Developing Self and Others: Civil Service Behaviour Examples
What Developing Self and Others assesses, how to evidence personal CPD and coaching of colleagues, and worked examples.
**TL;DR.** Developing Self and Others is one of the 9 Civil Service behaviours. Assessors look for evidence of sustained investment in your own professional development and active coaching or support of colleagues. Strong examples show structured interventions with measurable impact, not casual conversations.
Worked SEO example (250 words)
*As an SEO managing a team of four caseworkers, I noticed that my newest joiner had been struggling with a particular type of complex case for two months. He was completing the cases but I was finding errors at quality review. Instead of escalating to a performance issue, I sat down with him and asked him to walk me through his approach to the most recent case. I identified that he had not been taught the trust's escalation criteria and was making interpretive decisions that needed senior input. I designed a four-week structured coaching plan: one shadowing session per week, one hour of joint case review, and one piece of self-directed reading from the casework manual. I also paired him with a more experienced colleague for a peer-mentoring relationship. After four weeks his case quality scores had risen from 62% to 89% and he successfully handled his first complex case independently. I shared the coaching plan template with my line manager who circulated it to other team leads in the directorate.*
What scores 1 at Developing Self and Others
Listing training courses you attended without saying what you applied. Claiming to "mentor colleagues" without naming the intervention or outcome. Generic "I believe in developing my team" framing.
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Frequently asked questions
What does Developing Self and Others assess?
The behaviour assesses sustained investment in personal professional development and active coaching or support of colleagues. Panels score structured interventions with measurable impact.
Can I evidence Developing Self and Others without formal line management?
Yes. Informal coaching — shadowing, peer mentoring, running training sessions, pairing colleagues, delivering CPD — all count. The key is a structured intervention with a measurable outcome, not casual conversation.
How do I evidence "developing self" alongside developing others?
Name specific CPD you completed, the gap you identified that drove it, and how you applied it. "I completed the Cabinet Office Making Evidence Count programme after identifying a gap in my analytical skills; I subsequently used the methods on X project" scores higher than "I attended X training".