Communicating and Influencing Example at HEO Grade
A worked STAR example for Communicating and Influencing at HEO grade, showing influencing colleagues across teams.
**TL;DR.** At HEO, Communicating and Influencing is about shaping the views of colleagues and influencing upward through briefings, papers, and direct engagement with seniors. Strong examples show resistance navigated and a decision changed.
Worked HEO example (250 words)
*As an HEO running a casework team I was asked to recommend whether a proposed automation of our triage process should go ahead. The proposal had been drafted by a colleague in the digital team who had strong backing from the Director of Digital. My team's view — which I agreed with after analysis — was that the proposal underestimated the casework complexity and would produce worse customer outcomes. I drafted a short position paper outlining three specific case scenarios where the proposed automation would fail, met with the digital colleague to understand their analysis and test my position, and presented the paper to the Grade 7 who would approve the proposal. The Grade 7 agreed to delay the automation pending a revised proposal. I then worked jointly with the digital colleague on the revised design, which incorporated a tiered approach with manual review for complex cases. The revised automation launched six months later with measurable improvement in throughput and no decline in customer outcome scores. This evidences HEO Communicating and Influencing: influencing upward through structured analysis, navigating a colleague's resistance through joint problem-solving, and shaping a decision that would otherwise have gone through.*
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Frequently asked questions
How do I evidence influencing upwards at HEO?
Describe a specific moment where you persuaded a senior colleague to change or delay a decision. Name the resistance, the evidence you presented, and the outcome. Panels score the adaptation to the audience and the measurable change.