Civil Service behaviour: Developing Self and Others (with STAR example)

Updated · By the Tick the Spec team

Developing Self and Others is the Civil Service behaviour about learning and helping others learn. A strong example shows you identified a gap in your own or your team's skills, did something specific to close it, and can show the effect on the work. At entry grades, examples about your own development and sharing what you learned are fine; at EO and above, assessors expect you to support colleagues' development too, and from HEO upwards to coach, mentor and plan for the team's future capability in an inclusive way.

A note on changes (November 2026)

In July 2026 the Civil Service announced it will scrap Success Profiles in favour of a model that emphasises skills and expertise. At the time of writing we could not find a published replacement on GOV.UK, and many adverts still ask for behaviours. Follow the advert you are applying for, and see what the change means for applicants.

What assessors look for, by grade

These summaries paraphrase the GOV.UK behaviour indicators. Read the full list for your grade before you choose an example.

  • AA/AO: identifying gaps in your skills and knowledge and planning how to develop them; taking time to achieve development objectives; acting on feedback; sharing what you learn with colleagues.
  • EO: identifying gaps in your own and the team's skills; setting and meeting development objectives; seeking learning opportunities; supporting colleagues' development plans and recognising how diverse experience strengthens the team; delegating to help others learn; inviting feedback.
  • HEO/SEO: identifying capability gaps for yourself and your team; making sure development objectives are set and achieved for current and future work; coaching and mentoring to support succession planning; respecting different personal needs; reflecting and acting on feedback to improve your own and the team's performance.
  • Grade 7 and above: building capability across a wider area, creating a learning culture and developing future leaders.

Step by step

  1. Name the gap and how you identified it: feedback, an error, a new responsibility, a team skills review.
  2. Show what you did: a course is fine, but practice, coaching, shadowing and applying the learning score better.
  3. Show others benefiting, especially at EO and above: training a colleague, delegating a stretch task, mentoring.
  4. Show the effect on the work: fewer errors, faster turnaround, a colleague now working independently.
  5. Show inclusion: adapting how you support people with different needs or backgrounds.
  6. Use STAR within the word limit. See STAR method examples.

Worked example (fictional, HEO level)

This is an invented example. The applicant, organisation and figures are fictional. About 250 words.

Situation. I manage three caseworkers in a regulator's complaints team. Our quality checks showed that decision letters were often returned for rework because they did not explain our reasoning clearly, and only I and one other colleague were confident drafting complex cases.

Task. I needed to build the team's skills so that complex cases did not depend on two people, and to reduce rework.

Action. I asked each caseworker to rate their own confidence on five types of case and compared this with the quality check results, which showed the main gap was explaining reasoning. I agreed an individual development objective with each person. I ran three short writing sessions using anonymised past letters, then paired each caseworker with a complex case, coaching them through the first draft rather than rewriting it. One colleague, who is dyslexic, preferred to talk through her reasoning first, so we used a short recorded discussion before she drafted, and I arranged assistive software through our workplace adjustments process. I also asked the team for feedback on my own coaching every month and changed the format of the sessions after their comments.

Result. Within four months, rework on decision letters fell from about one in three to one in ten, and all three caseworkers now handle complex cases independently. Two of them have since mentored new starters, and our team approach was added to the directorate's induction.

How behaviour statements are scored

Many departments score each behaviour on a scale such as 1 to 7, and the candidate pack will say if there is a minimum score or a "lead" behaviour used for an initial sift. Statements are usually read without your name, and text over the word limit may be ignored.

Other examples that can work

  • Teaching yourself a new skill (such as data analysis) and using it to improve a piece of work
  • Creating guidance or a buddy system for new starters
  • Delegating a stretch task and supporting a colleague to succeed in it
  • Acting on difficult feedback and showing how your practice changed
  • Mentoring or coaching through a formal scheme, with a clear outcome

Common mistakes

  • A list of courses with no effect on the work.
  • Only your own development at EO and above, where developing others is expected.
  • Vague outcomes like "the team became more skilled".
  • Ignoring inclusion and different needs, which the indicators mention.
  • Claiming a colleague's progress was all down to you.

Tick the Spec reads the Civil Service advert, lists what it assesses, and shows which of your experiences cover each behaviour, free. See also Leadership and Working Together.

Sources

All guides