United NationsCore Competency

Teamwork — UN competency

Working collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals, and placing team agenda before personal agenda.

What this competency means

Teamwork covers soliciting input by genuinely valuing others' ideas and expertise, willingness to learn from others, and supporting and acting in accordance with the final group decision even when it does not fully reflect one's own position. It also includes sharing credit and accepting joint responsibility for shortcomings.

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Common interview question patterns

Tell us about a time you disagreed with your team's decision.
Describe a situation where a colleague was not delivering their part.
Give an example of when you had to put the team's priorities ahead of your own.

These are illustrative, general questions. Questions asked in an actual interview will depend on the nature and level of the position. PanelPrep · IO can generate questions tailored to the specific vacancy you are applying for, so you can practise against the competencies that matter for your interview.

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Based on the UN Competency Framework

Behavioural indicators

Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals
Solicits input by genuinely valuing others' ideas and expertise; is willing to learn from others
Places team agenda before personal agenda
Supports and acts in accordance with final group decision, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position
Shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team shortcomings

Our interpretation for interview preparation

Behaviours that weaken an answer

Works around the team rather than with it
Continues to relitigate a decision after it has been taken
Claims individual credit for collective results

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What a strong example might demonstrate

Candidates preparing for competency-based interviews can use this competency to think about a team situation with genuine friction. A strong behavioural example would demonstrate how you sought others' input, how you handled the disagreement, and how you supported the final decision.

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How to prepare for questions on this competency

Teamwork is often assessed through disagreement: what happened when the team went a different way, or when a colleague was not contributing.

STAR preparation

Situation — set the context in two sentences: where, when, who was involved.
Task — state precisely what you were responsible for, not what the team was responsible for.
Action — spend most of the answer here, in the first person, showing the indicators above in practice.
Result — quantify the outcome and add what you learned or changed afterwards.

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Common mistakes

Examples where you simply did your own part well
Blaming colleagues for the outcome
Omitting what happened after the disagreement

Real interview questions and model answers

Questions panels use to assess Teamwork, with what they look for and a worked STAR example.

Intermediate · P3

“Describe a situation where you had to work with a difficult colleague to deliver a shared output.”

Why panels ask it

Teamwork is assessed in almost every UN job opening; panels look for collaboration without personalising conflict.

How to answer it

Keep the other person's behaviour factual and non-judgemental. Focus your Action on what you did to re-establish a shared goal, and give a Result that shows the output was delivered.

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Source and attribution

The competency name, category and behavioural concepts on this page are based on United Nations, "UN Competency Development – A Practical Guide". Summaries, interview guidance, question patterns and preparation advice are original PanelPrep · IO content.

Framework version: UN Competency Development – A Practical Guide. Source date: 2010-01-01. Last verified: 2026-08-09.

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