Revolutionizing HR Practices with the 9-Box Grid: A Guide for Leaders

When evaluating an employee’s value to an organization, HR leaders must consider two crucial aspects: their current contribution and future potential. Evaluating an employee’s current contribution is important for recognizing and rewarding their team’s performance appropriately.

Assessing an employee’s future potential, on the other hand, helps identify high-performing individuals who have the potential to grow into leadership roles, which is referred to as succession planning.

Identifying employees who are performing well and those with potential for leadership roles is critical to increasing job satisfaction and retention rates within the organization. The 9-box grid is a popular model used for evaluating employee performance.

Describing the nine-box grid

As part of HR transformation, the 9-box grid is a powerful tool that HR leaders can use to categorize employee performance into different quadrants, thus ensuring a consistent approach across all performance groups. This framework relies on two key axes that map employees’ current performance and future potential. The vertical axis measures an individual’s growth potential, while the horizontal axis identifies whether they are below, meeting, or exceeding performance expectations. By intersecting an employee’s ‘potential’ and ‘performance’, the 9 boxes are formed, providing a useful way to assess and manage employee development.

In what ways can the 9-Box Grid be used to support an organization’s talent management strategy?

• To gain a holistic perspective of the talent pipeline both within and between business units and address critical gaps.
• To facilitate cross-functional and cross-organizational discussions and identify potential successors for leadership positions.
• To broaden discussions on cultivating diverse leadership talent within the organization.
• To assess the potential, risk, and impact of losing current talent and develop strategies for retention and talent management.
• To increase internal recruitment leads for leadership vacancies and target the appropriate audience for high-potential development programs.

Segmentation of the 9-box grid

Take a look at these 9-box grid groups. Keep in mind that job requirements and personal targets can vary between organizations based on their unique job structures.

Box 1: (High potential, high performance)

The employee consistently performs well in all tasks, thinks creatively, and solves problems. They are eager to take on new challenges and have moderate potential for growth.

Box 2: (High potential, moderate performance)

Here, the employee excels at their current job and has the potential to take on new challenges. They require new tasks to prepare them for their next role.

Box 3: (Moderate potential, high performance)

With a demonstrated aptitude for creativity and innovation in problem-solving, this employee possesses great potential for growth. To further their development, they should focus on honing their strategic thinking skills and taking ownership of their assigned tasks.

Box 4: (Low potential, high performance)

The employee has achieved outstanding results in a variety of challenging settings and circumstances. They keep their skills up-to-date but need to work on improving their delegation skills.

Box 5: (High potential, low performance)

Here, the employee learns and adapts quickly and operates in the best interest of the company. However, they struggle to identify and implement creative solutions when necessary.

Box 6: (Moderate potential, moderate performance)

The role demands frequent identification and implementation of creative solutions, and future job enlargement is being considered for the individual. However, there is a need for training in people management.

Box 7: (Low potential, moderate performance)

The employee has the potential to perform better with the right guidance and could benefit from improving their lateral thinking skills.

Box 8: (Moderate potential, low performance)

There exists high employee potential to progress but requires the right discipline and needs to learn task management. However, these employees struggle with identifying and implementing creative solutions when necessary.

Box 9: (Low potential, low performance)

The employee may be a candidate for reassignment, reclassification to a lower level, or exit from the organization.

Why the nine-box grid is a valuable tool?

The 9-box grid is a versatile and popular tool that offers numerous advantages in HR transformation, such as:

1. Simple and easy to use — The structure of the 9-box grid model is fairly straightforward, making it easy to use during employee reviews. Even those new to this tool can catch on quickly because of how it is visualized.
2. A holistic approach to talent appraisal — This tool enables organizations and HR leaders to assess both the current performance and future potential of their employees. With the 9-box grid, you won’t get stuck evaluating just one aspect of an employee’s performance.
3. Identification of valuable talent — By using the 9-box grid, organizations can quickly identify high-performing employees with potential and determine what they need to further develop. This enables you to engage and develop these employees, making them ready for internal promotions.
4. Versatility — The 9-box grid is not just useful for talent management, but also workforce planning. It provides a good overview of an employee’s potential and where they might thrive in the future. This makes succession planning easier and enables you to identify employees with leadership potential, moving them onto management tracks.

Using the 9-Box Grid to guide continuous improvement

The 9-Box Grid provides a valuable tool for HR leaders to categorize employees based on performance and potential. Once categorized, leaders can create individualized development plans to support each employee’s growth and success.

• For low performers with low potential, urgent attention is necessary. Identifying the root cause of their performance issues, such as a lack of fit or unclear role expectations, is essential. While over-investment in these employees is not recommended, efforts should be made to support their development over time. It’s also possible for employees to be low performers with moderate to high potential. These employees may lack experience or not be suited for their current position, but they possess foundational skills or education to grow with the company. Personalized development plans and clarified expectations can help them succeed.
• Moderate to high performers with low potential may excel in their current position, but may not be suitable for new roles. These employees should be recognized for their contributions and kept motivated.
• High performers with high potential are critical to the organization’s success. Investing in their development through clear role expectations, ongoing feedback, training opportunities, and coaching is essential. It’s also important to have ongoing conversations to ensure they are happy with their current role and development plans.

Final words…

Continued investment in top talent is crucial to avoid costly losses to competitors or declines in motivation. By using the 9-Box Grid and investing in employee development, organizations can maximize their talent and achieve long-term success.