9 Box Grid Review: Learn How to Create A 9 Box Grid

The 9-box grid helps assess employee performance and potential for talent management, development, and succession planning. Follow practical steps for creating, calibrating, and using a nine-box talent review.

By Brad Nakase, Attorney

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Have a quick question? We answered nearly 2000 FAQs.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Important lessons

3. The 9-box grid: What is it?

4. Benefits and drawbacks of the 9-box grid

5. How to administer a 9-box test

6. Quick understanding of the 9-box grid

7. The explanation of the 9-box grid

8. How to conduct a talent review using the 9-box grid

9. Using the 9-box grid for talent management

10. Succession planning 9-box grid

11. Criticism of the 9-box grid

12. FAQs

Introduction

Future leaders aren’t necessarily your best performers. The 9-box grid separates present performance from potential for the future. It enables you to make more informed decisions about talent investment and succession planning.

The 9-box grid classification process, the talent management plan of action for each area, and a template for speedy reporting will all be covered in this helpful tutorial. Additionally, you will discover the meaning of each box, how to apply the grid in standardized talent appraisals, how to conduct a nine-box assessment, and what you need to do next.

Important lessons

The 9-box grid is a talent management technique. It maps workers according to their potential and performance. It assists in determining who should be developed, who might be prepared for more responsibility, & where additional assistance is required.
Rate employees based on more than just intuition. To develop judgments that are more equitable and consistent, use performance statistics, feedback, and alignment among managers.
Action should follow grid placement. From role changes or productivity support to mentoring and challenging assignments, every box requires a precise response.
If you utilize the tool judiciously and don’t convert it into a labeling or forced-ranking exercise, it can improve succession planning and talent reviews.

The 9-box grid: What is it?

The 9-box grid is a popular talent management tool. It divides workers into nine categories according to two criteria: potential & performance. This model, which is also referred to as the performance-potential matrix, nine-box grid, or nine-box matrix, aids firms in organizing personnel decisions in a uniform manner. Its goal is to closely match development and talent management programs with areas where they are most beneficial.

When making decisions about talent management, it is necessary to take into account two factors that will affect the success of the company: the employees’ current performance and their potential for future growth in relation to the organization’s goals.

For instance, workers who do well at their jobs but have little room for advancement are probably going to make regular contributions. It is anticipated that high-achieving workers with significant potential will eventually assume more challenging responsibilities or serve as possible successors.

Low-potential, underperforming workers, on the other hand, are unlikely to advance into succession plans and will need a lot of managerial attention. Different methods of talent management are needed for these employee categories.

Benefits and drawbacks of the 9-box grid

The nine-box grid has a number of advantages and disadvantages. Among its benefits are:

Being plain and easy to use for decision-making: The 9-box review model is a popular tool with an easy-to-comprehend structure. All you have to do during the employee review is place them in the appropriate box according to their potential and performance. Even for individuals who are entirely unfamiliar with this instrument, the grid’s representation makes it easy to understand.
Assisting in the identification of valuable talent: The 9-box grid enables you to find high achievers in your company who have a lot of potential and pinpoint the areas in which they need to grow. Your choice of when and how to allocate resources to involve and grow these employees will be supported by the data. Additionally, you’ll know precisely who to offer internal promotions to.
An all-encompassing method of talent review: This tool gives you a more comprehensive approach toward performance management. You are going to be able to evaluate an employee’s performance both now and in the future, and you won’t be drawn into just one aspect of their work.
An adaptable instrument: The nine-box talent grid is helpful for workforce planning as well as talent management. This program provides you with a clear picture of your employees’ potential and the roles in which they could succeed in the future. Put differently, it facilitates succession planning. The 9-box review grid may also be utilized to find staff members who have leadership potential and transfer them to management.

However, some of its drawbacks are as follows:

Oversimplifying employee performance and potential: When employees are reduced to just two aspects—performance and potential—critical elements such as particular skills, role complexity, motivation, learning agility, & external circumstances may be overlooked. Because of this, the tool might not accurately represent an employee’s true worth or potential contribution.
Heavily depending on subjective judgment: Managers frequently have to evaluate potential purely on opinion rather than using objective evidence. Potential is far more difficult to define & assess consistently than performance. Performance can be measured against specific goals and KPIs. This may result in unfair staff placement in the grid, bias, & inconsistent assessments.
Risk of labeling employees: Managers may find it challenging to look past an employee’s label. The person could be passed over for future opportunities even if they improve over time. They are categorized as having “low potential” or “poor performance.” The grid may inadvertently hinder rather than promote employee development.
Lack of context for performance: The nine-box grid indicates an employee’s current location. It doesn’t always provide an explanation. For instance, poor performance may result from personal circumstances, incorrect expectations, or an absence of support rather than from a lack of skill. The grid may promote superficial choices rather than more careful talent evaluations in the absence of more in-depth deliberation.

How to administer a 9-box test

Five phases are involved in developing a 9-box review grid. Assessing performance, assessing potential, and combining the two dimensions.

Step 1: Performance evaluation

There are three performance levels in the nine-box. High, moderate, and low. Employees are typically assessed using this (or a comparable) performance scale during their performance review.

Performance can be assessed in a variety of ways, and various organizations employ different techniques. For instance, irrespective of the scale you choose, we suggest the following method:

Low performance: The worker falls short of their personal goals and the demands of their position.
Moderate performance: The worker only partially satisfies both their personal goals and the demands of their position.
High performance: The worker completely satisfies both their personal goals and the demands of their position.

This strategy has the benefit of using the organization’s job structure’s objective job specifications as performance standards. Certain companies could have more individual goals and fewer clear job structures. In that situation, you can focus more on evaluating each target’s accomplishment.

Step 2: Assessing potential

Individual potential is taken into account on the opposite axis of the nine-box grid. Potential, which frequently fits into the following areas, should also be assessed throughout the talent review process.

Low potential | Functioning at complete potential: Due to either an absence of motivation or reaching their maximum capacity, the worker operates at full efficiency and is not likely to improve.
Moderate potential | Grow in the present role: The worker has room to grow in their present position. This can apply to both performance and competence.
High potential | Prepared for advancement: The worker goes above and beyond what is required of them in their current role and duties. They are probably prepared to assume increasingly difficult jobs and responsibilities.

Communicating your assessment of potential must be grounded in factual information. Through this procedure, you want staff members to develop a growth attitude and link increased effort to better performance. Therefore, it takes some tact to convey this. Because of this, some businesses choose not to inform staff members of this possible score.

In a similar vein, you should use caution while informing staff members that they are qualified for a promotion. There might not be any positions available right now to complete this.

Step 3: Prior to rating, gather evidence

Before assigning workers to the nine-box grid, gather unbiased information to bolster your assessment. As a result, judgments made by teams are less subjective and more consistent. Make use of several sources of proof, including:

Recent evaluation results and performance reviews
Measurable business outcomes (KPIs, project outcomes, & sales targets)
Input from stakeholders & managers.
Instances of actions that show development, leadership, or flexibility

Don’t depend on a manager’s opinion alone. For instance, an employee who is deemed to possess “high potential” should demonstrate learning agility in addition to great present performance. The 9-box review is more believable and simpler to defend throughout calibration arguments when evidence is gathered up front.

Step 4: Adjust ratings for all managers

An essential part of the 9-box grid procedure is calibration. Without it, various managers can use different criteria to assess potential and performance. When calibrating:

Compare workers from every team, not just one.
Question presumptions and demand proof for each nine-box rating.
Adhere to the practical definitions of “high performance” & “high potential.”
Determine bias patterns. For example, overvaluing or undervaluing particular groups.

A “high performer” under one manager can be a “solid contributor” under another. Calibration aids in establishing a common standard to guarantee equitable evaluation of workers throughout the organization. In larger firms, when several managers participate in each nine-block assessment, this stage is particularly crucial.

Step 5: Assign actions for succession and development

Employee placement in the nine-box grid is only beneficial if it results in obvious next steps. Following the placement of workers in the grid:

Establish personal development programs for each person.
Determine high-potential workers for succession plans.
Use focused assistance or interventions to address performance concerns.
Align activities with company goals (e.g., important positions, leadership gaps).

For instance:

Stretch positions or programs for leadership may be given to high-performing or high-potential staff members.
Mentoring and focused development could be beneficial for employees with medium performance and high potential.
Role adjustments or performance improvement plans (PIPs) may be necessary for low-performing or low-potential employees.

In addition to classifying workers, the objective is to make well-informed judgments regarding succession planning, retention, and development.

Quick understanding of the 9-box grid

It is helpful to comprehend the grid’s structure. We will delve into each of the 9 boxes in detail later. The 9-box grid uses a straightforward three-level measure (low, moderate, high). It is used to map workers across 2 dimensions. A distinct facet of talent appraisal is represented by each axis:

X-axis (Performance): Shows how well a worker is doing their job right now. This covers elements like reaching objectives, producing high-quality work, being consistent, and contributing to business results.
Y-axis (Potential): Indicates a worker’s capacity to advance into more senior or complicated positions. Learning agility, leadership potential, flexibility, and preparedness for more responsibility are all included in this.

The grid generates nine potential employee profiles by merging these two dimensions. In addition to classifying people, the objective is to facilitate consistent choices about talent investment, succession planning, and development.

Performance / Potential	Employee Profile	Recommended Approach
Low Performance / Low Potential	Struggling employee. Poor fit for the position	Use a performance improvement plan. Reassignment or an exit
Low Performance / Medium Potential	Inconsistent contributor with room to grow	Provide coaching, develop relevant skills, and clarify expectations
Low Performance / High Potential	Capable employee in the wrong role or new to the position	Consider reassignment, focused development, and closer support
Medium Performance / Low Potential	Reliable contributor with limited advancement opportunities	Maintain performance and focus on role stability
Medium Performance / Medium Potential	Dependable core team member	Build capabilities within the current role and support gradual growth
Medium Performance / High Potential	Developing employee with strong future prospects	Provide challenging assignments, mentoring, & leadership exposure
High Performance / Low Potential	Highly skilled specialist or expert contributor	Retain, deepen expertise, and avoid forcing a move into management
High Performance / Medium Potential	Strong performer with capacity for greater responsibility	Prepare for the next role through structured development
High Performance / High Potential	High-impact employee with strong leadership potential	Accelerate development, include in succession planning, and prioritize retention

Although this summary serves as a quick guide, each box needs to be interpreted carefully. Tenure, role complexities, and business requirements are examples of context. We go into great depth about each box and outline the steps that managers and HR should take in the sections that follow.

The explanation of the 9-box grid

This section will review the various categories in the nine-box grid and examine the variations in talent management strategies by segment.

9 Box Grid Categories

1. Underperformers

The employees with poor performance and low prospective scores are located in the bottom left side of the nine-box grid. They go by several titles, such as iceberg, underperformer, terrible hire, and talent risk. Some businesses even go so far as to call them “useless personnel.” They should be “fired immediately”.

Concentrating on these underachievers is not the goal. Your talent management initiatives should target workers who have more room for advancement & contribution. This methodical technique guarantees excellent work quality throughout the team and avoids circumstances in which team members make up for the poor performance of others.

Ideally, the company should actively look for better positions for these people, matching their abilities with the demands of the company and their professional development.

Plan of action

Determine your own obstacles that could lead to poor performance and stagnation. But take care not to invest too much and know where to cut relationships or move them out. Take a seat with the person to see whether there is a better task where both you and they can make greater use of their abilities.
If the initial two choices don’t yield immediate results, you should work together to develop an exit strategy in which you assist the individual in finding a position outside of your company that better fits their skill set.

Examine your hiring and selection procedures if these underachievers are a regular occurrence in your company.

Up or out

The up or out group comes next in the grid of nine boxes. It consists of both medium potentials having poor performance (dilemmas) and medium players with poor potential (effective performers).

2. Effective Performers

Although they are mediocre performers, the experts or effective performers do admirably. They are therefore a difficult bunch. Training them will probably not be worth the time and money invested. Making a plan for performance improvement is the best course of action. By developing this strategy, you assist them in identifying their areas for improvement and provide them with the chance to address them.

You will be forced to make a tough choice—up or out—if this isn’t working and they aren’t joining the high-performance category.

The Dilemmas

There is some potential for excellence in the predicaments or inconsistent performers, but they are not delivering. Why they don’t perform is the question here. A similar procedure must be followed to determine the reason for their mediocre performance. Are they recent hires? Did they have a bad onboarding experience? Perhaps they don’t know what you want from them?

You can enroll them in mentorship programs or peer coaching as an intervention. You will need to make a tough choice if this isn’t working and they aren’t moving up into an improved performance level.

Plan of action

Make a plan for improving performance. Discuss the employee’s personal obstacles & the abilities needed for the position. You ought to clearly define what constitutes good performance and set quantifiable expectations. The worker has to understand exactly what is required of them.
Every month, check in and assess the plan’s success. Making better decisions will be aided by thorough documentation of these meetings. Feedback and a defined plan will also be beneficial to the employee.
Together, you should develop an exit strategy in which you assist the individual in finding a position outside of your company that better meets their needs if performance fails to rise within 6 months to a year.

3. Trusted professionals

The dependable experts work well but have little room for advancement. In your organization, these are the people you should look after. They are productive and have a positive work ethic.

They probably don’t have much room to develop, though. This implies that you should compensate them for their contributions and keep them interested. However, take care not to over-reward these workers to the point where they have little room for advancement.

Plan of Action

Make sure these workers are inspired and involved enough to contribute significantly.
Examine how their job will evolve in the future and assist them in making the necessary preparations.
Nominally enhance pay, but exercise caution when giving large bonuses and raises. Don’t give them too much.

4. Untapped Talent

Untapped talents are sometimes known as enigmas or unpolished gems. They perform poorly but have a high potential score. A managerial trainee from a prominent university can serve as an illustration. They are keen to explore. They haven’t yet mastered the art. Keep an eye on their performance. They should develop and improve quickly.

Plan of Action

Give these workers time to grow, but keep an eye on their output. You want steady, reliable performance in addition to improvements. Poor performance may be easily improved. They ought to be able to function at medium to high levels if they have a lot of potential. It should happen in 6 to 12 months.
They have to know what is required. Clear expectations must be communicated.
Express your belief in their potential. You should simultaneously urge them to perform better now.
You should work with them to develop an exit strategy if they continue to perform poorly after a year. You can assist them in finding a position outside of your company that better fits their qualifications.

5. Future Stars

The next three nine-box grid segments were designated as “future stars.” They have the ability to move into more senior positions and now comprise the majority of your personnel.

6. High Potential

Although they perform mediocrely, your high-potential or emerging contributors exhibit high potential. This is usually due to the fact that they haven’t had enough time to develop completely in the position. Moving them to the top-right corner of the nine-box grid is the first priority. The strategy and course of action resemble those of your dependable teammates.

7. Reliable Team Players

Your reliable team members are dependable workers with room for advancement in their present positions. Bringing these individuals to the right side of the nine-box grid, where their performance scores are strong, should be your top priority. These steps are comparable to those for high potential.

Plan of Action

Make sure that position standards and expectations are clear.
Give new hires enough time to reach their full potential in their roles.
Reward achievements, excellent work, & initiatives that support corporate objectives. It ought to be done on a regular basis. Monitor their performance & schedule frequent meetings. This is to make sure they are still content in their position.
Introduce them to short-term employment rotation programs to provide them with a variety of experiences that will improve their performance, or expand their work by adding tasks that suit their needs.
Give them expert coaching or peer coaching from a high-achieving employee to help them overcome any obstacles in their personal or professional lives. Put another way, assist them in overcoming obstacles to their performance.
Give these professionals classroom instruction and opportunity for on-the-job training to assist them in reducing their weaknesses or strengthening their strengths.

8. Strong contributors

Strong contributors already make significant contributions to your company, so the important tactic here is to maintain their meaningful engagement while making sure they will be willing to work for years to come. You should use several interventions to help the strong contributor reach their full potential if they are aspirational and desire to advance within the company.

Plan of Action

Keep top achievers satisfied and involved. Check in with these individuals regularly and express gratitude for their efforts.
Nobody has to be a celebrity. It’s also fantastic if the high performer is content in their current position and doesn’t desire a promotion or more responsibility. This might be a better solution because it is not practical to promote the whole company every few years.
Give them room to develop. A person may need to develop further in their present position before moving on to the next if they are not yet reaching their full potential.
Use strategies like work rotation. You must give them difficult tasks to introduce them to various aspects of the company. Their business acumen will grow as a result. Position them for a more expansive leadership role.
Find them a guide. The guide can support their development, assist them in achieving their goals, & offer opportunities for upskilling.

9. Exceptional talent

Your high achievers who are also capable of assuming new responsibilities are the exceptional talents. They are also known as future leaders. These are the most valuable employees and top performers. They are essential to succession planning as well.

Plan of action

Of all your employees, your stars are the most inclined to succeed, so give them difficult tasks. Important internal initiatives, turnaround tasks, or more opportunities in startups or spin-off businesses.
Check to see if they continue to be happy. You ought to recognize early indicators of discontent. Praise them. They must understand that their contributions are valued.
Mentor more senior employees in the company.
Make connections with senior employees of the company and other stars. These possibilities facilitate the development of a network between senior leadership and your top performers.
If they are interested, positions on external committees and boards could motivate them, increase their visibility in the public eye, and offer them a stimulating task and networking opportunity.
Give them a reward & make sure their pay is competitive. These workers make the biggest contributions to your company. You ought to compensate them appropriately.

How to conduct a talent review using the 9-box grid

The most typical application of the nine-box grid is in an organized talent or performance review procedure. It enables management to evaluate talent uniformly across teams and make more effective choices on development, transition, and retention rather than evaluating workers in isolation.

1. Who should take part?

Typically, a nine-box talent review entails:

Direct supervisors, who offer performance and possible suggestions
HR or senior executives who assist with rating calibration and alignment
HR business partners, who guarantee uniformity and facilitate the conversation.

In larger companies, several managers collaborate to evaluate staff members from several divisions. This contributes to the development of a common definition of “high performance” & “high potential.”

2. How the talent evaluation meeting operates

Typically, a structured discussion comes after a 9-box review:

Each manager gives a presentation on their team members, along with performance data and possible ratings.
To guarantee uniformity, the group debates and questions these ratings.
Next, they assign workers to the grid according to predetermined standards.
They use calibration and conversation to settle scoring discrepancies.

For instance, before deciding on an employee’s placement, other managers may ask for certain instances of leadership behavior or growth signals if one manager considers the worker to have “high potential.” This procedure guarantees that ratings are founded on facts rather than subjective opinions and helps lessen bias.

3. How decisions are made

The emphasis switches from assessment to decision-making after workers are placed in the grid. The nine-box grid is commonly used by organizations to:

Convert grid locations into customized development plans.
Assign specific tasks (such as role adjustments, stretch assignments, and mentorship).
Instead of using the grid for a one-time exercise, monitor your development over time.
Regularly review the grid, for example, every six to twelve months.

Using the 9-box grid for talent management

Making talent investment choices easier is one of the 9-box grid’s main benefits. For instance, a business might limit investment in jobs that routinely perform poorly while allocating sixty percent of its growth budget to those with high potential.

An intriguing viewpoint is provided by the employee screening firm Select International. They suggest allocating your entire budget for talent management and development according to each person’s place in the nine-box talent matrix.

As seen in the above picture, if you had to put in $100, you ought to divide it across the several talent categories. The outstanding performers in the top right quadrant should receive the greatest resources, while underperformers in the bottom left side should receive the least.

From a resource allocation and strategic standpoint, this also makes sense: as a company, you should invest in the resources that provide the highest return and give you the biggest competitive edge. Investing in underachievers would divert funds away from top performers.

This does imply that not every individual is created equal, a point that not all human resources managers find meaningful. It’s essential to acknowledge that not everyone is perfectly suitable for the same position and that certain individuals fit an organization’s atmosphere better than others.

Succession planning 9-box grid

Similarly, companies also use the 9-box review matrix for succession planning. In reality, companies often use succession planning models in conjunction with the 9-box grid to find people who are ready now or later. The stars, who rank well in both performance and potential, should be the focus of succession planning. These are the workers who will shape your company’s future.

One approach for identifying leadership potential is the nine-box grid. Leadership development, (effective) coaching, mentoring, frequent 360-degree input, & other feedback techniques are used. You can then prepare these future leaders for more advanced leadership roles.

In the succession standard matrix, where important roles are mapped and various top employees are mapped according to their eligibility for a role, the stars represent the main employees. When these positions open up, it indicates that there will be talent available to fill them.

Criticism of the 9-box grid

The 9-box grid is a simple method of controlling talent and performance, but it is not without criticism. Its tie to conventional performance management, which is typified by a manager’s subjective grading once a year, is perhaps its worst flaw.

Many businesses, such as Accenture & Deloitte, have switched from yearly performance assessments to ongoing feedback. This offers additional chances to enhance performance and provides more information to precisely evaluate performance.

We strongly advise using as many quantitative metrics as possible. This is to measure objective performance. SMART goals & OKRs techniques can be useful. Ongoing feedback loops are essential.

Transparency is also essential. A “rank & yank” system, in which employees are ranked against one another and the person at the bottom of the ranking is fired (the yank), may occur from unclear communication regarding talent management procedures. This is not what the nine-box grid intended. It should be used to develop and nurture people. The objective is to create a competitive edge.

FAQs

1. How is a 9-box grid made?

Three steps are involved in creating a nine-box grid: assessing performance, assessing potential, and combining the two.

2. For what purposes is the nine-box grid useful?

Succession planning and management of talent (i.e., talent investment selections) can be based on the 9-box review grid.

3. How is the 9-box grid used?

You are able to map your employees onto the grid once you’ve completed assessing their performance and potential. Select the box that best suits their profile. You can then apply particular coaching, standardized development, & talent management techniques for various employee groups based on the results of your nine-box assessment.

4. What drawbacks does a nine-box grid have?

The 9-box review grid is frequently associated with traditional yearly performance control. It may rely more on manager evaluations than on continuous & fact-based feedback. The procedure has to be clearly communicated. It may lose credibility and turn into a “rank & yank.” It is a forced-ranking method. Workers are ranked against each other, and the ones at the lowest tier are fired.

Have a quick question? We answered nearly 2000 FAQs.

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9 Box Grid Review: Learn How to Create A 9 Box Grid

Introduction

Important lessons

The 9-box grid: What is it?

Benefits and drawbacks of the 9-box grid

How to administer a 9-box test

Quick understanding of the 9-box grid

The explanation of the 9-box grid

How to conduct a talent review using the 9-box grid

Using the 9-box grid for talent management

Succession planning 9-box grid

Criticism of the 9-box grid

FAQs

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