AO Seeing the Big Picture Behaviour Statements

AO Application Help Seeing the Big Picture Behaviour Statements
AO behaviour statements
Make Seeing the Big Picture visible through specific AO-level actions
Seeing the Big Picture is about understanding why your work matters beyond the immediate task. This guide translates the official AA/AO points into practical evidence and shows how to build a complete statement without inflating the level of responsibility.

Use the AO Behaviour Statements hub for the complete set of behaviour guides. The matching AO Seeing the Big Picture Interview Questions page shows how the same criteria can be tested through spoken questions and follow-ups.

What is Seeing the Big Picture?

Seeing the Big Picture is about understanding why your work matters beyond the immediate task. For an AO role, this usually means connecting your responsibilities to team priorities, considering different people affected and using information from more than one source.

At AO level, the behaviour is often demonstrated through practical situations such as adjusting a routine task to support a deadline, checking how information affects different users, gathering external guidance or explaining how accurate administration supports a wider service. A strong answer keeps the example grounded in AO responsibility while making the wider purpose and impact explicit.

What are the criteria at AO level?

The official AA and AO behaviour guide lists 3 points for Seeing the Big Picture. Quote them exactly in your planning notes and make each point visible through evidence.

1
“understand what your responsibilities are and how these contribute to the priorities of your team”
2
“consider the varied impact your work could have on individuals with different needs and from other backgrounds”
3
“gather information from both inside and outside of the organisation to inform your area of work”

What each criterion means in practice

1
Connect your responsibilities to team priorities
Explain the wider outcome your task supports, such as safe appointments, timely payments, accurate reporting or public access.
2
Consider varied impact
Think about people with different access needs, backgrounds, confidence, language or circumstances.
3
Gather information from inside and outside
Use internal records and guidance alongside customer feedback, partner information, public guidance or another relevant external source.

How to structure your statement

Use Situation, Task, Action and Result as a private writing structure. Do not add the labels to the final application unless the vacancy specifically asks for them. Keep the opening short and reserve most of the word count for your personal actions.

A practical 250-word balance
PartSuggested spaceWhat to include for Seeing the Big Picture
Situation25 to 40 wordsThe setting, people involved and the issue that made the behaviour relevant.
Task25 to 35 wordsYour own responsibility and the outcome you needed to achieve.
Action130 to 160 wordsThe criterion-linked steps, decisions, checks, communication and reasons for your approach.
Result30 to 45 wordsThe practical outcome and any useful improvement that followed.
Weak evidence
I understood that my work was important to the organisation.
Stronger evidence
I linked reminder accuracy to missed clinical appointments, compared internal records with accessibility guidance and changed the communication method for patients with different needs.
Subscribers can unlock the full AO Seeing the Big Picture scoring method below, followed by three complete example statements close to 250 words, detailed explanations of why each example works and a final checklist for adapting your own evidence.

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