Developing Self and Others is about improving capability in a deliberate way. Training courses can be part of the story, but the behaviour is much broader than sending somebody on a course or completing your own mandatory learning.
A good example shows that you recognised a real development need, chose a useful way to address it and checked whether the person became more capable afterwards. That person might be you, a colleague, a direct report or a wider team.
As responsibility increases, the focus moves from your own learning and informal support into coaching, delegation, future capability and creating fair access to development across teams.
Writing an application? Go to the Developing Self and Others 250-word statement guide.
Preparing for interview? Go to Developing Self and Others interview questions and answers.
How this fits the Civil Service Success Profiles
Developing Self and Others progresses through Success Profiles from acting on feedback and sharing learning to building future capability across teams and the wider organisation.
At AA/AO: Recognise your own learning gaps, act on feedback, make time to develop and share what you learn with colleagues. At EO: Identify development needs across yourself and the team, support learning plans, use delegation to build capability and listen to developmental feedback.
At HEO/SEO: Plan for current and future capability, coach and mentor colleagues, adapt development to individual needs and use feedback to improve team performance. At Grade 6/7: Role-model continuous development, build capability for future objectives, widen access to learning and use lessons from teams to improve organisational plans and processes.
When you are choosing evidence, keep the official Civil Service Success Profiles behaviour guidance beside the vacancy so the level stays grounded.
Development should change what somebody can do
A weak example often ends with the learning activity: “I arranged training.” The useful question is what changed after the training and why that method was the right one.
Imagine a team is taking over a monthly report from a specialist unit. Some colleagues are confident with the data but not with explaining it; others understand the business context but are less comfortable with the tools. Sending everybody to the same generic course would be easy, but it would not address the actual gaps.
A stronger approach identifies what each person needs, uses real work as practice and gradually transfers ownership until the team can deliver without the specialist.
What strong evidence usually contains
Good evidence often includes diagnosis, not just support. How did you know what needed developing? Feedback, observation, performance data, a new responsibility or the person’s own reflection can all provide a credible starting point.
Then show the learning method. Coaching, shadowing, delegation, peer support, formal training and structured feedback all work when they fit the need. The assessor is interested in why you chose the approach and whether it improved capability.
A practical example
Imagine your team is due to take ownership of a monthly performance report from a specialist analyst. Two colleagues can already manipulate the data but rely heavily on the specialist to interpret unusual movements.
Instead of asking the specialist to run one handover session, you agree a short learning plan around the next three reporting cycles. Colleagues rotate through preparation, quality checking and presenting the findings. After each cycle, the specialist gives feedback on one or two specific areas rather than correcting the whole report themselves.
One colleague is particularly nervous about presenting. You rehearse the first update with them, attend the next meeting as support and then step back so they can lead independently.
The development is successful when the team owns the report without the specialist, not when the training calendar is complete.
Using Developing Self and Others in a Civil Service application
In a statement, make the development gap concrete. “They lacked confidence” is vague; explain what they struggled to do and how you knew.
If the story is about developing somebody else, avoid turning it into a rescue story where you quietly keep doing the difficult work. Show how responsibility moved to them.
The statement page uses B-STAR to keep the answer focused on capability rather than producing a list of courses and feedback meetings.
Read the full Developing Self and Others 250-word statement example.
See development evidence pitched at your grade
The grade-specific statement packs cover all nine behaviours with worked examples. They show how development evidence progresses from learning and sharing knowledge into coaching, building capability and creating lasting improvement in others.
Developing Self and Others at interview
Interview questions may ask how you developed yourself, coached somebody, responded to feedback or built capability for future work.
Panels often probe how you adapted support for the individual. Be ready to explain why one person needed a different approach from another and how you knew when to step back.
Read the full Developing Self and Others Civil Service interview questions and answers.
Preparing to discuss development at interview?
The grade-specific interview guides cover all nine behaviours with worked questions and answers at your level, helping you show what changed in somebody's capability rather than simply listing training or feedback activity.
What changes by Civil Service grade?
AA/AO
You receive feedback that your written case notes are unclear. You ask for examples, practise a clearer format, check later work with a colleague and then share what helped with another new starter.
EO
A colleague is ready to take on more responsibility but has not led a regular task before. You delegate it in stages, give specific feedback and reduce your involvement as their confidence and accuracy grow.
HEO/SEO
Your team is taking over a specialist report. You identify different capability gaps, use live reporting cycles for practice and transfer ownership until the team can deliver without specialist dependency.
G6/7
A future programme will require capability the organisation does not currently have at scale. You identify the gap early, create accessible development routes and use lessons from delivery teams to shape the wider workforce plan.
Development is bigger than courses
Formal training can be useful, but many capability gaps are better addressed through real work, coaching, shadowing, feedback or carefully chosen delegation.
The method should fit what the person needs to become better at. If the gap is confidence making decisions, another online module may be less useful than supported ownership of a real decision.
Fair access to development matters
At more senior grades, think about who gets the interesting work and who is repeatedly overlooked. Development opportunities can become unfair when they depend on confidence, proximity to the manager or being the person who always volunteers first.
An example can become stronger if you show how you widened access while still matching opportunities to readiness and support needs.
Common ways candidates weaken this behaviour
Training equals development. Attending a course is activity. Show what the person could do afterwards that they could not do before.
Same support for everyone. Different people may have different gaps even when they are learning the same task.
Taking the work back. If the candidate keeps rescuing the person, the example may show support but not development.
Vague feedback. “I gave regular feedback” is less useful than explaining what changed because of one specific piece of feedback.
No future capability. At senior grades, development should connect to what the team or organisation will need next, not only today’s task.
Choose the route you need
Use this page for the behaviour as a whole. For detailed preparation, go to the Developing Self and Others 250-word statement guide or the Developing Self and Others interview questions and answers.
