Administrative Assistant (AA) – Making Effective Decisions Behaviour Statements

What is Making Effective Decisions?

Making Effective Decisions is about using the right information before deciding what to do.

For an Administrative Assistant role, this usually means following guidance, checking details, spotting missing information, asking colleagues when needed, and making sensible decisions within your level of responsibility.

At AA level, your decisions are usually practical. You may decide whether information is complete, whether a case needs to be passed on, what advice to give a customer, what record needs updating, or what step to take in a process.

A strong AA Making Effective Decisions example should show that you took care before acting. The assessor wants to see that you checked the facts, used the right guidance, understood who may be affected, and asked for clarification when something was unclear.

The best answers show a clear decision path. You gathered information, checked for gaps, considered the impact, and took a sensible action.

What are the criteria at AA level?

The scoring guide for AA Making Effective Decisions has 5 key criteria.

Your statement should show that you can:

“use guidance, analyse relevant information and ask colleagues for input to support decision making”

“identify and deal with any errors or gaps in information before making a decision”

“consider the diverse needs of those affected by decisions and how it will impact them”

“provide advice and feedback to support others in making accurate decisions”

“ask others to clarify decisions when confused and query any issues that arise constructively”

To hit the first point, show that you used the right guidance and checked the information before deciding. At AA level, this could involve process notes, system records, customer information, policy guidance, a checklist, or advice from a colleague.

To hit the second point, show that you spotted something missing, unclear, duplicated, or incorrect. A strong answer should explain how you dealt with that gap before moving forward.

To hit the third point, show that you thought about who the decision affected. This could include customers with different needs, colleagues relying on your update, people with limited access to digital services, or someone who needed clearer communication.

To hit the fourth point, show that your advice helped someone else make the right decision. This could be a colleague, customer, team member, volunteer, or another department.

To hit the fifth point, show that you asked for clarification properly when something was unclear. This is important because good decision-making at AA level includes knowing when to check rather than guessing.

A high-scoring answer should show careful judgement, not just speed.

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 decision needed to be made, and why it mattered.

The task should explain your responsibility. For Making Effective Decisions, this should make clear what you needed to check, decide, advise on, or pass forward.

The action section should be the strongest part of the statement. Explain what information you used, what guidance you checked, what gaps or errors you found, who you asked for input, and how you considered the people affected by the decision.

The result should explain what happened because of your actions. Keep it practical. A good AA result might show that the correct decision was made, an error was avoided, a customer received accurate advice, a colleague was supported, or a process moved forward properly.

For Making Effective Decisions, make sure your answer shows your thinking. The assessor should be able to see how you reached the decision, not just what decision you made.

Subscribers can unlock guidance on how to turn the official criteria into a high-scoring AA decision-making statement, plus three full Making Effective Decisions example statements written around the AA-level scoring guide.

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