Changing and Improving is another of the 9 Civil Service behaviours and is a very common requirement for many different jobs. This is a core competency which relates not just to senior positions, but is relevant for all staff.

In so many competency interviews we see candidates struggle with answering questions about Changing and Improving and fail to score well. In this post we talk you through what this behavior means and we list common Changing and Improving interview questions with examples plus show you how to answer successfully.

Introduction to the Changing and Improving Civil Service Behaviour

So, the formal definition of Changing and Improving is:

Seek out opportunities to create effective change and suggest innovative ideas for improvement.

Put into simple terms:

• Changing and Improving involves using your initiative to look for more efficient and better ways to complete the work and taking steps to make the change happen.
• It is all about being adaptable, flexible, open to and accepting of change being done to you and your area of work. It also includes the concept of continuously learning and developing and dealing with change efficiently.
• For all staff, review better ways of working, including seeking and providing feedback.
• For senior posts it involves introducing, initiating and delivering change which results in improvements which can include efficiency or financial savings.

What Does Changing and Improving Mean?

Changing and Improving is something we do all the time, even in our personal and out of work lives.

Every time you think of a better way to do something, or do it faster or in a more efficient way you have demonstrated the Changing and Improving skill. For example, you come up with a better way to prepare your favourite recipe, or you discover a new route to get some where faster or as simple as implementing a new way to store your clothes in your wardrobe.

• At work, for all staff, Changing and Implementing means being able to reflect on your work and tasks and think about ways that you can do them better. It requires that you take the initiative to suggest changes to your manager and following through.
• At a senior level such as SEO or HEO we would expect to see an ability to work with others to make changes, to use the resources and technology to implement those changes.
• At G6/G7 its all about encouraging your team to suggest and initiate improvements plus you would be expected to have been involved in a major change or business reengineering project perhaps even leading that project.

How Will They Assess Changing and Improving?

The behaviours that you will be tested on will be shown on the job description and interview invite and there will usually be between three to six of these. If Changing and Improving is one of the behaviours required in the role, then both on your application and in your interview they will assess and score your answers accordingly.

On the application they will ask for you to demonstrate this behaviours and this may form part of a personal or suitability statement or they may ask for a separate behaviour statement of say 250 words just about this behaviour.

In the interview you will be asked competency based questions to test that you can demonstrate previous and relevant experience at the appropriate level and your answers will be noted and scored.

Changing and Improving Interview Questions

Here is a small selection of competency based interview questions related to Changing and Improving taken from the InterviewGold online system.

How would you answer?

• Talk us through a recent situation when you had to deal with change.
• Describe a time when you improved the way you work – perhaps found a way to do a task more efficiently.
• Can you give an example of a time when you identified an area for improvement in your team or workplace? What did you do?
• Tell us about a new product, process or service you devised and implemented in your work.
• Tell me about a time when you had to adapt to a new system, process, or way of working. How did you manage the change?
• Describe a situation where you initiated and then delivered a major improvement to a service or process. What challenges did you encounter and how did you overcome them?

How Can I Demonstrate Changing and Improving?

In your day to day work there are always opportunities for improvement and here are some areas where it can be demonstrated. All of this can be used to feed into your answers whether on the application form or in the interview.

Here are some ways you can demonstrate effectiveness with Changing and Improving.

• Initiative: Describe when you have thought of a better way to complete a task or project and what process did you follow to get that change made. How did you follow through to make sure it was a success? Perhaps you monitored results, encouraged your colleagues and helped them make the changes required.
• Awareness: Show that you are constantly aware of how you work and considering how you can get your job done more efficiently.
• Learning: In your examples, show learning from a task or project and seeing what has worked well and what has not gone according to plan.
• Innovation: For managers and indeed all staff, changing and improving is about encouraging innovation among others in the workplace.
• Collaboration: Demonstrate how you have worked with colleagues or your team so as to make sure the change was successfully implemented.

Learn more about how InterviewGold can help you breeze through your Civil Service applications and interviews and get the job you want. 

Changing and Improving Examples For Inspiration

All aspects of work can be improved upon in some way and being able to identify these changes and improvements is a skill that prospective employers and interviewers will look for.

Similarly, being able to adapt to change is vital and in your answer, you will need to choose a strong and relevant example which demonstrates these skills. A strong high scoring response will have relevant examples which are sufficiently complex for your level.

Here are some Changing and Improving examples for you to consider when choosing what to talk about.

• Have you discovered a better way to do something, perhaps a faster or more effective way to get it done? Did you save time or money or both?
• Perhaps you have an example where you identified an issue and then came up with a great solution. Did you bring it to your manager manager and persuaded them to take it forward.
• Did your manager ask you to take on a new task? Can you show that you accepted it with full responsibility and enthusiasm?
• Have you had to quickly adapt to new ideas or ways of working? Maybe your working environment or location altered and you performed efficiently throughout the change?
• As a manager, perhaps you initiated and implemented major transformation programmes right across departments or organisations?