This certification program is designed for lifelong learners and forward-thinking professionals who want to become certified in the Big 5 of Strategy Competency-Assessment framework.

It’s ideal for:

• Executive and leadership coaches

• Facilitators and organizational consultants

• L&D and HR practitioners

• Strategic advisors and OD professionals

If you’re looking to expand your toolkit with a cutting-edge, research-based framework, and support your clients in becoming more strategic, this program offers both depth and practical application.

What makes this opportunity unique is that it’s built on very recent, original research and represents a new approach to measuring and developing strategic competencies. As part of our early adopter community, you'll have the chance to not only apply the framework but also help shape its future—exploring use cases, contributing feedback, and pioneering its go-to-market strategies.

The Big 5 of Strategy is a competency-based assessment, not a personality test. While popular tools like DISC or Myers-Briggs aim to explain personality traits—typically viewed as relatively fixed or rooted in nature, the Big 5 of Strategy focuses on learnable, developable skills.

In the classic "nature vs. nurture" debate, personality assessments often lean toward the nature side, describing who you are. In contrast, the Big 5 of Strategy is grounded in nurture: it identifies your current strategic strengths and areas for development—competencies that can evolve through learning, coaching, and real-world application.

What sets it apart even further is its laser-focus on workplace strategy. This assessment zeroes in on what it means to be strategic at work, helping individuals and teams enhance their ability to think and act strategically in today's complex business environment.

Because the Big 5 of Strategy is a competency-based assessment, it’s designed to be retaken periodically to track growth and development. We recommend reassessing annually to reflect on how your strategic competencies have evolved, especially after targeted learning, coaching, or real-world leadership experience.

Unlike fixed personality traits, strategic competencies can improve over time. Our research shows a positive correlation between increased seniority in one’s career and higher Big 5 scores, demonstrating that these competencies develop with experience, responsibility, and intentional effort.

For coaches, this makes the Big 5 a powerful tool for ongoing development conversations, enabling you to track progress, celebrate growth, and set new goals each year.

At the team level, the Big 5 of Strategy provides powerful insights into collaboration, cooperation, and strategic alignment. By understanding each member’s top two strategic strengths, teams gain visibility into their collective strengths and areas for development.

This shared awareness fosters better team dynamics, allowing members to support one another more effectively based on their complementary competencies. It also enables more strategic role allocation—identifying who is best suited to lead specific objectives or initiatives based on their natural strengths.

For coaches, this opens the door to facilitated team development sessions that go beyond individual coaching, helping teams align strategically and operate at a higher level of performance.

The Big 5 of Strategy Coach Certification program will offer Continuing Coach Education (CCE) hours through the International Coaching Federation (ICF), pending final approval.

For our Fall cohorts, the program is structured as an 8-week course, with 2-hour sessions each week. Upon completion, participants can expect to receive between 10–15 ICF CCE hours, depending on the final review and approval process.

These hours can be applied toward maintaining your ICF credentials, while also equipping you with a cutting-edge framework to support clients in developing their strategic competencies.

Once you’re certified in the Big 5 of Strategy, you’ll be equipped to integrate the assessment into your coaching practice.

You can invite your clients to complete the assessment and share their results with you. As a certified coach, you'll be able to facilitate a meaningful debrief, helping clients interpret their results and gain deeper insight into their strategic strengths and development areas.

Using the Big 5 Personal Development Plan (PDP) template, you can guide your clients in creating a tailored action plan—supporting them as they work on their thoughts, beliefs, behaviors, and habits to become more strategic in their professional lives.

Whether in leadership coaching, career development, or executive transitions, the Big 5 provides a clear structure and measurable path for growth.

No, the Big 5 of Strategy is not structured as a referral or affiliate model. This is a professional certification program that empowers you to facilitate high-impact debrief sessions using a research-based strategic competency framework.

Once certified, your clients can purchase the assessment directly. Instead of focusing on discounts or promo codes, our model is designed to emphasize the value of the debrief conversation—where you, as the coach, help clients interpret their results, gain clarity, and build a development plan.

The true value lies not in referral commissions, but in the strategic insights and transformation you can facilitate through your coaching. This becomes a powerful differentiator for your practice and a high-value experience for your clients.

The Big 5 of Strategy Coach Certification program is currently offered in a live, online format for its first two cohorts in 2025. These cohorts are:

• Delivered over 8 weeks

• 2 hours per week

• Fully virtual and interactive

These inaugural cohorts are limited to the first 100 certified coaches, who will receive an exclusive early adopter badge. Participants will also have the rare opportunity to learn directly from the creators of the framework—Dr. Jeroen Kraaijenbrink and Dr. Timothy Tiryaki—in a live setting.

Starting in 2026, the program will transition to an asynchronous, self-paced format, allowing coaches to complete the certification on their own schedule, with the same high-quality content and learning outcomes.

We’re currently offering two live cohorts for Fall 2025. Each cohort runs for 8 weeks, with one 2-hour session per week:

September Cohort

• Dates: Wednesdays – Sept 3, 10, 17, 24, Oct 1, 8, 15, 22

• Time:

  • 10:00 AM Eastern Time (Toronto/New York)

  • 4:00 PM Central European Time (CET)

October Cohort

• Dates: Thursdays – Oct 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, Nov 6, 13, 20

• Time:

  • 7:00 AM Eastern Time (Toronto/New York)

  • 1:00 PM Central European Time (CET)

All sessions are conducted live online via Zoom and include interactive learning, group discussions, and Q&A with the program creators.

At this time, we only accept credit card payments for the Big 5 of Strategy Coach Certification program.

Please note that we do not offer installment options nor bank transfer or other payment methods. All transactions are processed securely through our online registration platform.

Once you click the Register button, you’ll be redirected to a secure Stripe payment page.

There, you’ll be asked to:

1. Fill out your registration details

2. Enter your credit card information

3. Complete your payment

We use Stripe to ensure all transactions are secure and encrypted. Your credit card information is not stored by us in any way.

Once your payment is successfully processed, you will receive a confirmation email. Please save this email for your records—it serves as your receipt and can be used for any customer support inquiries.

Approximately one month before the program begins, you will receive:

1. A calendar invite with all Zoom session links

2. A welcome email with the PDF training manual

To prepare:

• Block the session times on both your work and personal calendars

• Double-check your time zone conversion to ensure you join the sessions at the correct time

We look forward to welcoming you to the Big 5 of Strategy Coach Certification community!

You may cancel your registration and request a refund within 14 days (2 weeks) of your payment, as long as the course start date is still at least 4 weeks away.

Please note that all refunds are subject to a non-refundable administrative fee of $200 USD, which covers transaction and processing costs.

No refunds will be issued within 4 weeks of the program start date. However, if you are unable to attend at least 80% of the live sessions, you will be transferred to the 2026 asynchronous (self-paced) version of the program at no additional cost. You’ll have one year to complete the program at your own pace. If it is not completed within that timeframe, your registration will expire, and re-enrollment will be required to obtain certification.

To remain in the live (synchronous) cohort and maintain eligibility for certification, you must attend at least 80% of the scheduled sessions. If your attendance falls below this threshold, you’ll be transferred to the self-paced (asynchronous) 2026 version of the program at no additional cost. You’ll then have up to one year to complete the program independently. If you do not finish within that year, your registration will expire, and you would need to re-enroll and pay again to complete the program.