Leadership Grade 6 Example — 500-Word Statement
At Grade 6 assessors expect you to set vision and direction for a broad unit or network and to lead through senior leaders, often without direct authority. Show how you created shared purpose, shaped culture, built leadership capability, and influenced across organisational boundaries, with outcomes measured in money, capability and confidence.
Example statement
SMy department created a new data and insight unit of 60 people, drawn from three legacy teams in different parts of the organisation. Staff arrived with different cultures, tools and working patterns, and a fair degree of scepticism: two previous attempts to merge these teams had failed, and several experienced analysts were openly considering leaving for the private sector. My director asked me to make the merger work where others had not.
TAs the unit's first head, I was personally responsible for setting a compelling vision, uniting the three legacy teams into one credible whole, and proving the unit's value to the wider department within its first year of operation.
AI began by listening: structured conversations with all 60 staff in groups of six, plus one-to-ones with every team leader and the analysts most likely to leave. I asked everyone the same three questions about purpose, barriers and hopes, and I published the themes to the whole unit within a fortnight. Rather than writing a vision in my office, I ran three workshops, open to every grade, where staff drafted what the unit should exist to do. I distilled their work into a one-page purpose statement with three promises to the department, and I tested it with the people who had been most sceptical before publishing it. I then designed the team structure around the services we provided rather than the legacy teams, which meant some people changed managers; I explained every decision face to face, honoured prior flexible-working agreements, and made sure nobody lost out on pay, so the change felt fair. To build momentum in the first 100 days, I sponsored two flagship projects chosen for visible impact, deliberately staffed with people from different legacy teams, and I unblocked obstacles personally within 48 hours when they hit bureaucracy. I created a monthly showcase where any analyst could present work to the whole unit, which mixed the legacy groups and surfaced talent I would otherwise have missed. For the analysts considering leaving, I built proper career paths with a technical track that did not force people into management, and I agreed development plans with each of them. I communicated relentlessly: a fortnightly note on progress against our three promises, honest about setbacks, and a quarterly all-unit session where anyone could challenge me directly. I also invested time upwards and outwards, briefing senior stakeholders on what insight could do for them, managing expectations about what it could not, and defending the unit's remit when other teams tried to set up rival functions.
RWithin a year, the unit's analysis had informed £40 million of spending decisions, and both flagship products became standing tools used across the department. The first staff survey returned 78% engagement, above the departmental average, we lost nobody we wanted to keep, and two analysts were promoted into the new technical roles we had created. The unit is now the default first call for ministers' offices seeking evidence.
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
- Setting vision for a new 60-person unit is a core Grade 6 leadership task: the vision is co-created, written down, and tested with the most sceptical staff.
- Demonstrates organisational leadership: structure redesigned around services, fair treatment protected, career paths built, and stakeholders managed upwards.
- Proves value with scale: £40 million of decisions informed, 78% engagement, key talent retained and a unit that became the default first call for ministers' offices.
What Grade 6 level requires
| Grade | What assessors expect |
|---|---|
| Grade 7 | At Grade 7, leadership means leading across teams and functions: translating strategy into clear direction, developing other leaders, and keeping people confident and delivering through change. |
| Grade 6 ← this page | At Grade 6, leadership means setting vision for a broad area: leading senior leaders, shaping culture across boundaries, and inspiring confidence in people and partners you do not directly manage. |
| SCS | At SCS, leadership means system-wide leadership: setting compelling direction for whole departments or cross-government programmes, building leadership capability for the future, and inspiring trust at the most senior levels. |
Common mistakes at this level
- Writing an operational delivery story with no vision-setting, which underclaims the grade and scores as Grade 7 at best.
- Claiming you set a vision that was actually written alone in your office, with no evidence of how you built shared ownership.
- No cross-boundary influence: everything happens inside your own reporting line, which is not Grade 6 territory.
Frequently asked questions
At Grade 6 it is vision plus reach: setting direction for a broad unit, function or network, leading through senior leaders, shaping culture, and influencing people you do not manage, including partners and boards. Assessors want evidence of shared purpose you created, capability you built, and strategic results measured in money, confidence and people developed.
Show the process and the product: how you built the vision with the people who had to follow it, what it said in plain language, and how you kept it alive through decisions. A vision co-created in workshops and tested with sceptics convinces; a vision you announced in a document does not. Then show what the vision changed.
Yes, and at Grade 6 that is often the strongest evidence: leading programmes across partner organisations, professional networks or arm's-length bodies. Show how you built coalition, gave others ownership and credit, removed their barriers, and kept momentum without being able to instruct anyone. Influence without authority is precisely what the grade tests.
Next step
Get the free Grade 6 statement template pack — the same STAR structure used in this example.
Download the template pack