Leadership: Civil Service Behaviour Examples
What Leadership assesses in Civil Service Success Profiles, how to evidence formal and informal leadership, and worked examples at Grade 6 scope.
**TL;DR.** Leadership is one of the 9 Civil Service behaviours. Assessors look for evidence of setting direction, leading others, and taking personal responsibility for the performance and wellbeing of a team. At junior grades, this means leading a piece of work or informal team leadership. At senior grades, it means strategic leadership of a function.
What Leadership assesses
Leadership in the Success Profiles framework is broad. It covers: setting direction, inspiring others, developing people, managing performance, and taking personal accountability for outcomes. Strong examples evidence personal actions — not just "I was part of a leadership team" but "I made the following decision, took this action, and accepted accountability for this outcome".
Worked Grade 6 example (250 words)
*As a Grade 6 head of operations, I led a function of 60 staff across three teams that had received a critical internal audit finding for inconsistent decision-making. The audit identified that similar cases were being decided differently by different teams, creating fairness risks. I established a programme to redesign our operating model. I personally chaired a weekly leadership meeting with the three SEO team leads, commissioned a peer-review process where each team reviewed a sample of the others' decisions monthly, and introduced a quarterly calibration session where I personally led case discussion to surface and resolve interpretation differences. I revised the line management structure so the three SEO leads reported into a single principal officer post, with the principal officer accountable to me for cross-team consistency. After six months, internal audit re-tested a sample of cases and found consistency had risen from 71% to 94%. The function was cited in the department's annual report as an example of effective response to internal audit recommendations.*
What scores 1 at Leadership
Using "we" throughout. Describing leadership activity without naming your personal decisions. Missing the performance or outcome evidence.
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Frequently asked questions
How do I evidence Leadership in a Civil Service application?
Describe specific leadership decisions you personally made — setting direction, managing performance, developing people. Use "I" throughout. Name the scale (team size, scope of accountability) and the measurable outcome.
Can I evidence Leadership without formal line management?
Yes at junior grades. Informal leadership — chairing a working group, leading a project, running a workstream — is credible leadership evidence at AO, EO, and HEO. At SEO and above, formal line management is usually expected.
What is the difference between Leadership and Working Together?
Leadership is about setting direction and taking responsibility for outcomes. Working Together is about collaboration, relationship-building, and contributing to collective work. The same situation can evidence both behaviours, but the Action section should emphasise different elements depending on which behaviour you are evidencing.