Departmental silos are a senior Working Together problem. A Grade 6 answer should show how you changed the conditions that kept teams apart, rather than saying you encouraged better communication. The Grade 6 and Grade 7 Civil Service interview guide helps you prepare evidence at the required scale before your panel date.
Question
“Tell me about a time you broke down silos between teams or departments to deliver a shared outcome.”
What Is Being Looked For
The panel is looking for leadership across organisational boundaries. Your example should explain why the silos existed, what each area was accountable for and why normal coordination had failed. At Grade 6, you should show how you aligned senior people and created a working arrangement that lasted.
Use your Belief section to state how you approach shared outcomes where incentives differ. Then show the governance, evidence or decision rights you changed. A series of meetings can support the answer, but the value lies in what you achieved through them.
Strong outcomes include a shared plan, common measures or clear ownership across hand-offs. Include disagreement where it was real. Senior collaboration often means making trade-offs visible and securing commitment from people who do not report to you.
Example Answer
I believe silos weaken when teams share an outcome, common evidence and clear responsibility for the points where their work connects. Good relationships help, but the operating model must also support collaboration.
I led a cross-department programme to improve a public application service. The policy team measured success by correct eligibility decisions, digital focused on online completion, and operations focused on call demand. Each area was meeting its own target, yet customers were abandoning applications and contacting the service repeatedly.
I commissioned a journey review using application data, call reasons and staff feedback. It showed that policy wording created avoidable questions, while the digital service did not pass enough context to operational staff. I presented the evidence to the three directors and proposed a single outcome measure based on successful completion without repeat contact.
I established a joint delivery board with authority to make decisions across the full journey. I assigned senior owners to each hand-off and required proposals to show their effect on all three areas. When policy resisted simplifying one declaration, I arranged a legal review and a user test so the decision was based on compliance and customer understanding rather than departmental preference.
I also moved part of the programme budget into a shared fund. Teams could access it only for changes supported by the joint plan. This shifted discussion away from protecting individual allocations and towards the highest-value improvements.
The service changes reduced repeat contact and improved completion. The directors retained the shared measures and board after the programme ended, giving later work a route for resolving cross-department issues before they reached escalation.
Your answer should show a structural change as well as good personal relationships. Use the Grade 6 and Grade 7 Civil Service interview guide now to check that your Working Together example demonstrates senior authority and lasting alignment.
