Civil Service Behaviour: Working Together

What the Working Together behaviour means

The Civil Service Success Profiles framework describes Working Together as forming effective partnerships and relationships with people both internally and externally, from a range of diverse backgrounds. In practice, collaborating across the Civil Service means working through real structural complexity: departments with competing priorities, external delivery partners with different cultures and values, and relationships with arm's-length bodies or devolved administrations. The behaviour also covers inclusion, meaning you make room for diverse voices and make sure the quieter colleague in the room actually gets heard.

What good looks like at each grade

EO / HEO: At EO/HEO level, you actively build relationships with colleagues across your team and directorate, share information willingly, help colleagues when they need support and contribute positively to team culture. You treat all colleagues with respect and recognise the value of diverse perspectives in solving problems.

SEO: At SEO level, you manage relationships with a broader range of internal and external stakeholders, build networks proactively and work effectively across organisational boundaries. You facilitate collaboration between parties who may have competing interests and are alert to the cultural and professional sensitivities that affect cross-team working.

Grade 7: At Grade 7 and above, you build strategic partnerships with senior stakeholders across government, the private sector and the voluntary sector. You create and sustain collaborative structures, model inclusive behaviour and ensure that your team's approach to working with others reflects the Civil Service values of fairness, integrity and respect.

Example interview questions

Success Profiles questions want evidence, not opinion. Every answer needs a real situation underneath it.

• Tell me about a time you worked effectively with colleagues from different teams or organisations to achieve a shared objective.
• Give me an example of when you helped to resolve a conflict between two parties within or outside your team.
• Describe a situation where you had to build a relationship quickly with a new stakeholder group.
• Tell me about a time you shared information or resources with another team even when it was not in your immediate interest to do so.
• Give me an example of when you ensured that a diverse range of voices were included in a piece of work.

A STAR example answer

Situation: I was an HEO in the Cabinet Office, seconded to a cross-government project aiming to standardise procurement data across twelve central departments. Each department had its own legacy system, different data governance arrangements and, in some cases, commercial sensitivities around supplier relationships.

Task: My role was to develop a data-sharing protocol that all twelve departments could agree to, working with departmental representatives who had varying levels of seniority, technical expertise and appetite for change.

Action: I organised an initial mapping exercise with the departmental representatives to understand each party's data governance constraints before proposing any standardisation approach. Rather than presenting a solution and asking for sign-off, I asked each representative to describe their top three concerns and their one red line. This surfaced a range of issues I had not anticipated, including one department's ongoing Ministerial direction that restricted certain data-sharing, all of which I was then able to factor into the design. I built a small working group of the most constructive representatives to co-design the protocol, and used their buy-in to bring along the more resistant departments. I was transparent throughout about the constraints I was working within and documented all agreed decisions in a shared action log that everyone could see.

Result: The protocol was agreed by all twelve departments within sixteen weeks, four weeks ahead of the project's target. The project director noted that the working group approach had been critical to achieving consensus and the protocol was subsequently piloted in three departments with positive results.

Tips for a strong answer

Read these, then say your example out loud and time it. Panels notice the moment an answer starts drifting.

• Show that you invested in the relationship before you needed anything from it. Collaboration runs on trust that was built earlier.
• Demonstrate that you worked through the differences in priorities or culture rather than steamrollering your preferred approach.
• Name inclusion explicitly where it fits. Say how you went after the perspectives that would otherwise have been missed.
• Civil Service panels reward collaboration that crosses organisational or functional boundaries, so lead with that example if you have one.

Frequently asked questions

How is "Working Together" different from "Leadership" in the Civil Service Success Profiles?

Leadership is about direction-setting, motivation and accountability, so it focuses on your impact on other people as a leader. Working Together is about collaboration, relationship-building and collective achievement, so it focuses on how you operate as a peer or a partner rather than as the person in charge. You might lead in one context and collaborate as an equal in the next.

What is cross-government working in the UK Civil Service?

Cross-government working refers to collaboration between officials from different government departments on shared policy or operational challenges. It is increasingly common and often takes the form of cross-departmental projects, Cabinet Office-led programmes, joint ministerial committees or secondments. It requires particularly strong relationship-building skills because participants typically have different departmental loyalties and resource pressures.

Can I use a voluntary or community example for a Working Together question?

Yes. Examples from voluntary, community or university settings are perfectly valid, particularly for candidates at EO or HEO level or those joining the Civil Service from outside. Show that you built effective relationships, worked through different perspectives and contributed to a shared outcome. The principles translate directly.