Does a formal qualification make a better example?

Not necessarily. Self-directed learning with a clear impact on your work is often stronger than a course with no visible result.

Can I write about developing myself only?

At junior grades, yes, though sharing what you learned with others makes it stronger. At HEO and above, include developing others.

Developing Self and Others: Civil Service behaviour examples and how to write yours

Updated 2 November 2026 · 3 min read

Developing Self and Others is about continuous learning: improving your own skills, and helping the people around you improve theirs. The best examples show a specific gap you noticed, the steps you took to close it, and how the new skill changed your work or someone else's.

Developing Self and Others is one of the nine behaviours in the Civil Service Success Profiles. If a job advert lists it, you'll usually write a behaviour statement for it at application, often up to 250 words, and may be asked about it again at interview. Our guide to behaviour statements covers how they're scored; this page goes deep on Developing Self and Others alone.

What assessors look for

You identified something you, or someone else, needed to learn.
You took practical steps to learn it, beyond waiting to be sent on a course.
You shared what you learned or helped others develop.
You can show the difference the learning made.

How it changes with grade

Every behaviour is described at several levels, roughly: AA and AO, then EO, then HEO and SEO, then Grade 7 and Grade 6, then the Senior Civil Service. At AO and EO, it's mostly about your own development and sharing knowledge with colleagues. At HEO and SEO, expect to show you supported other people's development, such as coaching or mentoring. At Grade 7 and above, it's about building a learning culture and developing talent across teams. Always read the indicators for the level on your advert, on the Civil Service Careers website, and use them as a checklist.

How the question is usually worded

Please provide a behaviour statement for Developing Self and Others.
Tell us about a time you learned a new skill to improve your work.
Describe how you have helped a colleague develop.

An example statement

Example · Example at EO level (around 220 words)“Please provide a behaviour statement for Developing Self and Others.”

In my team, monthly performance reports were built by hand in spreadsheets, which took me two days each month and often contained copying errors. I realised that learning to use our reporting software properly would save time and improve accuracy. I asked my manager if I could spend an hour a week on the software's free online training, and she agreed. Over six weeks, I worked through the modules, then practised by rebuilding last quarter's reports and checking them against the originals. Once I was confident, I built a report template that pulled the data in automatically. I wrote a short step-by-step guide, and ran two 30-minute sessions to show three colleagues how to use it. One colleague found the software hard, so I sat with her while she built her first report on her own. The monthly report now takes two hours instead of two days, and we haven't had a copying error since. Two of the colleagues I trained now build their own reports, and one has since improved the template further. I've set myself a goal to learn the software's forecasting features next.

Why it works

Spots a real skills gap and takes initiative to close it
Learns in a structured, practical way
Helps others develop, including someone who found it hard
Shows the difference it made, and what's next

Use an example from your own work, volunteering or study. Assessors read a lot of statements and can spot borrowed ones. The structure above is what to copy, not the story.

Common mistakes

Listing courses attended without saying how they changed your work.
Only covering your own learning when the grade expects you to develop others too.
Forgetting to say what you'll learn next; continuous development is the point.

Once your Developing Self and Others statement is strong, save it. The same behaviour comes up again and again across departments, so next time you'll adapt it for the grade and role instead of starting from a blank page. See the STAR method for the structure behind every good statement.

Frequently asked questions

Does a formal qualification make a better example?: Not necessarily. Self-directed learning with a clear impact on your work is often stronger than a course with no visible result.
Can I write about developing myself only?: At junior grades, yes, though sharing what you learned with others makes it stronger. At HEO and above, include developing others.