow-ups, and it is the behaviour most often assessed through a presentation exercise. Prepare for all three formats, not just the statement.
Put the definition to work
Before writing, read the level descriptor for your grade and underline the verbs. Those verbs, explain, adapt, persuade, negotiate, tell you what your example must contain. Then pick an example that lets you show them, and structure it with the STAR method.
See our guides to assessment criteria and grade expectations, or go straight to a grade example to watch the descriptors in action.
Frequently asked questions
The framework describes it as communicating purpose and direction with clarity, integrity and enthusiasm, whilst respecting the needs, responses and feedback of others. In practice assessors read it as two skills: clear, audience-shaped communication, and the ability to win support and handle disagreement.
It is one of the most commonly requested behaviours across all grades, but no behaviour is guaranteed. Every vacancy lists its own selection, so read the advert. The level descriptor changes with grade: everyday clarity at AO, national negotiation at SCS.
Communicating is transmitting a message clearly; influencing is changing what someone thinks or does. A statement that only informs usually scores mid-range. Adding an influencing element, persuading a sceptic, handling pushback, winning agreement, is what lifts scores, especially from HEO upwards.
Next step
Get the free STAR template — the same structure used in every example on this site.
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