Most business coach certification UK programmes give you a methodology and a badge. What they don't give you is the strategic depth to diagnose why a business is stuck, design the right intervention, and embed the change so it outlasts your engagement. That gap is what the 1:90 certification was built to close.
The Gap in Most Coaching Certifications
The business coaching industry has a dirty secret: most certifications teach you how to run sessions, not how to run businesses. You learn questioning frameworks, goal-setting models, and how to hold space. These are real skills. But they are not execution skills.
When an SME owner comes to you and says "we keep hitting the same ceiling every year," a questions-and-reflections approach will surface awareness. It will not, on its own, tell you whether the problem is strategic misalignment, weak accountability structures, the wrong operating cadence, or all three. And it will not give you the tools to fix any of them.
The result is a class of coaches who are excellent at helping people think — and much less equipped to help businesses change. Their clients get clarity in the room and then return to the same broken operating patterns the moment the session ends.
"Coaching without execution capability is like a personal trainer who only talks about fitness. The conversation is valuable. But it doesn't build the muscle."
The 1:90 certification was designed for coaches who want to solve that problem — who want to be the person their clients call when they need to get something genuinely difficult done.
What a "Mini-MBA in Execution" Actually Means
The phrase "mini-MBA" is used deliberately. A full MBA gives you business theory, strategy frameworks, finance literacy, and organisational behaviour. What it often lacks is the practical execution layer — how do you actually make a strategy move inside a real business with real people and competing priorities?
The 1:90 certification gives you that execution layer, built on top of the strategic thinking an MBA develops. In practical terms, that means you leave the programme able to:
Read a business's operating rhythm and identify where execution breaks down
Design a 90-day Arc with properly structured Waves, Milestones, and ownership
Facilitate a planning session that produces a real execution plan, not just a strategy document
Identify and remove the structural blockers that prevent good strategy from being executed
Embed an accountability rhythm the client can run independently after your engagement ends
Position yourself as a strategic execution partner, not just a facilitator or sounding board
These are not soft skills. They are operational competencies that take structured learning and practice to develop — which is why the certification programme is structured around three substantive modules rather than a weekend workshop.
The Three Modules: Diagnose, Deploy, Embed
The certification programme is built around a three-stage model that mirrors the full lifecycle of a coaching engagement. Each module builds on the last and produces a set of deployable skills you use with clients from day one.
Module One
Diagnose
Before you can fix a business, you have to understand what's actually broken. Most coaches skip this step — they assume the presenting problem is the real problem. Module One teaches the 1:90 diagnostic framework: a structured process for mapping where strategy and execution are misaligned in any business.
You will learn how to run a Diagnostic Session with a new client, produce a written Alignment Gap Report, and use that report to co-design the right engagement structure. This module alone fundamentally changes how you qualify and scope new clients — and how much they trust you before you've even started formal work.
Outcome: You can diagnose any SME's execution gaps in a single structured session.
Module Two
Deploy
Knowing what's broken is only valuable if you can design and deploy the right fix. Module Two is a deep dive into the 1:90 execution framework itself — Arcs, Waves, Ripples, Milestones, and the role structure that makes the whole system work.
You will learn how to facilitate an Arc Planning Session, how to structure a Wave with correctly scoped Milestones, and how to set up the Ripple cadence so it actually sticks. You will practise these facilitation skills in live workshops with other certification cohort members, receiving structured feedback before you use them with paying clients.
This module also covers the commercial structure of an execution coaching engagement — how to scope, price, and contract for a 90-day intervention rather than a coaching retainer. This is the most distinctive element of the programme: it treats your coaching practice as a business, not a passion project.
Outcome: You can design and facilitate a full 90-day execution plan for any SME client.
Module Three
Embed
The difference between a great engagement and a great client is whether the change sticks after you leave. Module Three teaches the embed model — how to transfer the operating system to the client's team so it becomes part of how the business runs, not a dependency on ongoing coaching.
You will learn the Wave Leader development process, how to train internal facilitators, and how to run a 90-day handover so the client moves from needing you to choosing to continue with you. Paradoxically, coaches who embed well and make themselves redundant attract more referrals and longer engagements than those who create dependency.
Module Three also covers recurring revenue models for certified coaches — how to structure retainer agreements, group programmes, and licensing arrangements that grow your practice without multiplying your hours.
Outcome: Your clients can run the 1:90 system independently — and still choose to work with you.
What You Can Do That Other Coaches Can't
After completing the 1:90 certification, you occupy a different market position to most UK business coaches. You are not a generalist facilitator. You are not a mindset coach. You are not a business development consultant. You are a certified execution strategist — someone who takes strategy and makes it real inside a business.
In practice, this means you can do several things that are out of reach for standard coaching certifications:
Win engagements that start at the board level
Execution strategy is a C-suite conversation. A diagnostic capability and a structured framework give you the language and credibility to operate at that level rather than only with individual managers or middle teams.
Charge for outcomes, not hours
When you can promise a specific execution outcome — a 90-day plan built, a team aligned, a system running — you justify outcome-based pricing. Hourly coaching fees are capped by time. Outcome fees are capped by value delivered.
Deliver visible, measurable results
The 1:90 framework produces tangible artefacts — an Arc document, Wave plans, Milestone trackers. At the end of 90 days, the client can point to what changed. That visibility drives referrals in a way that intangible transformation rarely does.
Work across sectors without relearning your toolkit
Execution problems are universal. The same Arc-Wave-Ripple structure works whether the client is a law firm, a manufacturing business, or a marketing agency. One framework, infinite application.
The Commercial Opportunity for Certified Coaches
The UK SME market is underserved by execution capability. There are around 5.5 million SMEs in the UK, the vast majority of which have a strategy document they are not executing. Most have tried strategy days. Most have tried goal-setting. Very few have a functioning 90-day operating system.
That gap is your market. And it is a market that responds to specificity. "Business coach" is a crowded, commoditised category. "1:90 Certified Execution Strategist" is a distinct, credentialled, verifiable positioning that your prospects can evaluate — and that your clients can explain to their networks when they refer you.
Illustrative Revenue Structure — Certified 1:90 Coach
90-Day Arc Engagement
Diagnostic + planning + three Wave checkpoints
Ongoing Retainer
Quarterly Arc resets, Wave oversight, advisory access
Group Programme
5–8 non-competing SMEs through Arc together
Team Training
1:90 methodology workshops for leadership teams
Figures are illustrative. Actual rates depend on market, sector, and individual positioning.
Three retained clients at the mid-point of the retainer range generates over £100,000 per year. Four 90-day engagements per quarter at a conservative rate covers a strong six-figure income without the volume of clients that hourly coaching requires. These are not aspirational figures — they reflect what execution-focused business coaches genuinely command in the UK market.
Why the 1:90 Certification is Different
It teaches execution strategy, not just facilitation methodology.
Three modules — Diagnose, Deploy, Embed — cover the full coaching engagement lifecycle.
You leave with a deployable commercial model, not just a credential.
The UK SME market has a genuine unmet need for execution capability — you fill it.
Certified coaches who embed the system generate stronger referrals and command higher fees.
Ready to Become a Certified Execution Strategist?
The 1:90 Coach Certification is open to experienced coaches and consultants who want to deepen their execution capability and build a more commercially robust practice. Find out what's involved and how to apply.
Phil Martin
Founder, 1:90 Align
Phil started his career as a vehicle technician, moved into software, completed an MBA, and worked at a UK PLC before founding 1:90 Align to solve the disconnect between strategy and daily execution. He designed the Coach Certification programme to give other coaches the execution depth he wished he'd had access to earlier in his career.