Effective teamwork skills is essential in nearly every government job. This is why you’ll often see teamwork skills as a selection criterion you need to respond to in your government application. These 7 teamwork selection criteria examples will help you understand what sort of information you should include in your own response.

Individual applications differ in how the specific selection criteria is written. The 7 examples below have been written for these variations:

1. Demonstrated ability to work effectively within a team.
2. Skills in building and maintaining strong team relationships.
3. Willingness to share knowledge and support colleagues.
4. Ability to mediate conflicts and maintain team cohesion.
5. Experience working in cross-functional teams.
6. Skills in facilitating productive team discussions.
7. Ability to adapt roles within a team to achieve objectives.

Teamwork Selection Criteria Examples in the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) Format

1. Demonstrated ability to work effectively within a team.

Having spent three years as part of a product development team at Delta Innovations, I regularly collaborated with colleagues from engineering, marketing, and UX design. During one major product launch, our group struggled with last-minute packaging changes requested by an overseas supplier. To ensure the team functioned smoothly, I convened an early-morning huddle to clarify everyone’s updated responsibilities. I personally reorganised the shared project board to detail each individual’s timeline and deliverables, then checked in with the designers to confirm they had the revised dimensions before passing them to marketing for updated promotional materials. Within three days, we aligned on a cohesive action plan and met the shipping deadline without errors. In future roles, I will similarly ensure all team members understand their specific tasks, timelines, and communication channels, maintaining close coordination so the entire group can operate efficiently and confidently.

2. Skills in building and maintaining strong team relationships.

Over two years in the customer insights unit at Horizon Retail, I proactively built and strengthened relationships with new team members by introducing weekly informal coffee chats and rotating mentorship pairs. In one instance, a junior data analyst seemed hesitant to ask for help when interpreting complex survey data. To address this, I scheduled a brief peer-learning session where our experienced statisticians could walk through common analysis pitfalls, encouraging open questions and shared note-taking. As a result, the junior analyst felt more comfortable collaborating, and overall trust grew between team members. Moving forward, I will continue to establish these small but meaningful touchpoints, ensuring that each colleague feels supported, valued, and connected, which ultimately enhances the team’s synergy and long-term success.

3. Willingness to share knowledge and support colleagues.

While working as a knowledge manager at Apex Consulting, I noticed that some colleagues, especially new hires, struggled to find updated client engagement templates and best practice guidelines. To tackle this, I developed a centralized wiki page with clear sections for common documents, tagged frequently requested files, and included a Q&A space. I then held a brief lunchtime “knowledge share” session, demonstrating how to navigate these resources and offering to personally assist anyone who needed guidance. After a month, the internal survey showed a 40% decrease in time spent searching for information, and new consultants reported feeling more empowered. In my next role, I will actively share resources, guide colleagues through unfamiliar processes, and encourage an environment where freely exchanging information is the norm.

4. Ability to mediate conflicts and maintain team cohesion.

During my tenure as a team lead on an IT project at Orion Systems, two senior developers disagreed on the best approach to integrate a new API. This friction began to affect the entire team’s morale. I set up a private, structured meeting where both developers could present their viewpoints, and I facilitated a guided conversation that focused on factual data, performance benchmarks, and potential implementation timelines rather than personal preferences. By steering them to discuss each option’s long-term maintainability, we reached a compromise that incorporated the strongest elements from both proposals. The project not only proceeded smoothly, but the developers also reported feeling more respected. In future roles, I will mediate conflicts quickly and fairly, creating a safe space to voice concerns and preserving team cohesion despite differing opinions.

5. Experience working in cross-functional teams.

In my previous position at BioWare Labs, I contributed to a cross-functional task force combining researchers, financial analysts, product engineers, and external academic partners to develop a new probiotic line. We needed to integrate cost models, ingredient constraints, and marketing viability into a single framework. I coordinated with the finance lead to translate R&D requirements into budget estimates and organised shared spreadsheets where all stakeholders could review and update data. By ensuring everyone understood the interdependencies, we launched the product within budget and four weeks ahead of schedule. In future roles, I will employ a similar approach—actively listening to each specialty area, translating their insights into actionable plans, and ensuring the entire team remains synchronised.

6. Skills in facilitating productive team discussions.

While serving as a facilitator in a strategic planning workshop at Zenith Software, I observed that our weekly team discussions were often dominated by a few voices, leaving quieter members unheard. In response, I introduced a structured agenda with allocated time slots for each person to present their ideas, incorporated round-robin feedback sessions, and used a visual collaboration tool where everyone could post suggestions anonymously before we discussed them. The more balanced participation resulted in a broader range of innovative solutions, and the final strategy included contributions from every team member. In future settings, I will continue to design discussion formats that give equal weight to all voices, ensuring that productivity and engagement remain high.

7. Ability to adapt roles within a team to achieve objectives.

At Nova Logistics, I was originally hired as a data analyst but soon recognized that our urgent client deadlines required more hands-on project coordination. With the team’s agreement, I temporarily shifted into a project support role, handling scheduling and progress tracking so our analysts could focus on their core tasks. I learned enough about the workflow tools to step in seamlessly, and within a month we had reduced report delivery times by 15%. As I move forward, I will remain ready to adjust my role based on the team’s current challenges, confident that flexibility is often key to meeting objectives and ensuring project success.

Tips for Writing Your Own Response:

• Carefully review length guidelines, and ensure the correct wordcount. Sometimes you may need more than one example to ensure the length guidelines are met.
• Use the STAR format to format your response (Situation, Task, Action and Result).
• Use examples from jobs/ tasks at a higher level than the role you are applying for where possible. For example, if you have acted in higher roles, consider examples from during this time.
• Make sure you address all aspects of the question. I.e. if a criterion references both building and maintaining relationships, you need to address both parts of this.
• Make sure your examples match the role you are applying for, and include similar tasks/ duties.

We hope these teamwork selection criteria examples have been helpful. If you would like further assistance with writing your application, please get in touch, our selection criteria writers are available to assist.