Are you applying for a job in the Civil Service and told that you will be assessed on the behaviour Developing Self and Others? Wondering what this actually means and looking for example and sample answers?

This is another of the 9 core Civil Service behaviours and applies to all levels. In this post we take you through a short introduction and we outline what it means in practice. You will discover some Developing Self and Others interview questions and learn how to answer successfully plus you get a sample STAR statement of 250 words.

Introduction to the Developing Self and Others Service Behaviour

Developing Self and Others means taking responsibility for your own learning while supporting the growth of colleagues.

The Formal Civil Service Definition of Developing Self and Others is:

Focus on continuous learning and development for self, others and the organisation as a whole.

It involves seeking feedback, sharing knowledge, and creating opportunities for improvement. By reflecting on your performance and encouraging others to do the same, you help build a skilled, confident, and high-performing team.

What Does Developing Self and Others Mean?

Developing Self and Others means identifying areas where your skills or knowledge could improve and taking steps to address them. It’s about owning your personal development, using feedback from colleagues or appraisals to grow, and actively sharing what you’ve learned to support the growth of your team.

It is sometimes referred to as Empowering Others and for senior posts, in addition to the above, it is about helping your team to develop their skills to seek learning opportunities and to support the development plans of all colleagues.

Put into simple terms, Developing Self and Others means:

• Looking for gaps in your skills and knowledge and making plans to overcome these gaps.
• Taking responsibility for your own development, acting on feedback from colleagues or appraisals and indeed sharing your learning with others in your team.
• For senior posts, in addition to the above, it is about helping your teams to develop their skills to seek learning opportunities and to support the development plans of all colleagues.

Developing Self and Others Interview Questions

Here are a small selection of competency based interview questions related to Developing Self and Others taken from the InterviewGold online training system.

How would you answer?

• Tell me about a time when you were not satisfied with your own performance. What did you do about it? (Get answers)
• Describe a time when you helped a colleague improve their work effectiveness. (Get answers)
• Tell us about a time when you enabled a team member to develop a new skill. (Get answers)
• Can you describe a time when you have had to deal with poor performance and the approach you took to resolve it? (Get answers)
• Can you describe a time when you recognised a learning need in your team before it became an issue? How did you address it? (Get answers)
• Have you ever helped a colleague or team adapt to a change by developing their skills? What approach did you take and why? (Get answers)

How to Answer Developing Self and Others Interview Questions

What is required is a strong and relevant example clearly showing that you possess this skill. We look at ways to demonstrate Delivering at Pace below however first here are some tips to help you formulate a winning answer.

• Choose a Strong Relevant Example: Make sure it is complex enough and shows clearly that you do in fact bring this skill.
• Use the STAR Formula: To effectively communicate your strengths and behaviours in your example, use the STAR or IPAR structure, making sure you outline the situation or context and the action you took, as well as a result.
• Show Correct Positive Behaviours: You must show the correct positive behaviours relevant to the role and your level. For Developing Self and Others these include: proactive learning and reflection, openness to feedback, willingness to help others learn, creating or using development opportunities.
• Relevant Civil Service Strengths: Refer to the Civil Service strengths dictionary too as they will listen and score you as they hear these being shown also. Relevant strengths include being an enabler, a learner and an explainer.

Developing Self and Others Examples for Inspiration

You will be assessed in a number of ways including by giving an example on your application and again by answering questions in your interview.

The panel will be looking for answers that include evidence and examples of times when you have actively sought to develop your own skills and encouraged and helped others to expand their knowledge.

So what sort of examples of Developing Self and others can you talk about? Here are some ideas to get you started.

For example, can you recall times where you have done the following:

• Identified ways to develop yourself, completing all in house training, perhaps requesting additional training courses or other on the job learning.
• Reviewed your performance to make sure output was up to standard.
• Made a mistake and learnt from it.
• Take on a new system was introduced and used this as an opportunity to improve your skills perhaps by taking on a course in your own time
• Have you offered to train your colleagues and shared your knowledge of some task or project
• As a senior staff member, have you ever identified high-potential team members and created a mentoring programme to support their development.
• Introduced regular meetings or formal or informal sessions to allow knowledge transfer and skills sharing within your team or with other departments.

How to Write Your Sample Developing Self and Others 250 Word Statement

To score high whether in your interview or with your statement on your application the key is to choose a string relevant and complex example to describe.

Here is how to write a top scoring Developing Self and Others example using the STAR method. Please note these tips apply to any length from 250 words up to 750 and over.

Get expert statements and answers TAILOR MADE for you and your achievement, task or project – covering all Civil Service levels from AA/AO right up to G6.

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