Civil Service Behaviour: Changing and Improving

What the Changing and Improving behaviour means

The Civil Service Success Profiles framework describes Changing and Improving as being open to change, finding better ways of working and helping others to adapt. At its core, the behaviour is about identifying inefficiencies or problems, generating innovative solutions and managing the people and process dimensions of change implementation. It encompasses both incremental improvement and more transformational change, and requires candidates to show that they engage with the evidence base before proposing solutions.

What good looks like at each grade

EO / HEO: At EO/HEO level, you identify opportunities to improve your own and your team's ways of working, bring forward suggestions for change and implement agreed improvements. You are open to new approaches and encourage colleagues to consider different ways of doing things. You handle disruption during change positively and help others to do the same.

SEO: At SEO level, you analyse existing processes, identify risks and inefficiencies and develop practical recommendations for improvement. You manage small-scale change programmes within your team, communicate the rationale for change clearly to colleagues and stakeholders, and monitor the impact of changes made. You are able to prioritise competing improvement opportunities.

Grade 7: At Grade 7 and above, you lead significant change initiatives, managing complexity, risk and stakeholder resistance. You create the conditions in which your team can innovate, commission evidence to support decision-making and use your understanding of the organisational context to embed change sustainably. You evaluate the impact of change and share learning across the organisation.

Example interview questions

Success Profiles questions want evidence, not opinion. Every answer needs a real situation underneath it.

• Tell me about a time you identified an inefficiency or problem and took action to improve it.
• Give me an example of when you successfully implemented a change that improved outcomes for your team or the people you served.
• Describe a situation where you had to manage resistance to a change you were introducing. How did you handle it?
• Tell me about a time you used data or evidence to make the case for a change in your organisation.
• Give me an example of when you found a more effective way of working and helped colleagues to adopt it.

A STAR example answer

Situation: I was an HEO in an operational delivery team in HMRC, responsible for handling correspondence from self-assessment taxpayers. Our team's average response time had risen to eighteen working days against a twelve-day target, and the backlog was causing significant complaints and ministerial correspondence.

Task: I was asked by my senior executive officer to investigate the root cause of the delay and propose options for reducing it.

Action: I analysed three months of case data and found that approximately forty per cent of our cases were being rerouted after initial triage because they had been incorrectly categorised at the first point of contact. This added an average of five working days per case. I developed a revised triage guide with clearer decision criteria and a one-page flowchart and ran a forty-five-minute team briefing to introduce the changes. I also introduced a weekly "case review" slot for the first month, so the team could flag edge cases and the guide could be refined in real time.

Result: Within six weeks, incorrect categorisation had fallen by sixty-two per cent. Average response times dropped to thirteen working days within the quarter and fell below twelve days in the following period. The triage guide was adopted by two adjacent teams and I was asked to present the improvement at our directorate's learning and development event.

Tips for a strong answer

Read these, then say your example out loud and time it. Panels notice the moment an answer starts drifting.

• Show that you found the problem in evidence or data rather than in your gut. Civil Service panels score analytical rigour heavily.
• Cover the human side of the change too: how you explained it, how you handled the objections and how you brought people with you.
• Quantify the impact wherever you can: response times, cost savings, error rates, satisfaction scores.
• Name the risks you hit and how you handled them. A story with no friction in it reads as a story that has been tidied up.

Frequently asked questions

What does "Changing and Improving" mean in the Civil Service?

Changing and Improving is about identifying better ways of working, implementing those improvements and supporting others through change. It encompasses finding efficiencies, managing change programmes and fostering a culture of continuous improvement within a team or organisation.

How do I demonstrate innovation in a Civil Service interview?

Focus on one specific improvement you identified and then actually implemented, backed by evidence. Innovation in a Civil Service context does not have to be technological. Improving a process, redesigning a form, changing a workflow or trying a new approach to stakeholder engagement all count. What matters is that you found a problem, built a solution and measured what changed.

Can I use a private sector example for a Civil Service interview?

Yes, but translate it carefully. Use language that resonates with public service: "customers" become "service users" or "citizens," "profit" becomes "value for money" or "public benefit." Show that you understand the additional layers of accountability, political sensitivity and public interest that apply in a Civil Service context.