This is a certification program approved and recognized by the CentACS (Centre for Applied Cognitive
Studies, USA). It enables you to optimize your own and others’ work performance by applying the
Five-Factor Model of Personality and prepares you to use the WorkPlace Big Five ProFile™ 4.0 and/or the
NEO PI-R and NEO-FFI assessments within your own organization or with your clients.
Your personal Big Five assessment results and guidance in understanding them
Introduction to the Howard’s Human Resource Optimizer (HRO) Model for determining whether to
recommend development, support, or compensate for a performance gap when coaching an individual;
based on an understanding of current research on the “nature/nurture” debate
Practice using and relating the Big Five to leadership development, team eff ectiveness, career planning,
coaching individuals, job selection, 360º performance assessment, and selling and infl uencing
Small group, full group, and individual work analyzing practical case studies and performance
applications of the model
Classroom discussion, activities, and participative exercises to explain the model
A comprehensive explanation of the Five-Factor Model of Personality, including the historical global
shift to the fi ve factor model, current research on personality traits, and a review of existing alternatives
to personality measurement
A review of how the Five-Factor Model of Personality is explained relative to validity, reliability,
coeffi cient alpha, correlation, and social desirability
Administration of the WorkPlace Big Five ProFile 4.0 (long & short forms), including the coaching
application tools, the scoring procedures, the assessment interpretation (i.e., personality and work
competencies), and the individual feedback session
The CentACS code of ethics and how to apply it in working with your clients
What Program Participants Receive
The Owner’s Manual for Personality at Work: How the Big Five Personality Traits Aff ect Performance,
Communication, Teamwork, Leadership, and Sales by Pierce J. Howard, Ph.D. and Jane Mitchell
Howard, MBA ©2001 published by Bard Press
WorkPlace Big Five ProFile Workbook: Applying Personality Results at Work by Pierce J. Howard, Ph.D.
and Jane Mitchell Howard, MBA ©2001 by CentACS
Professional Manual for the WorkPlace Big Five ProFile™ by Pierce J. Howard, Ph.D. and Jane Mitchell
Howard, MBA ©2001 by CentACS—Center for Applied Cognitive Studies
Report of your own results after taking the WorkPlace Big Five ProFile
The Big Five Certification Program Participant Binder by Pierce J. Howard, Ph.D. and Jane Mitchell
Howard, MBA ©2009 by CentACS—Center for Applied Cognitive Studies
For human resource and organisation development practitioners who are responsible for the people and
talent selection and development function in their organisations
Why Use The WorkPlace Big Five ProFile 4.0™?
Developed in the U.S.A. by the Center for Applied Cognitive Studies (CentACS) since 1993, the WorkPlace
Big Five ProFile 4.0™ (WorkPlace) is the leading personality assessment based on the Five Factor Model of
Personality which has become the standard for psychologists. The WorkPlace was specifically written in
workplace terminology to be used for business applications such as:
• Team Building
• Leadership Development
• Performance Coaching
• Job Selection and Hiring
• Succession Planning
• Management/ Supervisory Training
• Career Development
• Sales Training
• Confl ict Management
• OD Intervention
assessments should not be used for Job Selection. The WorkPlace questionnaire and reports have been
recognized by the U.S.’s PAR (Psychological Assessment Resources). Busy executives find it fast and easy to
complete online in 10 – 15 minutes with only 107 questions. The coefficient alpha of .83 is among the
highest of all other assessments.
Using the WorkPlace …
To select employees: A Leisure Service Provider:
• Reduced turnover of general managers in one year from 76% to 26%
To move associates into the right role within a department:
An Accounts Receivable Dept. of a major consumer goods manufacturer:
• Reduced 60 day balances by 93% in 4 years
• Reduced days of sales outstanding by 8% in 2 years
For succession planning:
A Heavy Equipment Manufacturer and Distribution Company:
• Reduced turnover from 18% to 2% over two years
“The WorkPlace Big Five ProFile and the analytical tools that Pierce and Jane Howard have developed to “peel
back the onion” on its results provide meaningful, relevant results that can support coaching at all levels of
the organization.”
“The WorkPlace is a powerful tool to improve individual performance as well as the productivity of teams.”
“The Right Stuff ! Very insightful! Great tools! These tools can help the bottom line if organizations heed
the message.”
“A great tool that all consultants should have in their tool box.”
Reduce Attrition
Increase Productivity
Improve Communication
Increase Sales
Increase Associate Satisfaction
Eff ectively Use Training Dollars
The Big Five or the Five-Factor Model of Personality is the most current, most valid, most reliable means
of assessing personality available today. Psychologists use it as the primary means of understanding and
interpreting personality. From the mid-1980’s to the mid-1990’s, the Five-Factor Model of Personality was
primarily tested and re-tested in the academic and research communities world-wide and was found to be
a superior model to earlier means of explaining and describing personality. The business community began
to take the Big Five seriously when Pierce J. Howard and Jane Mitchell Howard’s article was published in the
September 1995 issue of Training and Development, the trade magazine of the American Society for Train-
ing and Development. The article, entitled, Buddy, Can You Paradigm?, gives a brief history of the model’s
development and explains how the Five-Factor Model may be used to understand individuals, relationships,
and teams in work situations.
Organizations that want to be up-to-date and remove biases from the workplace are using the Big Five as
their model of choice since it offers so much depth and understanding for employees and program partic-
ipants in all aspects of human resource development. Some key components to the Five-Factor-Model in-
clude:
• Personality has fi ve dimensions
• Scores on the dimensions will fall along a normal distribution (or a Bell Curve)
• Personality is best described by individual traits rather than type groupings
• The strength of individual scores indicates personality preferences
• People who score in the middle range of the scales will have a combination of traits
Applications
Team Building
In a team building session using the WorkPlace Big Five ProFile, participants will learn about themselves, their
teammates, and how to improve communication and teamwork with others including customers, vendors, etc.Participants will learn:
• About their personality
• Where individuals on the team may have opportunities for confl ict because they are so diff erent on a dimension
• Who has more similar personality traits
• Tolerance of diff erences
• How to communicate with each other better
• That each individual has strengths to bring to the team, depending on the situation
• To seek out those with diff erent viewpoints
Activities to perform in a Team Building Session:
• A continuum line up - teammates line up according to their score on each trait
• Everyone posts their Big Five scores on the fl ip chart
Other products: The Owners Manual for Personality at Work, The WorkPlace Big Five Workbook, The Teamer Report
Leadership Development
In a leadership development session using the WorkPlace Big Five ProFile, participants will learn about theirpersonality profi le and how it relates to the typical leader profi le.
Participants will learn:
• About their personality profi le
• The typical leader profi le
• Customizing a leader profi le to their industry, company, department, etc.
• Strategies to compensate where they diff er from the leader profi le
• Various Leadership Models
• Etc.
Activities to perform in a Leadership Development Session:
• A continuum line up - participants line up according to their score on each trait
• Everyone posts their Big Five scores on the fl ip chart
Other products: The Owners Manual for Personality at Work, The WorkPlace Big Five Workbook, The Leader Report
Coaching
When you combine personality traits with performance information, then one can capitalize on strengths anddetermine where training will be eff ective and where compensating strategies are required.
Participants will learn:
• About their personality profi le
• About the competencies that are energizing, natural, somewhat natural, draining and outside of comfort zone for them
• How their personality supports and hinders their current role
• To capitalize on their strengths
• In which competencies they may need training or support
• In which competencies they should fi nd compensating strategies for
Other products: The Owners Manual for Personality at Work, The WorkPlace Big Five Workbook, The Career Guider
Selection/Succession Planning
Using the WorkPlace Big Five ProFile, companies can define a target profile for a specific job, then assesscandidates against it. This is one of the steps to take in the selection process along with critical behavior
i nterviewing, reference checks, IQ testing and more.
By getting the right people in the right role, companies can:
• Reduce attrition
• Increase productivity
• Increase associate satisfaction and morale
• Use training dollars eff ectively
Other products: The Job Profi ler (Traits), The Job ProFiler (Competencies), The Competency Card Sort