EO Behaviours In Depth

Whilst I mainly focus on HEO grade work, there is currently a lot of interest in Executive Officer level behaviours. I will talk through some of the most common behaviours asked for, and where a prospective applicant can set themselves apart. It is important, when there is a lot of competition for a small number of jobs to really show that you are the preferred candidate.

Communicating and Influencing

Here you are talking about a time when you talked to someone or a group of people and successfully communicated something.

Behaviour Indicators:

• Communicate clearly and concisely both orally and in writing.
• Take time to consider the best communication channel to use for the audience, including making the best of digital resources and considering value for money.
• Interact with others in an enthusiastic way.
• Express ideas clearly and with respect for others.
• Listen to and value different ideas, views and ways of working.
• Respond constructively and objectively to comments and questions.
• Handle challenging conversations with confidence and sensitivity.

How you can set yourself apart:

Think about the following questions, your behaviour should answer:

• What did you take into account when communicating with your target audience? Why did you do this?
• How did you deal with negative reception to what you were communicating?
• Why did you take into account other peoples views?
• How did you work with people with different priorities to yours?

Managing a Quality Service

Managing a quality service is about doing your work to a high standard, and talking about how you made sure you did that.

Behaviour Indicators

• Work with customers to understand their needs and expectations.
• Create clear plans and set priorities which meet the needs of both the customer and the business.
• Clearly explain to customers what can be done.
• Keep colleagues and stakeholders fully informed of plans, possibilities and progress.
• Identify common problems that affect service, report them and find possible solutions.
• Deliver good customer service which balances quality and cost effectiveness.

How you can set yourself apart:

• Explain how you know what is important, have you gathered feedback/data?
• Remember that your manager/management team can either be seen as a customer or stakeholder.
• How did you impact your team/site?

Making Effective Decisions

Here you talk about a time when you have made a decision. This may be difficult if you think you’ve never made a decision in work. Remember that Executive Officer is a grade which is expected to exercise discretion, perhaps in interpreting evidence or selecting a provision to refer a claimant to. These are sufficient examples for Executive Officer Grade.

Behaviour Indicators

• Take responsibility for making effective and fair decisions, in a timely manner.
• Analyse and research further information to support decisions.
• Talk to relevant people to get advice and information when unsure how to proceed.
• Explain how decisions have been reached in a clear and concise way, both verbally and in writing.
• Demonstrate the consideration of all options, costs, risks and wider implications, including the diverse needs of end users and any accessibility requirements.

How you can set yourself apart

• Talk about how you used statistics, referred to as MI.
• Were there any risks that you weighed up and mitigated?
• Recognise how the decision feeds into the bigger picture, a good example here is how Kickstart is a part of the wider Plan for Jobs launched by the Chancellor during the pandemic.