Working Together HEO Example Statement (250 Words)
At HEO, assessors expect you to have actively organised collaboration, not just taken part in it. Strong examples show you bringing people together, structuring how they work, handling a disagreement and valuing views different from your own. Show your leadership of the group effort plus a concrete shared outcome.
Example statement
SI coordinate activities at a care home where several residents rarely had visitors. The nursery next door was looking for community links, but both managers worried about safeguarding, noise and whether the idea was realistic.
TI offered to design an intergenerational activity day that worked for both settings and to address each manager's concerns.
AI met the nursery manager first to understand her safeguarding duties, then did the same with my home's manager, so I could design around both sets of rules rather than negotiate them down. I drafted a one-page plan covering ratios, consent forms, infection control and a quiet room, and I walked both managers through it together so they could challenge it at the same time. I chose three activities that suited mixed ages: planting seedlings, a singing circle and a picture quiz, and I tested the timings with two residents and the nursery's deputy before proposing them. I briefed staff from both settings in one joint session so everyone heard the same instructions, pairing each nursery worker with a care colleague. On the day I floated between groups, quietly redirecting one overexcited toddler group and fetching a resident's photos when she wanted to share them. Afterwards I gathered comments from residents, parents and staff in a simple three-question form.
RThe day involved 26 residents and 18 children, with 40 pieces of positive feedback and no incidents. The nursery made it a monthly event, and three families have since become regular visitors to the home.
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
- Strong inclusion evidence: the plan was designed around both settings' safeguarding rules and tested with residents and staff first.
- Shows HEO behaviours of planning, joint briefing and risk management across two organisations with different rules.
- The partnership became monthly and drew families in — a lasting relationship, with clear numbers (26 residents, 18 children).
What HEO level requires
| Grade | What assessors expect |
|---|---|
| EO | At EO level, Working Together means building constructive relationships beyond your immediate desk: coordinating with other teams, sharing information proactively and sorting out friction before it escalates. |
| HEO ← this page | At HEO level, Working Together means taking the lead in making collaboration happen: organising people across teams, valuing different perspectives and resolving disagreements so shared goals are met. |
| SEO | At SEO level, Working Together means building collaborative relationships across teams and partner organisations: creating the structures, trust and shared purpose that let groups with different interests deliver together. |
Common mistakes at this level
- Smoothing over a disagreement instead of showing how you resolved it
- Introducing people with no roles, so nobody can see how the group was structured
- Stating a team result with no evidence of your own organising role in it
Frequently asked questions
Yes, if it has the right scope. Leading a joint event between two clubs, coordinating volunteers or running a community project shows HEO-level Working Together just as well as office examples. Make sure the example shows you organising people, not just helping out, and give the result in numbers.
Leadership is about direction, vision and developing people. Working Together is about the relationships that make joint work possible: trust, inclusion, handling disagreement. If your example is mostly 'I set the vision and people followed', it is Leadership. If it is 'I built the conditions for us to work well together', it is Working Together.
No. Use roles, not names: 'the two team leaders', 'the nursery manager'. Keep the cast small enough to follow in 250 words. What assessors track is how you worked with each key person: who you consulted, who you persuaded and how you kept everyone contributing.
Next step
Get the free HEO statement template pack — the same STAR structure used in this example.
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