Civil Service Delivering at Pace Behaviour Guide
Delivering at Pace is often read as working quickly, but the official wording is about getting the right outcomes on time and to a high standard, within the rules. It is scored against the descriptor for your target grade, which shifts from managing your own work to setting direction for a department. This guide explains what the behaviour asks for in plain words, how it changes from AA/AO to Director General, what strong evidence looks like, common mistakes, how to use STAR or STARR, and where strengths fit.
What does Delivering at Pace really ask for?
Three things recur. You keep focus on the outcome and take responsibility for the quality of what is produced. You follow the relevant policies, procedures and legislation rather than cutting corners to go faster. And you keep other people informed or supported so that work stays on track.
Pace and quality are meant to sit together. A story about a deadline met by skipping checks does not fit the descriptor at any grade, and neither does a heroic week with no sign of planning.
How does the expectation change from AA/AO to Director General?
The change is from delivering your own work, to making delivery possible for others, to setting the direction in which a whole department delivers.
- AA/AO. You work with focus and pace to finish on time and to a high standard, follow the rules that apply, take responsibility for quality, and keep managers and stakeholders updated.
- EO. You review team activities to find barriers, set clear goals and responsibilities, assess workloads with individual needs in mind, make sure colleagues have the tools they need, check performance against objectives and take corrective action.
- HEO and SEO. You keep the whole team focused on top priorities, promote the right procedures while still allowing innovation, monitor work against milestones, reassess workloads promptly when demands conflict, and give people space and authority to deliver while you keep overall responsibility.
- Grade 7 and Grade 6. You make sure everyone understands and owns their role and priorities, give honest and motivating messages about expectations, comply with legal, regulatory and security requirements, and set clear processes and standards for managing performance.
- Deputy Director (SCS1). You translate strategic priorities into clear, outcome-focused objectives for managers and teams, promote resilience and responsiveness, deliver against your own objectives while making sure others own theirs, and give people credit for staying focused on priorities while responding quickly to change.
- Director and Director General (SCS2 and SCS3). You set and maintain a clear direction for the department with highly focused priorities, build structures, systems and resources that promote efficient delivery, adjust priorities swiftly as situations change, and drive a performance culture that gives teams space and authority while holding them accountable for outcomes.
What does strong written evidence look like?
Each example below is illustrative only. Replace it with your own genuine work.
Example at EO level. "Our team had three deadlines in one week and two colleagues were off sick. I reviewed the workload, agreed priorities with my manager, reallocated tasks by skills and capacity, and arranged a short daily check-in. I took on the most complex case myself. All three deadlines were met."
Example at HEO level. "I led a team of six delivering a quarterly return with conflicting requests from two directorates. I set milestones, reassessed priorities with both stakeholders when the scope grew, and gave one team member authority to run the data checks while I stayed accountable for the final sign-off. The return was submitted on time with no queries on accuracy."
Example at SCS1 level. "A new policy meant three delivery teams had to change how they worked within six months. I turned the ministerial priority into three outcome-based objectives, agreed them with each team lead, and reviewed progress monthly. When demand rose, I moved resource between teams. Each lead owned their plan and all three went live on schedule."
What mistakes do applicants make?
The usual error is the right behaviour at the wrong level. At HEO or above, an example about personally working harder is an AA/AO answer, because the descriptor looks for you to keep a team on priorities and reassess. At SCS level, running one team well reads as Grade 6 evidence, because the descriptor looks for direction across the department.
- Team actions instead of your own. "We hit the deadline" hides what you contributed.
- Duties instead of outcomes. "I am responsible for monthly reporting" is a job description.
- Speed without standards. If you skipped procedures, the example works against you.
- Heroics. Long hours are not delivery. Show planning.
- No result. State what was delivered, by when, and to what standard.
How do you present your evidence in writing and at interview?
STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action and Result, and STARR adds Reflection. Choose a real example that fits the grade you are applying for. Describe the deadline or obstacle, what you were accountable for, the choices you made yourself and the outcome against the original target. Use "I", not "we".
Reflection, the second R in STARR, is expected from SEO upwards. It is valuable here, because you can say what you would plan differently next time, perhaps to spot the risk earlier.
At interview, a behaviour answer runs around five minutes spoken, so pick an example with enough substance to fill that time honestly.
Strengths are a separate part of Success Profiles. They are not named in adverts, and they are assessed mainly at interview through short questions where a genuine answer counts. You can use experiences from outside work. Prepare by remembering real moments rather than rehearsing a script.
Where Koda fits
Koda helps you apply this to your own experience. It works from your real evidence and matches it to the role and grade you are applying for, with nothing invented. You stay in control of every word.
Frequently asked questions
Does delivering at pace mean working long hours?›
No. The descriptors are about focus, planning, prioritising and keeping standards, not hours. Evidence that you reassessed priorities, supported colleagues and kept to procedures is stronger than evidence that you worked late.
Can I use a project that ran late?›
Yes, if it is honest and shows the behaviour. Explain what you did to limit the delay, how you reset priorities and what the outcome was. Reflection matters here, as panels can see how you learned and what you changed afterwards.
How is this different from Managing a Quality Service?›
Delivering at Pace centres on getting work done on time, to standard and within the rules, and at higher grades enabling others to do so. Managing a Quality Service centres on understanding customers and designing or improving the service they receive.
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Official framework reference: Success Profiles on GOV.UK. Grade requirements and processes vary by campaign, so always follow the specific vacancy advert.