Skip to main content
Certify is the second step of the exIQtive method. Once responsibilities are clear, Certify proves that each employee is ready to perform them, and turns that proof into a number you can manage.

​
Why certify

Most organizations train on the job. An expert coaches a new hire through their responsibilities, and the knowledge passes by word of mouth. That knowledge is tribal: it lives in people’s heads, so it’s hard to scale and hard to check. The goal is an organization where most employees are competent, a few are experts, and everyone gets there fast. Certification creates accountability on both sides: the employee knows what readiness requires, and the expert’s results are multiplied across the people they certify.

​
Certify readiness, not training

Attending training doesn’t prove anything. Readiness does. An employee is ready when they:
  1. Know what to do (knowledge)
  2. Can do it (ability)
  3. Do it (behavior)
exIQtive certifies all three, one responsibility at a time.

​
One badge per responsibility

Every responsibility an employee holds has its own badge, and each badge sits on one of five levels: The levels fall into three zones: Developing (Novice and Apprentice), Competent (Proficient), and Expert (Coach and Architect). See The badge ladder for how badges are earned and what keeps them valid.

​
Inspection, not evaluation

An evaluation is subjective: it relies on one person’s view, drawn from tribal knowledge. An inspection is objective: it checks the employee against institutional knowledge that everyone can see. Objective certification takes three steps:
1

Capture knowledge

An Architect captures how the responsibility is performed, in short videos, articles, and quizzes.
2

Define certification criteria

The Architect turns that knowledge into checkpoints, which together form the Inspection Protocol.
3

Certify

A Coach inspects the employee against the checkpoints and issues the badge.
See Checkpoints and Inspecting a responsibility.

​
Measure readiness

Because every badge has a percentage, readiness is simple math: you can’t manage what you don’t measure. An employee’s readiness is the average of their responsibilities’ badge levels. For example, an employee with an Apprentice (50%), a Proficient (100%), and a Coach (125%) badge on three equally important responsibilities has a readiness of (50 + 100 + 125) ÷ 3 = 92%.
exIQtive weights each responsibility by its importance, so the percentage you see can differ from a simple average. See How readiness is calculated.
When readiness is visible to everyone, it drives accountability: what’s measured gets improved. See Communicating readiness to your employees.

​
Ready today, growing for tomorrow

Readiness covers more than the job someone does today. An employee’s readiness for their primary position shows how ready they are now. Their readiness for a next position they’re preparing for shows how far along they are on that path. Positions in a job family form a ladder, such as Staff Accountant, Senior Accountant, Controller, and CFO. See Employee/position assignments.

​
What reduces readiness

Three things can lower an employee’s readiness:
  • Changed responsibilities: the responsibilities for a position change.
  • Badge expiration: a badge reaches the end of its grace period or its responsibility is retired.
  • Badge removal: an administrator removes a badge.
An expired or removed badge counts as Novice (0%) until the employee is inspected again.

Readiness concepts

Readiness levels, badges, and inspections.

The badge ladder

Badge levels and statuses in detail.

Checkpoints

The inspection checklist for a responsibility.

Clarify

Turn strategy into clear responsibilities.
Last modified on October 16, 2026