What makes a good Delivering at Pace example?

One with a real deadline or pressure, a clear plan or set of priorities, and a measurable result. The pressure should be genuine, not just a busy week.

Can I write about a time something went wrong?

Yes, if you took responsibility, fixed it and still delivered, or learned from it. Taking ownership of setbacks is part of this behaviour.

Delivering at Pace: Civil Service behaviour examples and how to write yours

Updated 2 November 2026 · 3 min read

Delivering at Pace is about getting results on time, keeping focus on what matters most, and taking responsibility for the quality of the work, especially under pressure. A good example has a real deadline or pressure, shows how you prioritised, and ends with a result you can measure.

Delivering at Pace is one of the nine behaviours in the Civil Service Success Profiles. If a job advert lists it, you'll usually write a behaviour statement for it at application, often up to 250 words, and may be asked about it again at interview. Our guide to behaviour statements covers how they're scored; this page goes deep on Delivering at Pace alone.

What assessors look for

You worked to a clear deadline or under real pressure.
You prioritised sensibly and stayed focused on what mattered most.
You kept quality high, not just speed.
You took responsibility, including when things didn't go to plan.

How it changes with grade

Every behaviour is described at several levels, roughly: AA and AO, then EO, then HEO and SEO, then Grade 7 and Grade 6, then the Senior Civil Service. At AO and EO, delivering your own work on time and to a high standard under pressure is ideal. At HEO and SEO, expect to show you managed a team's or project's delivery, balanced competing priorities and dealt with setbacks. At Grade 7 and above, it's about driving delivery across a programme and holding others to account. Always read the indicators for the level on your advert, on the Civil Service Careers website, and use them as a checklist.

How the question is usually worded

Please provide a behaviour statement for Delivering at Pace.
Tell us about a time you met a tight deadline.
Describe how you managed competing priorities to deliver results.

An example statement

Example · Example at HEO level (around 220 words)“Please provide a behaviour statement for Delivering at Pace.”

I was asked to coordinate our department's response to a public consultation, which had received 1,400 responses. The summary was needed for a ministerial decision in three weeks, half the usual time, and two of my four analysts were on leave for part of it. I broke the work into stages with daily targets, and agreed with my manager what 'good enough' looked like for each stage so we didn't over-polish early drafts. I grouped responses by theme so analysts could work in parallel, and took on one theme myself to cover the absences. I checked a sample of each analyst's coding every day, which caught a misunderstanding about one question in the first week before it spread. When a legal query threatened to delay us, I raised it with the lawyers the same day, rather than waiting for our weekly meeting, and it was resolved in two days. We delivered the summary two days early. The minister's office said it was one of the clearest summaries they had received, and the quality checks found no errors. Afterwards, I wrote up our staged approach so other teams could use it for future consultations.

Why it works

Real pressure: half the usual time, fewer people
Clear prioritisation and planning
Protects quality with daily checks
Takes responsibility for problems, and delivers early

Use an example from your own work, volunteering or study. Assessors read a lot of statements and can spot borrowed ones. The structure above is what to copy, not the story.

Common mistakes

Saying you 'work well under pressure' without showing how you managed it.
Focusing only on speed and forgetting quality.
Leaving out the result: was it delivered on time, and was it any good?

Once your Delivering at Pace statement is strong, save it. The same behaviour comes up again and again across departments, so next time you'll adapt it for the grade and role instead of starting from a blank page. See the STAR method for the structure behind every good statement.

Frequently asked questions

What makes a good Delivering at Pace example?: One with a real deadline or pressure, a clear plan or set of priorities, and a measurable result. The pressure should be genuine, not just a busy week.
Can I write about a time something went wrong?: Yes, if you took responsibility, fixed it and still delivered, or learned from it. Taking ownership of setbacks is part of this behaviour.