Administrative Assistant – Changing & Improving Behaviour Statements

What is Changing and Improving?

Changing and Improving is about noticing when something could work better and responding well when things change.

For an Administrative Assistant role, this usually means being open to new ways of working, learning new processes, using digital tools properly, and raising issues when something is not working as expected.

At AA level, this does not mean leading major change or redesigning a whole service. It is usually about practical improvement. You may spot a small problem, suggest a better way to complete a task, learn a new system, help a colleague understand a new process, or stay calm when work changes suddenly.

A good AA Changing and Improving example should show that you can adapt, learn, and support change in a sensible way. It should also show that you understand when to ask questions, raise concerns, or get help.

The strongest answers often show that you made work easier, quicker, clearer, safer, or more accurate.

What are the criteria at AA level?

The scoring guide for AA Changing and Improving has 4 key criteria.

Your statement should show that you can:

“review ways of working and suggest improvements, including how to make full use of new digital technologies”

“learn new procedures and help colleagues to do the same”

“query any issues that arise from changes in a suitable way”

“respond in an effective and appropriate manner when emergencies arise”

To hit the first point, show that you looked at how work was being done and noticed something that could be improved. This could involve using a spreadsheet, shared tracker, online form, template, inbox rule, digital checklist, or another tool to make the work more accurate or easier to manage.

To hit the second point, show that you learned a new process and helped someone else understand it. At AA level, this could be as simple as showing a colleague how to use a new system, explaining a changed step in a process, or sharing a quick note so the team followed the same approach.

To hit the third point, show that you raised a problem in the right way. You do not need to challenge senior managers. You need to show that you noticed an issue, checked it properly, and asked the right person for guidance.

To hit the fourth point, show that you responded calmly when something urgent happened. This could be a system issue, customer problem, missed deadline, staffing gap, or sudden change in workload.

A high-scoring answer should show that you can adapt without panicking, learn quickly, and support small improvements that help the team work better.

How to structure your statement

Use a simple structure:

Situation
Task
Action
Result

For a 250-word AA behaviour statement, keep the situation short. Explain where you were, what changed, and why the issue mattered.

The task should explain what you needed to do. For Changing and Improving, this should include the improvement, new procedure, issue, or urgent situation you were dealing with.

The action section should be the strongest part of the statement. Explain what you personally did and show how you responded to change. This could include learning a new process, suggesting a better way to complete a task, using a digital tool, asking a sensible question, helping a colleague, or staying calm during an urgent issue.

The result should explain what improved because of your actions. Keep it practical. A good AA result might show that work became quicker, records became more accurate, colleagues understood the new process, customers received better support, or an urgent issue was handled properly.

For Changing and Improving, make sure your answer shows action. The assessor needs to see that you responded to change in a useful way.

Subscribers can unlock the best advice to scoring a 7 every time PLUS three AA Changing and Improving example statements, including a digital improvement example, a new procedure example, and an emergency response example written around the AA-level scoring criteria.