Working Together: Civil Service behaviour examples and how to write yours
Updated · 3 min read
Working Together is about building positive relationships, sharing information and resources, and supporting others to get things done. A good example isn't just 'I was part of a team'. It shows what you did to make the team, or a partnership with another team, work better.
Working Together 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 Working Together alone.
What assessors look for
- You built a relationship that made the work go better.
- You shared knowledge or resources openly, beyond what you had to.
- You supported colleagues, including their wellbeing.
- You helped resolve tension or competing priorities between people or teams.
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, supporting colleagues in your own team and building good working relationships is ideal. At HEO and SEO, expect to show you worked across teams or organisations and dealt with differing priorities. At Grade 7 and above, it's about building partnerships across government and beyond, and encouraging collaboration in others. 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 Working Together.
- Tell us about a time you worked with another team to achieve a shared goal.
- Describe how you have supported a colleague who was struggling.
An example statement
Our team processes grant payments, and we rely on the finance team to approve each batch. Payments were often delayed because batches were sent back for small errors, and relations between the two teams had become tense, with each blaming the other. I asked the finance officer who approved our batches if we could meet for 20 minutes to understand what they needed. She showed me the five errors that caused most rejections, such as missing reference numbers. I hadn't realised how much time these cost her team. I made a simple checklist covering those five errors and asked my team to use it before sending a batch. I also set up a fortnightly call between our two teams to raise problems early instead of by email. When a colleague in my team was struggling with the new checklist during a busy week, I paired with her on her batches until she was confident. Over the next three months, rejected batches fell from around one in four to one in 20, and payments to grant holders were made an average of six days faster. The finance team now uses our checklist with two other teams.
- Builds a relationship with another team to fix a shared problem
- Shares information and creates a practical tool
- Supports a struggling colleague
- Measurable improvement for everyone, including the public
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
- Writing 'we' throughout, so your own contribution disappears.
- Choosing an example where everyone already got on and nothing needed working at.
- Leaving out how the collaboration improved the outcome for the public or the service.
Once your Working Together 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
- Can I use my teamwork answer from other applications?
- Often, yes, with tweaks. Make sure it shows relationship-building and support for others, not just being part of a team. Our teamwork guide has more examples.
- Does it need to involve another team?
- Not at junior grades. Supporting colleagues within your own team is fine. At HEO and above, working across teams makes a stronger example.