Working Together is about building relationships that help people achieve something they could not deliver as well in isolation. It is not simply proof that you are friendly or that you attended a lot of meetings.
A good example usually contains a real dependency. Another team knows something you need, two groups have different priorities, a handoff is breaking down, or somebody needs support for the shared outcome to succeed.
The grade changes the scale. At AA/AO, reliable cooperation and mutual support may be exactly right. By HEO/SEO and Grade 6/7, the evidence should usually involve broader networks, competing interests and your ability to create common purpose without flattening legitimate differences.
Writing an application? Go to the Working Together 250-word statement guide.
Preparing for interview? Go to Working Together interview questions and answers.
How this fits the Civil Service Success Profiles
Success Profiles treats Working Together as a graded behaviour. Junior evidence can be close to the immediate team, while senior evidence should usually show wider networks, challenge, compromise and shared ownership.
At AA/AO: Build supportive relationships, share information, ask for and offer help and treat different backgrounds and viewpoints with respect. At EO: Build cooperation within and beyond the team, share information and resources, support colleagues and contribute to an inclusive working environment.
At HEO/SEO: Create joined-up working across groups, build professional relationships, develop common purpose, support wellbeing and actively seek different perspectives. At Grade 6/7: Maintain networks that move shared objectives forward, challenge assumptions while knowing when to compromise, support people and create an environment where challenge is safe.
The official Civil Service Success Profiles behaviour guidance should be your reference when checking whether the example is pitched at the right level.
The behaviour is about the shared outcome, not the number of people involved
A team project does not automatically demonstrate Working Together. If everybody already agreed, roles were clear and you simply completed your own task, there may be little relationship evidence to score.
Now imagine cases are bouncing repeatedly between two teams because each interprets the handoff differently. Both believe the other side is causing the problem. A strong example would show how you bring them together around the customer outcome, understand both constraints and agree a workable boundary.
The useful part is not “we collaborated”. It is what you did when collaboration was not already happening.
What strong evidence usually contains
Look for moments where you shared information, asked for help, offered support, brought a quieter perspective into the discussion or changed your own position after hearing somebody else’s evidence.
Strong senior examples often include compromise. Working Together does not mean everybody gets exactly what they originally wanted. It means the relationship is good enough to reach a decision that serves the common objective.
A practical example
Imagine two operational teams keep returning cases to each other. One believes the other is sending incomplete work; the second believes the acceptance criteria are being applied too strictly.
You review a sample with people from both teams and map the exact points where the handoff fails. The discussion shows that the written guidance is genuinely ambiguous, so neither side is simply “wrong”.
You agree a short handoff rule for routine cases, create an exception route for unusual cases and set up a shared channel for questions during the first few weeks. When one specialist raises a concern about a proposed checklist, you change it rather than pushing through your original wording.
The relationship improves because the teams now have a shared rule and a way to solve genuine exceptions without blaming one another.
Using Working Together in a Civil Service application
For a 250-word statement, avoid using “we” so heavily that your own contribution disappears. Team context is necessary, but the assessor still needs to know what you personally did to improve the relationship or shared outcome.
One of the strongest details is often where you listened and adjusted. If another person changed your plan for the better, include it. Cooperation is more credible when it is genuinely two-way.
The statement page below shows how to keep the example collaborative without making your own evidence vague.
Read the full Working Together 250-word statement example.
Need collaboration examples at your grade?
The grade-specific statement packs cover all nine behaviours with worked examples at your level. They show the difference between simple cooperation and stronger evidence of challenge, compromise, inclusion and shared ownership.
Working Together at interview
At interview, you may be asked about conflict, cross-team delivery, supporting a colleague or building a relationship with somebody whose priorities were different from yours.
Expect follow-ups about what you contributed, what the other person needed and whether you ever compromised. Panels can usually tell when “collaboration” really means persuading everyone else to accept your preferred answer.
Read the full Working Together Civil Service interview questions and answers.
Preparing for a Working Together question?
The grade-specific interview guides cover all nine behaviours with worked questions and answers, so you can practise showing real collaboration rather than simply describing meetings or stakeholder contact.
What changes by Civil Service grade?
AA/AO
A colleague is struggling with a busy queue while you have capacity. You agree how to share the work, pass on useful information and keep the handoff clear rather than simply taking random tasks.
EO
Two teams repeatedly return work because they interpret a handoff differently. You bring people together, clarify the shared outcome and agree a practical rule that both sides can use.
HEO/SEO
Policy, digital and operations need to deliver a service change but are working to different constraints. You create a shared plan, surface the trade-offs and make sure operational voices influence the design rather than arriving after decisions are made.
G6/7
Several organisations need to deliver a common outcome but have different priorities and governance. You build the senior relationships, create safe challenge and negotiate where compromise is possible without losing the core objective.
Working Together is not the same as stakeholder management
Stakeholder management can become one-directional: understand what somebody wants, persuade them and move on. Working Together usually needs more reciprocity. The other person should be able to influence the approach as well.
If every relationship in your example exists only to help you deliver your plan, look for evidence of shared ownership, support or compromise that makes the collaboration more genuine.
When compromise is the right answer
Compromise is not automatically weak leadership. Where two teams have legitimate constraints, an adjusted plan may protect the shared outcome better than one side “winning”.
The important point is knowing what can move and what cannot. Explain the core requirement you protected and the part you were prepared to change.
Common ways candidates weaken this behaviour
Too much “we”. The assessor understands the team achievement but cannot identify your own contribution.
Everyone already agrees. A smooth team project can leave very little evidence of relationship-building, challenge or compromise.
Collaboration as persuasion. Working Together is not simply getting other teams to adopt your idea.
Ignoring different needs. Strong cooperation recognises that colleagues, partners and users may have legitimate constraints of their own.
No shared outcome. The answer describes good relationships but never shows what they enabled people to achieve together.
Choose the route you need
Use this page for the behaviour as a whole. For detailed preparation, go to the Working Together 250-word statement guide or the Working Together interview questions and answers.
