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A Coach certifies an employee’s Readiness for a responsibility by inspecting them against the inspection protocol. The Coach evaluates the employee’s knowledge, abilities, and behavior (KAB) and, based on the result, issues the right badge on the Badge Ladder.

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When an inspection happens

Inspections are started by the employee. When they feel prepared, usually after studying the institutional knowledge (short videos and knowledge articles) and self-assessing with quizzes, they reach out to a Coach for the responsibility to schedule an inspection. An employee can request an inspection at any point:
  • For the first time (as a Novice), to earn Apprentice or Proficient
  • To move from Apprentice to Proficient
  • To re-prove the work after an earlier inspection that didn’t change their badge

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Before you start

  • You hold the Coach badge (125%) for the responsibility, or you’re its Architect.
  • The employee is assigned to the responsibility through their position and role.
  • The responsibility has an active inspection protocol, created and maintained by the Architect.
  • You have access to exIQtive.

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What the inspection evaluates

Every inspection assesses three things, together called KAB: The inspection protocol sets the expectations for each, based on the institutional knowledge the Architect maintains. You observe the employee and compare their performance with those expectations.

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Outcomes

An inspection ends in one of these outcomes:
  • Apprentice (50%): the employee can fulfill the responsibility but still needs supervision.
  • Proficient (100%): the employee can fulfill the responsibility independently.
  • No badge change: the employee isn’t ready yet and stays at their current level (Novice or Apprentice).
A Coach’s inspection can’t award a Coach or Architect badge. Those are issued by an Architect through a separate process.

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Run the inspection

1

Schedule the inspection

The employee reaches out; you confirm a time.
2

Conduct the inspection

Observe the employee doing the work covered by the responsibility, comparing their knowledge, abilities, and behavior against the protocol. This happens in the real world; exIQtive is the record of the inspection, not the inspection itself.
3

Record the result and issue the badge

Based on the result, issue Apprentice or Proficient, or end without a badge change.

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What happens next

  • The employee’s Readiness for that responsibility updates to 50% (Apprentice) or 100% (Proficient).
  • The employee sees the result in their own view in exIQtive.
  • The employee’s overall Readiness recalculates. See How Readiness is calculated.
  • If the result was Apprentice, the employee can keep preparing with quizzes and institutional knowledge, then request another inspection to reach Proficient.

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Re-inspection

An employee can be re-inspected at any time, at their own request. There’s no penalty for an unsuccessful inspection: the badge simply doesn’t change. The employee studies further, retakes the quizzes, and tries again when ready.

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Rules and constraints

  • Only an employee holding the Coach badge (125%) or Architect badge (150%) for a responsibility can inspect against it.
  • A Coach can’t inspect themselves.
  • Inspections are started by the employee, not assigned to them.
  • An inspection protocol must exist before any inspection can happen. The Architect creates and maintains it.
  • Every inspection records who inspected, when, and the outcome.

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Common questions

No. If the employee isn’t ready, the inspection ends without a new badge and they stay at their current level.
Raise it with the responsibility’s Architect, who owns the protocol and the institutional knowledge behind it. Coaches inspect against the protocol as it stands.
Yes. Any Coach for the responsibility can inspect any employee assigned to it. There’s no single “assigned” Coach per employee.
Both come from the same institutional knowledge maintained by the Architect. The quiz is for the employee to self-assess before requesting an inspection. The inspection protocol is for the Coach to use during the actual inspection.
Inspecting KAB usually needs direct observation, but the form depends on the responsibility. The Architect sets the standard for how inspections are conducted.

Coach operations

What Coaches do and how to become one.

Architect operations

How Architects maintain the protocol and certify Coaches.

The Badge Ladder

Novice through Architect.

How Readiness is calculated

How badges add up to Readiness.

Key Readiness concepts

Readiness, badges, and zones.
Last modified on October 14, 2026