Articles / Leadership Example Civil Service: STAR Examples and Success Profiles Guide
Leadership SkillsComprehensive guide to demonstrating Leadership in Civil Service applications. Includes STAR format examples for HEO, SEO, and Grade 7 roles, Success Profiles framework breakdown, and expert interview tips.
Written by Laura Bouttell • Sun 4th January 2026
The Leadership behaviour sits at the heart of the UK Civil Service Success Profiles framework, yet it remains one of the most misunderstood competencies amongst applicants. Whether you are drafting a 250-word behaviour statement or preparing for a Grade 7 interview panel, demonstrating effective leadership requires more than recounting a time you managed a project. It demands evidence of vision, inclusivity, and the capacity to inspire others towards shared objectives.
This guide provides the strategic clarity you need. Drawing on the official Success Profiles framework and proven application techniques, you will learn precisely what assessors seek at each grade level, how to structure compelling STAR examples, and which pitfalls derail otherwise strong candidates. The difference between a score of four and a score of seven often lies not in what you did, but in how effectively you articulate why you did it.
The Civil Service defines Leadership with deliberate precision: "Show pride and passion for public service. Create and engage others in delivering a shared vision. Value difference, diversity and inclusion, ensuring fairness and opportunity for all."
This definition reveals three distinct components that assessors evaluate:
Pride and passion for public service extends beyond enthusiasm for your immediate role. It encompasses understanding how your work connects to ministerial priorities, departmental objectives, and ultimately, citizen outcomes. Leaders in the Civil Service articulate this connection for their teams, helping colleagues understand the purpose behind their daily tasks.
Creating and engaging others in a shared vision distinguishes leadership from management. Where management ensures tasks are completed, leadership provides the direction and motivation that make completion meaningful. This involves setting clear expectations, communicating objectives effectively, and ensuring team members understand not merely what they must deliver, but why it matters.
Valuing difference, diversity and inclusion reflects the Civil Service's commitment to building organisations where all colleagues can thrive. Leadership at every grade requires actively promoting inclusive environments, addressing inappropriate behaviour, and ensuring equality of opportunity. This is not peripheral to leadership; it is fundamental.
Understanding this tripartite definition transforms how you approach behaviour statements and interviews. Every example you provide should demonstrate at least one of these components, and your strongest examples will evidence all three.
The Success Profiles framework replaced the Civil Service Competency Framework in 2018, introducing a more flexible approach to recruitment that assesses behaviours alongside strengths, ability, experience, and technical skills. Leadership expectations escalate significantly across grades, and understanding these distinctions is essential for pitching your examples appropriately.
| Grade | Core Leadership Focus | Key Indicators |
|---|---|---|
| AA/AO | Personal accountability | Demonstrates enthusiasm; acts fairly; supports team objectives; considers consequences of actions |
| EO | Role modelling | Shows pride in work; promotes inclusive workplace; addresses inappropriate behaviour promptly; recognises colleagues |
| HEO/SEO | Team direction | Ensures clear objectives and timeframes; champions inclusion and equality; manages conflict effectively; recognises achievements to drive positivity |
| Grade 7/6 | Strategic influence | Promotes diversity respecting external experience; welcomes challenge; defends team decisions; identifies shared interests; inspires engagement |
| Deputy Director | Organisational leadership | Remains visible and approachable; builds reputation internally and externally; embeds inclusive culture; influences strategy |
| Director/DG | Civil Service leadership | Develops and protects Civil Service reputation; presents focused strategies; creates inclusive environments; achieves departmental outcomes |
The most common error candidates make is providing examples calibrated for the wrong grade. An HEO candidate describing how they "set the strategic direction for the department" appears either dishonest or lacking self-awareness. Conversely, a Grade 7 candidate discussing how they "helped a colleague with their workload" undersells their capability.
For HEO and SEO roles, assessors expect evidence that you ensure clear communication of objectives, consider diverse perspectives, and manage team dynamics including conflict. You should demonstrate ownership of outcomes within your area whilst acknowledging the broader organisational context.
For Grade 7 and Grade 6 roles, expectations shift towards strategic thinking, stakeholder influence, and inspiring teams through change. Your examples should evidence welcoming challenge, defending decisions when appropriate, and identifying opportunities that benefit multiple teams or departments.
The STAR framework (Situation, Task, Action, Result) provides the foundation for behaviour-based responses, but the enhanced B-STAR method offers a more sophisticated structure that consistently achieves higher scores.
| Component | Purpose | Typical Word Allocation (250 words) |
|---|---|---|
| Belief | Establishes your leadership philosophy and signals self-awareness | 20-30 words |
| Situation | Provides context without excessive background detail | 40-50 words |
| Task | Clarifies your specific responsibility and accountability | 30-40 words |
| Action | Details what you did, how, and why (this earns the marks) | 80-100 words |
| Result | Quantifies impact and reflects on learning | 40-50 words |
Beginning with a belief statement accomplishes three objectives simultaneously. First, it demonstrates reflective practice, showing assessors you have considered your leadership approach rather than acting instinctively. Second, it frames your subsequent actions within a coherent philosophy, making your example more compelling. Third, it differentiates your response from candidates who launch directly into situation descriptions.
Effective belief statements are specific without being lengthy:
The Action component should consume approximately 40% of your word count. This is where assessors identify evidence of the behaviour, and rushed or superficial action descriptions represent the primary reason strong candidates receive mediocre scores.
Within your Action section, explain:
The "why" element is frequently omitted yet critically important. It transforms a description of events into evidence of competent decision-making.
The following examples demonstrate how to calibrate your response to grade-appropriate expectations. Note how the complexity of the situation, the scope of influence, and the nature of the results escalate across grades.
Question: Describe a time when you demonstrated leadership to achieve a team objective.
I believe leadership means creating clarity and enabling others to succeed. Last year, our team faced a significant challenge when we needed to deliver a new reporting process whilst simultaneously managing business-as-usual responsibilities.
As the most experienced team member, I was asked to coordinate the project alongside my regular duties. The task required ensuring six colleagues understood their responsibilities, maintained motivation through a demanding period, and delivered quality outputs within a compressed timeline.
I began by meeting individually with each team member to understand their capacity and any concerns. These conversations revealed that two colleagues felt uncertain about the new process requirements, whilst another was managing caring responsibilities that limited their availability. I arranged targeted training sessions for those needing additional support and redistributed tasks to accommodate personal circumstances, ensuring the workload remained equitable.
Throughout the project, I maintained clear communication through weekly briefings where I explained our progress against objectives and recognised individual contributions. When tensions arose between two team members over task allocation, I facilitated a constructive conversation that addressed underlying concerns and established clearer role boundaries.
We delivered the new reporting process two days ahead of schedule, with the quality assessment identifying no significant issues. More importantly, feedback from colleagues indicated they felt supported throughout the process. The experience reinforced my understanding that effective leadership requires adapting your approach to individual needs whilst maintaining focus on collective objectives.
Question: Give an example of when you led others through a challenging situation.
I believe that inclusive leadership drives better outcomes, particularly during periods of uncertainty. When our directorate announced a restructure affecting my team of eight, I recognised that how we navigated this period would significantly impact both morale and performance.
My responsibility was maintaining team effectiveness whilst supporting colleagues through genuine concerns about their futures. This required balancing transparency about organisational decisions with appropriate boundaries regarding information I could not yet share.
I established a weekly forum where team members could voice concerns and ask questions, committing to honest responses even when the answer was "I don't know yet." I ensured these sessions accommodated different communication preferences, offering one-to-one conversations for colleagues uncomfortable speaking in group settings. Recognising that rumour and speculation were creating anxiety, I worked with senior leadership to accelerate communications where possible, advocating for my team's need for clarity.
I also maintained focus on our deliverables, framing continued performance as demonstrating the team's value to the organisation. I redistributed responsibilities to play to individual strengths, providing development opportunities that would strengthen colleagues' positions regardless of restructure outcomes.
The restructure ultimately preserved all roles within my team, but more significantly, our performance metrics improved during this period rather than declining. Post-restructure feedback indicated that team members felt supported and informed throughout. This experience demonstrated that effective leadership during uncertainty requires both empathy and continued focus on objectives.
Question: Tell us about a time when you inspired and motivated a team to deliver a challenging objective.
My leadership philosophy centres on empowerment: I believe people deliver their best work when they understand the purpose, have the autonomy to determine their approach, and know their contributions are valued.
Eighteen months ago, I led a cross-departmental team of twelve to deliver an upgraded financial reporting system. The project was high-profile, with ministerial interest in the outcomes, yet the team included colleagues who had never worked together and who reported to different line managers. Initial engagement was low, with several team members viewing this as additional work imposed upon their substantive responsibilities.
My first action was articulating a compelling vision for the project's impact. I arranged a session where a senior finance colleague explained how current reporting limitations affected decision-making, helping the team understand the genuine value of their contribution. I then worked with each team member to identify aspects of the project that aligned with their professional development goals, positioning the project as an opportunity rather than a burden.
I established clear governance whilst delegating meaningful responsibility. Each workstream had an identified lead with genuine authority over their area, whilst I focused on removing obstacles, managing stakeholder expectations, and maintaining strategic direction. When we encountered significant technical challenges mid-project, I convened a problem-solving session that drew on the team's diverse expertise rather than imposing a solution.
We delivered the system on schedule, achieving the projected annual saving of four hundred thousand pounds. The quality assessment rated the system as exceeding requirements, and three team members subsequently received recognition in their performance reviews for their contributions. Most valuably, the approach established a template for cross-departmental collaboration that the directorate has since replicated. This experience reinforced my conviction that leaders create impact through others, not despite them.
Civil Service Leadership interviews follow predictable patterns, yet candidates frequently underperform by failing to prepare strategically. Understanding the question types and their underlying assessment objectives enables more effective responses.
| Question Type | What Assessors Evaluate | Strategic Approach |
|---|---|---|
| "Tell us about a time you demonstrated leadership" | Evidence of the behaviour at appropriate grade level | Select an example with clear outcomes and evidence of all three leadership components |
| "Describe how you motivated a team" | Understanding of motivation beyond transactional management | Emphasise understanding individual motivations and creating conditions for engagement |
| "Give an example of leading through change" | Resilience, communication, and maintaining performance during uncertainty | Show balance between supporting colleagues emotionally and maintaining delivery focus |
| "How have you promoted diversity and inclusion?" | Commitment to inclusive practices beyond compliance | Demonstrate proactive action to create inclusive environments, not merely responding to issues |
| "Tell us about a difficult leadership decision" | Judgement, accountability, and willingness to make unpopular choices | Own the decision and its consequences; show reflection on what you learned |
Civil Service behaviour interviews typically use a seven-point scale:
| Score | Descriptor | What This Means |
|---|---|---|
| 1-2 | Limited evidence | Example lacks relevance or provides minimal evidence of the behaviour |
| 3-4 | Adequate evidence | Example demonstrates some indicators but lacks depth, impact, or reflection |
| 5-6 | Good evidence | Example clearly demonstrates multiple indicators with meaningful outcomes |
| 7 | Strong evidence | Example comprehensively demonstrates the behaviour with significant impact and clear reflection |
Most candidates score between three and five. The difference between adequate and good scores typically lies in the depth of your Action description and the quality of your reflection on Results. Strong scores require demonstrating the behaviour comprehensively whilst showing genuine insight into your leadership approach.
Selecting inappropriate examples: Choose situations where you had genuine influence over outcomes. Describing situations where you were a passive participant or where outcomes occurred regardless of your actions undermines your evidence.
Focusing on what happened rather than what you did: Assessors evaluate your behaviour, not the situation. Lengthy situation descriptions that leave insufficient time for actions are a common failure pattern.
Claiming outcomes you did not influence: Assessors are experienced professionals who recognise inflated claims. Be precise about your contribution and honest about factors outside your control.
Neglecting the inclusion component: Leadership in the Civil Service explicitly encompasses diversity and inclusion. Examples that demonstrate vision and motivation but ignore inclusive practice miss a key assessment criterion.
Written behaviour statements demand different techniques than interview responses. You cannot adjust based on assessor reactions, and you must make every word count within strict limits.
For standard 250-word statements, allocate your content as follows:
Opening (20-30 words): Establish your belief or philosophy, signalling that your response is considered rather than generic.
Situation and Task (70-90 words): Provide sufficient context for assessors to understand the challenge without excessive background. Combine these elements where possible to preserve words for actions.
Actions (100-120 words): This is where you earn marks. Detail multiple actions that demonstrate different aspects of leadership. Use specific language: "I facilitated," "I established," "I recognised" rather than vague formulations like "I was involved in."
Results (40-50 words): Quantify where possible and include reflection on what you learned or would do differently. End strongly, as final impressions influence scoring.
I believe effective leadership combines clear direction with genuine support for individuals. When my team was tasked with reducing processing backlogs by thirty percent within six weeks, I recognised this required both coordinated effort and sustained motivation.
I convened a team meeting to share the objective and invite input on approach. This revealed concerns about workload fairness and identified process improvements colleagues had previously suggested but not implemented. I committed to trialling three of these suggestions immediately, demonstrating that contributions were valued.
I established daily progress tracking visible to the team, celebrating milestones publicly whilst addressing emerging obstacles in targeted conversations. When data revealed uneven progress across the team, I facilitated peer support arrangements that matched colleagues with complementary strengths rather than imposing solutions.
One team member disclosed personal circumstances affecting their capacity. I worked with them to adjust their responsibilities temporarily, ensuring they remained included and valued whilst protecting their wellbeing. This required redistributing some tasks and having honest conversations with other team members about workload equity.
We achieved a thirty-four percent reduction, exceeding the target. Post-project feedback indicated colleagues felt motivated throughout despite the intensive period. Two process improvements have been permanently adopted, continuing to deliver efficiency gains. The experience reinforced my understanding that leadership requires balancing collective objectives with individual circumstances, and that inclusive approaches produce sustainable results.
For senior grades requiring extended statements, the fundamental structure remains but allows greater depth. Use additional words to:
Do not simply expand each section proportionally. The additional length should primarily strengthen your Action and Result components, where assessors find the evidence they need to award higher scores.
Regardless of the grade you are targeting, certain principles consistently distinguish strong candidates from adequate ones.
Your example need not describe the most senior or visible leadership situation from your career. A well-articulated example of informal leadership often outscores a poorly explained example of formal authority. Choose situations where:
High-scoring candidates show understanding of their leadership style, its strengths, and its limitations. Including reflection on what you learned or would do differently signals maturity and continuous development. This distinguishes leaders from those who simply managed situations.
The Leadership behaviour explicitly references pride and passion for public service. Where possible, connect your example to citizen outcomes, ministerial priorities, or organisational objectives. This demonstrates understanding that Civil Service leadership ultimately serves the public interest.
Strong examples poorly articulated score lower than adequate examples well presented. Practise your examples aloud, timing yourself and refining your language. Eliminate filler words, clarify your reasoning, and ensure your result clearly demonstrates impact.
Interview panels sometimes probe with follow-up questions or request alternative examples. Prepare at least three leadership examples of varying types: one involving team motivation, one involving decision-making under pressure, and one involving promoting inclusion or managing conflict.
The Leadership behaviour is one of nine behaviours assessed under the Civil Service Success Profiles framework. It is defined as: "Show pride and passion for public service. Create and engage others in delivering a shared vision. Value difference, diversity and inclusion, ensuring fairness and opportunity for all." This behaviour is assessed differently across grades, with expectations increasing from personal accountability at junior levels to organisational and Civil Service-wide leadership at senior grades. Assessors evaluate evidence against grade-appropriate indicators, looking for specific examples that demonstrate how candidates have exhibited these qualities in practice.
The most effective approach uses the B-STAR method: begin with a Belief statement articulating your leadership philosophy, describe the Situation providing necessary context, explain the Task clarifying your specific responsibility, detail your Actions comprehensively focusing on what you did, how, and why, and conclude with Results including quantified outcomes and reflection. Allocate approximately forty percent of your word count to Actions, as this is where assessors identify evidence of the behaviour. Ensure your example demonstrates at least one of the three core leadership components: pride in public service, creating shared vision, or promoting inclusion.
At HEO and SEO grades, assessors expect evidence of team coordination, clear communication of objectives, and managing diverse perspectives. Effective examples include leading project teams, coordinating responses to operational challenges, supporting colleagues through periods of change, or addressing performance or conduct issues constructively. Avoid examples requiring strategic authority beyond these grades, but ensure your example demonstrates genuine influence over outcomes. The strongest examples show how you balanced individual needs with collective objectives, managed conflict or differing opinions, and achieved measurable results whilst maintaining team morale and engagement.
Grade 7 leadership expectations focus on strategic influence, inspiring teams, and defending decisions when challenged. Where HEO emphasises team coordination and clear communication, Grade 7 requires evidence of setting direction, welcoming constructive challenge, and identifying opportunities benefiting multiple areas. Grade 7 examples should demonstrate leadership beyond your immediate team, influencing stakeholders, building coalitions, and navigating organisational complexity. The scope and impact of your examples should reflect greater responsibility, whilst showing how you empowered others rather than simply directing activities. Reflection on leadership approach and continuous development is weighted more heavily at this grade.
Yes, the Success Profiles framework explicitly values diverse experience, and effective behaviours can be demonstrated through examples from any sector. The key requirement is that your example provides clear evidence of the behaviour indicators appropriate to your target grade. When using external examples, ensure you translate any sector-specific context for assessors who may be unfamiliar with your previous industry. Connect your example to public service values where possible, demonstrating how your leadership approach aligns with Civil Service expectations. Strong external examples often bring fresh perspectives that differentiate candidates from those relying solely on internal experience.
Leadership in the Civil Service context is not synonymous with line management. You can demonstrate leadership through informal influence, coordinating peers on projects, mentoring colleagues, championing improvements, or representing your team to stakeholders. Focus on situations where you provided direction, motivated others, or created conditions enabling collective success. Examples might include leading a working group, coordinating a team response to an urgent request, onboarding new colleagues, or advocating for changes that benefited your area. The behaviour definition emphasises creating engagement and valuing inclusion, neither of which requires formal management authority to demonstrate.
The most frequent errors include selecting examples inappropriate to the target grade, providing insufficient detail in the Action section, focusing on situation description rather than personal contribution, and neglecting the inclusion component of the leadership definition. Candidates also commonly claim outcomes they did not directly influence, use vague language that fails to evidence specific behaviours, and exceed word limits demonstrating poor communication skills. Another significant error is failing to reflect on results or learning, which distinguishes adequate responses from strong ones. Finally, many candidates prepare only one example, leaving them unable to respond effectively to follow-up questions or requests for alternative evidence.
Demonstrating Leadership effectively requires understanding what assessors seek, selecting appropriate examples, and articulating your contribution with precision and reflection. The Success Profiles framework provides clear guidance on grade-level expectations, and candidates who invest time in strategic preparation consistently outperform those who approach applications generically. Your leadership examples should evidence not merely what you did, but how you thought about the challenge, why you chose your approach, and what impact your actions created for colleagues, stakeholders, and ultimately, the public you serve.