Principles Assessment Certification for Executive & Team Coaches

Build your coaching practice with a certificate in the Principles framework, created by Ray Dalio and Dr. Adam Grant.

This certification can help you:
• Measurably reduce conflict and improve clarity within teams
• Qualify for higher-level team and executive contracts
• Use the PrinciplesUs platform to map and track team dynamics

Early Bird Pricing Ends on March 20, 2026
Spring Cohort Starts on March 25, 2026
32 ICF CCEUs

Enroll Today for Early Bird Pricing

The Principles Assessment Coach Certification is a professional training program that prepares you to use the PrinciplesYou and PrinciplesUs tools in executive and team coaching environments.

About PrinciplesYou
PrinciplesYou is a personality assessment based on research in trait psychology. It measures detailed behavioral tendencies across cognitive, interpersonal, and motivational dimensions.

About PrinciplesUs
PrinciplesUs is a team platform that aggregates individual assessment data to surface patterns in communication styles, decision-making approaches, and potential areas of friction within groups.

Move from insight to action: Convert assessment results into specific behavioral focus areas that clients can act on.

Deliver feedback that drives growth: Debrief PrinciplesYou assessment results in ways that prompt deep reflection and sustained behavioral change.

Diagnose strengths and risk patterns precisely: Use archetype and trait-level insight to identify both developmental assets and growth constraints.

Form sharper coaching hypotheses: Use assessment data to guide powerful questions and more focused coaching conversations.

Strengthen your scientific credibility: Build a working knowledge of the personality science and psychometric foundations behind the PrinciplesYou assessment.

Expand your developmental impact: Support clients in building self-awareness and stretching beyond their comfort zones using this structured, data-backed framework.

Michael Knouse

Coach

"One client resolved a two-year conflict with a co-worker after gaining new perspective through the debrief process."

Matt Nelson

Coach

“Many clients express surprise at the revelations, gaining a new understanding of themselves.”

36%

increase in clear understanding of personal strengths and growth areas

95%

increase in understanding team strengths and gaps, and practical strategies for how to work together most effectively

75%

improvement in feeling talent development is a priority for the org, to drive employee engagement and to build top talent

76%

of employees are more comfortable sharing their perspectives openly

80%

of people received more feedback they feel is useful to their personal and professional growth

77%

of people reported having a deeper understanding of others’ perspectives to enhance team alignment than prior to the program

How the Principles Framework is Different from Other Assessments

The Principles framework is built on modern trait psychology, developed with Ray Dalio and Dr. Adam Grant, and designed for real-world organizational use.

Trait-Based, Not Type-Based
Moves beyond broad personality categories to measure nuanced traits that drive behavior.

High-Resolution Insight
Surfaces micro-traits across cognitive, interpersonal, and motivational dimensions.

Individual and Team Application
Connects individual data through the PrinciplesUs platform to map team patterns and friction points.

Built for Organizational Contexts
Designed with input from Ray Dalio and grounded in real-world leadership environments.

Action-Oriented Interpretation
Focuses on translating assessment data into practical coaching interventions.

About the Creators of the Principles Framework

Ray Dalio
Founder of Bridgewater Associates and author of Principles and Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order. Dalio built one of the world’s largest hedge funds using a culture of radical transparency and structured feedback.

The Principles framework reflects Ray Dalio's emphasis on understanding how people think and make decisions under pressure.

Dr. Adam Grant
Organizational psychologist at Wharton and author of Think Again, Give and Take, and Originals. Grant’s research focuses on motivation, personality, and high-performance work cultures.

Adam Grant's expertise ensures the assessment is grounded in modern personality science.

Why Dalio & Grant Created the Principles Framework
The PrinciplesYou assessment was designed to combine rigorous trait research with real-world organizational experience. Dalio and Grant have created a practical system for understanding how individual differences shape team performance.

Concentrated Learning: Each high-value module builds your ability to diagnose what is truly driving behavior in leaders and teams.

You will learn a research-grounded vocabulary that helps you move beyond surface insights and quickly identify behavioral drivers, stress patterns, and communication dynamics.

Ready to Apply Immediately: You will develop a practical diagnostic capability you can integrate directly into your active client engagements.

The blended format ensures you can study efficiently while refining how you deliver high-stakes executive debriefs and team sessions. All tools and materials remain accessible, allowing you to continually strengthen how you demonstrate value and measurable progress.

Practice with Experts: Seven facilitated Practicum sessions allow you to pressure-test your interpretation skills and refine how you translate data into decisive coaching conversations.

You'll build confidence as you

Identify causes of friction
Form working hypotheses about behavior
Structue debriefs that lead to action

Concrete Language, not Abstract Concepts: Across the eight weeks of the course, you will develop a high-definition understanding of personality architecture that supports executive-level and culture-focused engagements.

The program strengthens your ability to move from abstract discussion to targeted behavioral change, helping you address conflict, performance gaps, and team dysfunction with clarity.

Your Questions will be Answered: Two live Q&A sessions with CEO Zack Wieder deepen your understanding of the research foundations behind the model and how it holds up in corporate environments.

These conversations equip you to position the assessment credibly with senior leaders and sponsors who require clear rationale and defensible methodology.

Assessment Platform Training: Principles platform training ensures you can confidently use the team dashboard to diagnose patterns across groups, visualize friction points, and structure data-informed workshops.

This enables you to demonstrate before-and-after clarity in team engagements rather than relying on subjective feedback alone.

Full Team Platform: Gain access to the PrinciplesUs Team Dashboard, Coach Playbook, and demo tools to operationalize the framework in real client settings.

These resources allow you to manage team data, identify systemic friction, and present concrete insights that support measurable leadership and culture outcomes.

🎖️ 32 SHRM PDCs: Earn up to 32 SHRM Professional Development Credits while strengthening your ability to deliver research-based, behaviorally specific coaching within organizational systems.

🏅 32 ICF CCE Units: Earn up to 32 ICF Continuing Coach Education Units as you add a differentiated, scientifically grounded diagnostic framework to your coaching credentials.

Clients Engage More Quickly and With Greater Clarity
Debrief sessions identify priorities immediately, improving sessions from the first meeting.

The Assessments are Truly Different
Leaders who have seen every assessment were surprised by the nuance and practicality of the Principles framework.

Actionable Self-Awareness
Rather than generating abstract insight, the assessment creates specific behavioral areas clients can work on right away.

A Professional Standard
The program is rigorous, well-structured, and directly applicable to executive and organizational work.

This course is delivered in small cohorts so you can engage fully, ask real questions, and practice in a supportive environment with coaches like you.

You’ll connect with experienced coaches and HR leaders who are committed to deepening their craft. Through live sessions and guided practice, you’ll refine how you interpret assessment data, explore different approaches, and strengthen your confidence before bringing the work to your clients.

Coaching can be solitary work.

This certification puts you among peers as committed to growth as you are.

Visualize team patterns clearly: Use the PrinciplesUs Team Dashboard to map trait distributions, communication styles, and motivational drivers so you can ground team conversations in shared data rather than opinion.

Pinpoint sources of friction: Leverage team-level reports to identify misaligned drivers, stress responses, and interpersonal gaps before facilitating workshops or executive sessions

Structure data-informed workshops: Apply the Coach Playbook and platform tools to design targeted team sessions that address specific behavioral dynamics instead of general collaboration themes.

Module 1

PrinciplesYou Introduction - Background and Basic Techniques

RECORDED

90 MIN

In this module, you will learn:
The PrinciplesYou Assessment delves into the fundamentals of personality science and demonstrates its practical application. Coaches can elevate their practice by seamlessly integrating this assessment, leveraging the "personality mindset" to guide their coaching approach. What sets PrinciplesYou apart is its unique validity and credibility among assessments. Furthermore, understanding the foundations of interpreting PrinciplesYou results within a coaching context is essential for effective coaching.

Practice Session

LIVE

90 Mins

Module 2

Practicum

LIVE

90 MIN

In this module, you will learn:

How to begin to reflect on your own results through the lens of personality science.
How the initial self-debrief serves as an experiential foundation for applying PrinciplesYou results with clients.
How to begin to interpret and share your own results with others.
Begin practicing coaching application techniques that will bring the insights of PrinciplesYou to life for your clients.

Module 2

PrinciplesYou Research Foundations and Design

RECORDED

60 Mins

In this module, you'll become more familiar with the scientific foundations and constructs of the PrinciplesYou Assessment:

You'll learn about the basics of personality science and how PrinciplesYou was developed with our expert research team.
We'll also explore what distinguishes the PrinciplesYou Assessment from other assessments you may have used in the past with coaching clients.
This module features a live Q&A expert session with Zack Wieder, CEO of Principles to deepen participant knowledge about the scientific foundations of the assessment and this informs related coaching application skills.

Module 2

Q&A Session

LIVE

60 Mins

In this module, you will learn:

More about the scientific foundations of the PrinciplesYou assessment and how this informs related coaching application skills through a live Q&A expert session with Zack Wieder, CEO.
How PrinciplesYou is interesting and different from other assessments you may use in your coaching practice.
Co-learning insights from questions posed by coaching colleagues from every cohort.
Common questions and their answers at this point in the course.

Module 3

Archetypes, Trait Landscape and Interpretation

RECORDED

120 Mins

This module builds on everything learned so far and will give coaches:

A deeper understanding of the assessment constructs themselves, including the PrinciplesYou archetypes, traits, and facets.
The opportunity to explore the key behaviors associated with each trait.
An introduction to the PrinciplesYou Archetype Archipelago, to learn the archetype landscape and important distinctions between archetype and archetype groups.
Knowledge and skills for interpreting a client’s report in context.

Module 3

Practicum

In this module, you will learn:

How to interpret a client's report in context via case study discussions.
How to form powerful coaching questions based on the assessment results and a case study including client’s goals and challenges.
Coaching techniques for exploring free trait behaviors, first through self-reflection and then in pair exercise coaching practice.

Month 7

Deepening Client Work

Apply advanced pattern recognition and longitudinal insight tracking to your current client base. Learn to coach at supervision-level depth.

Month 8

Leveraged Program Development

Translate your 1:1 coaching into scalable formats. Design group programs, courses, and workshops that maintain depth and deliver consistent transformation.

You’ll complete and test a group program or course outline, ready to launch or integrate into your business model.

Month 9

Operations & Systems

Streamline your business infrastructure. Build SOPs, automation workflows, and admin systems that free your time and mental bandwidth.

Month 10

Platform & Authority Building

Expand your reach through thought leadership. Learn how to write, speak, and share your expertise with clarity and confidence across public platforms.

Measurable Outcome: You’ll produce one signature long-form piece or talk that positions you as a credible voice in your niche.

Month 11

Advanced AI Partnership

Explore cutting-edge AI applications, including multimodal tools and voice-based systems. Learn to evaluate and adopt new tech with discernment.

Measurable Outcome: You’ll design and test one advanced AI application or workflow customized to your coaching practice, positioning yourself as an innovation leader.

Month 12

Integration & Leadership

Bring everything together. Solidify your systems, celebrate your transformation, and learn to teach others about conscious AI adoption.

Measurable Outcome: You’ll own your expertise and speak confidently about AI integration, lead conversations in your community, and continue evolving your practice beyond the program.

Zack co-founded Principles with Ray Dalio and led the development of PrinciplesYou, partnering with leading psychologists including Dr. Adam Grant, Brian Little, and John Golden.

He has worked directly at the intersection of personality science and real-world organizational application. His experience spans product development, executive environments, and practical implementation of the Principles framework across teams.

In this certification, Zack brings not only architectural knowledge of the assessment itself, but hands-on experience translating personality data into structured coaching conversations and team interventions.

Michael Knouse

Coach

"As a coach, I now have a powerful new tool that enhances my ability to help clients increase self-awareness and understand those around them. The PrinciplesYou certification deepens client insights and facilitates better working relationships. One client resolved a two-year conflict with a co-worker after gaining new perspective through the debrief process. He found this self-knowledge invaluable and wants to share it with everyone in his life. I highly recommend this certification to all coaches looking to add depth to their practice.”

Matt Nelson

Coach

“I've integrated PrinciplesYou into my coaching sessions as an exceptional self-reflection tool. It provides clients with profound insights into how their traits influence their behavior and presence. While the assessment is comprehensive, the depth of insights is unparalleled. Many clients express surprise at the revelations, gaining a new understanding of themselves. Compared to other assessments, PrinciplesYou is both affordable and highly valuable. Its modern, science-based approach doesn't box people in, but rather provides awareness of how traits influence behavior. Personally, it helped me recognize the impact of free trait behavior on my professional adaptations.”

Principles Coach Certification Pricing

Learning Hours

On-Demand Modules

(Self-Paced Lessons)

Live Practicum Session

(With Trained Facilitators)

Live Sessions (Q&A and Training)

(with Zack Wieder)

Client Facing Tools

ICF CCE Units

(1 CCE per learning hour)

SHRM PDCs

(1 PDC per learning hour)

Designation

PrinciplesUs Platform Access

Exclusive Learning Center

Exclusive Community

(Lifetime access)

Box-1

32 Hours

14 Hours

13 Hours

3.5 Hours

15 Tools

32 Units

(23 CC + 9 RD)

32 PDCs

Principles Certified Coach

Regular price $694/mo

Discounted

$347/mo

5 payments

Regular price $3,194

Discounted

$1,597

Preferred Pricing

Enroll Today Enroll Today

1. What is this course about?

The Principles Coach Certification course equips coaches to empower individuals and teams using two key tools: the PrinciplesYou Assessment and the PrinciplesUs platform.

Participants will learn how to debrief the PrinciplesYou assessment, transform groups into high-performing teams, equip team members with self-awareness, and create new revenue-sharing opportunities for coaching services using the PrinciplesUs framework.

After completing this course, you’ll receive a designation of PrinciplesYou Certified Coach.

2. What is the PrinciplesYou Assessment and how is it different from others?

Principles assessment is grounded in scientific research in the field of personality psychology.

It holds validity across different cultures, as it has been designed to be applicable to a global audience, and is not limited to only English-speaking populations.

Unlike other personality assessments Principles, both splits and expands beyond The Big Five traits other assessments usually anchor in.

Besides (1) Extraversion, (2) Agreeableness, (3) Emotional Reactivity, (4) Openness, and (5) Conscientiousness it expands into an additional 12 subtraits and traits. These additional personality dimensions provide a comprehensive, actionable. understanding of an individual’s personality.

3. Who is this course for?

This course is designed for anyone passionate about helping individuals and teams unlock their potential. It’s perfect for executive, internal, external, business, team, and career coaches with some experience and training. It’s particularly beneficial for those who want to deepen their understanding of personality science and apply it in their coaching practice.

Whether you’re an experienced coach or just starting in the field, this course provides valuable skills and certifications to enhance your impact and stand out in the coaching industry.

4. Can the course be used for team coaching?

5. Who will be hosting these sessions?

On top of the self-study modules, there are two types of live sessions available within the course:

The live Practicum sessions – facilitated by PrinciplesYou Certified Facilitators.
The live Q&A sessions – hosted by Zack Wieder, Principles’ CEO, and Denise Clegg, an experienced executive leader, trainer, and coach. They developed this unique Certification course to teach you how to facilitate debrief sessions for the PrinciplesYou assessments with individuals through a combination of theory-based and experiential sessions.

You will also have one live session about PrinciplesUs with Zack Wieder, introducing the PrinciplesUs team coaching platform and its features.

6. What is the course schedule?

This course combines self-paced learning with live sessions. It spans over 9 weeks and you’ll engage in both pre-recorded module content and live interactive sessions, including 8 self-paced modules covering personality science and assessment interpretation, 7 live practicum sessions, and 4 live Q&A and training sessions with industry experts.

Each module offers both AM and PM live Practicum session options to accommodate different schedules, but rest assured, the content is identical. You only need to attend one of these sessions to stay on track.

Sign-ups close 5 days prior to the start date.

Check the schedule: March 25 – May 21, 2026

7. What are the prerequisites for joining?

8. Is there a refund policy?

9. Can I speak with a team member?

10. Where can I access my materials after purchase?

11. Will there be video/audio recordings of the sessions in case I can't attend?

12. How much time do I need to build into my calendar for the course?

Principles Coach Certification combines self-paced learning with live sessions. You can expect to spend around 3-4 hours per week, which includes:

17 hours of self-paced module content and readings.
1.5 – 4 hours of live sessions per week, including Module sessions, Practicum sessions, and Core Learning sessions.

Self-study, practice, and preparation are also required between live sessions to ensure you stay on track with the course.

While all live sessions are recorded for later viewing, Practicum sessions cannot be recorded due to technical limitations. As long as you meet the minimum graduation requirements, you can progress at your own pace.

13. What are the Practicum sessions?

The Practicum sessions are structured to blend theoretical learning with practical application, providing a comprehensive and interactive experience. At the beginning of the course, you will be asked to select and join one of the Practicum Groups, depending on which time suits you the most. Each group is made up of 25 participants.

You can switch Practicum groups if necessary. Simply log in to the Learning Center and navigate to the Practicum section, where you’ll find an option to change your group. This flexibility ensures you can find the group that best fits your learning style and schedule.

Prior to each session, you will receive an activity guide with an agenda – starting with an introduction covering the theoretical background of the framework in focus, followed by planned exercises, and concluding with a plenary session for sharing insights and reflections. These sessions are designed to be interactive, fostering a deep engagement with the material and peers, ensuring that participants not only learn the concepts but also apply them effectively in their team coaching endeavors.

The Practicum Facilitator will guide the session to ensure everyone has the opportunity to voice their questions, share their experiences, and receive feedback.

14. What are the graduation requirements?

15. Is there a designation I will obtain upon completing the graduation requirements?

16. Do I need to do anything to uphold my designation?

17. Is the course accredited by the International Coaching Federation (ICF)?

Yes! The Principles Coach Certification course is accredited by the International Coaching Federation (ICF) with a Continuing Coach Education (CCE) accreditation, getting you 32 Continuing Coach Education (CCE) Units – broken into 23 Core Competency (CC) and 9 Resource Development (RD) Units.

CCE Units can be used towards renewing one of ICF’s individual credentials – ACC, PCC or MCC. Please visit the ICF website to learn more about the individual accreditation process: coachingfederation.org/credentials-and-standards/renew-credential.

Units become eligible upon meeting the minimum graduation requirements.

18. Is the course accredited by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)?