Making Effective Decisions AO Example — 250-Word Statement
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
SLast June I was supervising a busy city-centre pub. On the Friday lunchtime, one of our four weekend staff rang in sick, and we had 120 covers booked for Saturday plus a live music night on the Sunday.
TI had to decide how to cover the weekend with one person down, staying within our wage budget.
AI started by gathering the facts I actually needed rather than guessing. I checked the booking system for Saturday's table pattern and last year's takings for the same weekend, which told me Saturday evening was the real pinch point. I listed three options: call our agency for a temp, ask a trained colleague to switch days off, or redraw the rota so our strongest staff covered the peak hours. I priced the agency option at roughly £130 and weighed that against the risk of an unfamiliar worker on our busiest night. The day-swap looked best, but the colleague could only cover Sunday. So I chose a combined plan: the swap for Sunday, and for Saturday I moved our most experienced bar worker to floor service during the peak, with me covering the bar. I checked the plan against each person's contracted hours, briefed everyone on Friday evening, and put the agency on standby rather than booking them.
RBoth nights ran fully staffed at the peak, Saturday takings were 8% up on the same weekend last year, and we spent nothing on agency cover. My manager adopted the peak-matching rota for future event weekends.
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
- Gathers evidence before deciding (booking data, last year's takings, costs) rather than guessing, which is exactly what the AO descriptor asks for.
- Weighs clear options against budget and risk, then chooses a combined, practical solution within own authority.
- Ends with a measured result (8% takings increase, zero agency spend) and shows the decision was adopted by the manager.
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
- Describing a decision your manager made while you watched, so the assessor cannot see your own judgement.
- Jumping straight from the problem to what you did, with no evidence of the facts or options you considered.
- Choosing a trivial decision, like what time to take lunch, that carries no real consequence or trade-off.
Frequently asked questions
A decision you made yourself, within clear authority, where you checked facts and rules first. Good examples include settling a refund edge case, reorganising cover when someone was off sick, or choosing which task to prioritise when two deadlines clashed. The decision should have a real consequence and a result you can put a number on.
Yes, but briefly. One or two sentences naming the options you weighed and why you rejected them is enough at AO. Assessors score higher when they can see a choice was made, not just an action taken. A decision with no alternatives looks like following instructions, not making a decision.
Yes, if you did the thinking first. A strong AO statement shows you gathered the facts, formed a view, and then checked it or escalated because the decision sat outside your authority. Asking for sign-off after sound reasoning shows judgement. Asking because you had no idea shows the opposite.
Next step
Get the free AO statement template pack — the same STAR structure used in this example.
Download the template pack