Making Effective Decisions AO Example Statement (250 Words)
At AO, assessors want to see that you gather the relevant facts, check the rules or guidance that apply, and make a sensible decision within your authority. Show that you weighed at least two options and knew when to ask someone senior. One clear workplace decision, told with numbers, is enough.
Example statement
SWhile working as a senior sales assistant in an electronics shop, a customer asked for a full refund on a £60 headphones purchase that was five days outside our 28-day returns policy, saying one earpiece had stopped working.
TMy manager was away that day, and I had delegated authority to settle refunds up to £75, so the decision was mine alone.
AI worked through it step by step rather than refusing automatically or breaking policy. First I checked the receipt, which confirmed the purchase date, and tested the headphones at the counter to verify the fault was real, not misuse damage. Then I re-read our returns policy and found a clause allowing a discretionary exchange or credit note for faulty goods up to six weeks after purchase. I weighed the three options open to me: a full cash refund, which the policy did not support; a straight refusal, which was unfair on a genuine fault; or a like-for-like exchange, which matched the clause and solved the customer's problem. I also noted the supplier would credit faulty goods, so the shop lost nothing. I chose the exchange, explained the reasoning to the customer, recorded the decision and the clause I used on the refund log, and flagged the faulty batch to the stockroom.
RThe customer left with working headphones and later gave us a five-star review. The supplier credited us £210 for six faulty units, and my manager kept my decision log as a template for similar cases.
Use this as a model, not a script. This is an original example written for this site. Adapt the structure to your own experience — copying it word for word risks plagiarism and will not reflect your evidence.
Why this scores well
- Shows a structured decision within delegated authority: checks the facts, reads the policy and identifies the options before acting.
- Balances fairness to the customer with protecting the business, and records the reasoning, which shows sound judgement at AO level.
- The result is concrete (five-star review, £210 supplier credit) and the decision log being reused shows wider value.
What AO level requires
| Grade | What assessors expect |
|---|---|
| AO ← this page | At AO, making effective decisions means using the information in front of you, following guidance and policy, and making sound day-to-day decisions within your own role, escalating anything outside it. |
| EO | At EO, making effective decisions means gathering and interpreting information from several sources, weighing options within policies and procedures, and making timely decisions on your own caseload or area of work. |
| HEO | At HEO, making effective decisions means analysing information from a range of sources, identifying the real options, weighing evidence, cost and risk, and making sound judgements on issues affecting your team or service. |
Common mistakes at this level
- Saying you 'followed the process' without showing you understood why that process applied to this case.
- Leaving out the result entirely, or giving one with no number, so the impact of the decision is invisible.
- Claiming you would 'never' escalate anything, which reads as poor judgement rather than confidence.
Frequently asked questions
Most departments ask for 250 words per behaviour at AO, but check the job advert because some ask for 500. Within 250 words, spend roughly two sentences on the situation, one on your responsibility, around 60% on your actions, and the rest on a result with at least one number.
Yes. Volunteering, education, caring and community roles all count at AO. What matters is that you made a real decision: you gathered information, weighed options and chose a course of action that affected other people. A treasurer deciding how to spend a club's limited funds is as valid as any office example.
Use plain verbs that show your thinking: checked, compared, weighed, decided, rejected, escalated, recorded. Avoid naming the behaviour itself, such as writing 'this shows I make effective decisions'. Let the sequence of facts, options, choice and result demonstrate it. Assessors score the evidence, not the label.
Next step
Get the free AO statement template pack — the same STAR structure used in this example.
Download the template pack