HR professionals know that talent management is an integral part of the role – but it isn’t always easy. That’s why leaders use tools like the 9-box grid or 9-box matrix to develop talent, manage performance, and succession plan.
This talent management tool has been used by HR leaders for decades to develop talent. While some swear by it, it’s also been the source of some controversy for its subjectivity and potential for oversimplification.
In this guide, we’ll go over everything you need to know about the 9-box grid to help you make a thorough, strategic opinion about the value and use of the 9-box grid.
What Is The 9-Box Grid?
The 9-box grid is a matrix tool that sorts and categorizes employees based on their performance and potential to help determine and implement growth and development initiatives that will add the most value depending on individual employee needs.
In the 9-box grid, performance refers to the employee’s current performance and exists on a spectrum, typically on a number scale or through ranking low, moderate, or high. Potential refers to the growth potential of an employee, typically referring to leadership roles or taking on more responsibility.
The matrix structure allows employees to be placed somewhere within the high-to-low measurement of both potential and performance, such as moderate performers with high potential or low performers with low potential. The classifications can then determine how employees can be nurtured, developed, and managed based on their placement in the 9-box grid.
For example, an employee with high potential and high performance may be put in the leadership pipeline and developed with key organizational roles in mind. However, if an employee has high potential but low performance, their development may be focused more on current responsibilities, but leadership development may not be prioritized. An employee who has low performance but high potential may be developed to improve current effectiveness, but may be assessed later on for possible leadership roles.
Why Use The 9-Box Grid?
The 9-box grid is primarily used for talent development, performance management, and succession planning.
More specifically, here are some of the ways that organizations can use a 9-box grid:
Leadership pipeline development: The 9-box grid can help HR identify high-potential employees who may be suitable for leadership roles in the future, and these employees can be put into the leadership pipeline and put in the ideal position to take over key roles later in their careers.
Personalized development programs: Learning and development (L&D) can be personalized to better suit employees’ needs by categorizing employees within the 9-box grid, and helping tailor development plans based on the results of an employee’s categorization.
Resource allocation: Identifying which employees need help to do their current job more effectively, and which employees may need nurturing to help develop them into future leaders can help HR make strategic decisions about where certain resources, such as training budgets and leadership development initiatives, should be focused, both now and in the future.
Strategy alignment: The 9-box grid can help give an organization’s leaders a clearer idea of workforce needs and help align the larger organizational and business strategy with talent management goals and initiatives.
What Are the Pros and Cons?
The efficacy of the 9-box grid is a hot-button issue for HR pros. But, like any other talent management tool, it comes with some advantages and some disadvantages, and keeping them in mind is essential to using the 9-box grid fairly and effectively.
Understanding the advantages and the setbacks of the 9-box grid can help you make a more informed decision on how to best implement it in your organization. Here
Pros
Enhances Decision-making. The 9-box grid can help enhance decision-making abilities because it can help leaders discern insights about employee performance and growth trajectory. It can help inform decisions about promotions or opportunities for high-performers or might be included in evaluating the low performance of a particular employee. The 9-box grid can give a concise but comprehensive view of employee performance to support decisions.
Promotes Transparency. When used right, the 9-box grid can help promote transparency and fairness within the organization. When used as a performance management tool, it can give a clear picture to employees about where they fall within the company and explain why certain decisions were made to organizational leaders.
Aligns Performance Management Strategies. When employees are assessed by performance and potential, it can help give leaders a comprehensive view of how employees are doing. This can help ensure that talent development initiatives are aligned with larger business goals. Plus, it can help establish benchmarks to compare the organization against in the future.
Simplifies Succession Planning. The 9-box grid is a helpful tool for succession planning and can help simplify the process. Looking at where employees fall on the grid can help identify employees with leadership potential to put into the leadership pipeline. Once high-potential employees are identified, HR can ensure that they get the support and mentorship that they need to grow into valuable leaders.
Delivers Insights in a Digestible Format. Put simply, the 9-box grid is easy to understand. Rather than presenting stakeholders with slides of data about how employees are performing, that data can be organized into the 9-box grid. When trying to gain leadership buy-in for development programs or assessing performance, the 9-box grid can be a powerful tool to help visualize data.
Cons
Leads to Subjective Assessments. Although employees are measured by their performance and potential, there is no real criteria for what makes an employee score high or low in these areas. Biases and inconsistencies across assessments can lead to subjective results.
Lacks Context and Oversimplifies Talent. The 9-box grid assesses employees on performance and potential. But of course, those are not the be-all and end-all of employees, and they may possess strengths that are not taken into consideration with the 9-box grid. Using the 9-box grid as a definitive guide for any strategic decisions can be dangerous because the assessment lacks the necessary context about individual complexities and needs.
Puts Labels On Employees. Labeling an employee as low-potential can feel stigmatizing and destroy self-confidence for employees. The 9-box grid literally puts employees into boxes, which can stifle their potential and stop them from even trying to improve and develop their skills, which can have a significant impact on morale.
Erodes Trust. Misusing the 9-box grid can be a detriment to culture and can erode trust. Employees may see the grid as arbitrary. Especially if it’s being used for decisions about promotions or bonuses, employees may be disgruntled with the use of a grid to make decisions about their performance.
Causes Inaccurate Predictions. The 9-box grid can be seen as a tool to predict future outcomes of employee performance, but it’s not as accurate as some may think. In a rapidly changing environment, this type of assessment can’t account for the changing factors in today’s environment.
Is It Still Relevant?
The 9-box grid was created in 1970 and has been a staple for HR pros ever since – but that also means that some of the practices and processes of the 9-box grid assessment can be outdated.
The relevancy of the 9-box grid is debated due to many of the factors discussed above, such as oversimplification and room for bias or subjectivity. Although it can be a useful piece of your talent management strategy, it may not be a reliable tool to use all the time. Especially in a rapidly changing world, HR must consider the context and nuances of employees that the 9-box grid lacks.
For those that do use the 9-box grid, ensuring that it’s adapted for modern workforce needs and used in conjunction with other assessment methods can ensure that the drawbacks are mitigated and it’s used fairly.
Strategic Use of the 9-Box Grid
Using the 9-box grid strategically can be the difference between it hindering and helping the development of employees. Here are some tips for including the 9-box grid in your talent management strategy intentionally and effectively.
Define assessment criteria: To avoid claims of subjectivity, ensure that assessment techniques and criteria are defined across the organization. That way, leaders have a guide to look back on to ensure that employees are being assessed fairly.
Consider external factors: Inject the context that the 9-box grid lacks into the assessment to make sure that external factors or nuances are accounted for. For example, flag employees in the grid whose low performance may be based on temporary factors, such as a role change or increased workload.
Be transparent with employees: If you use a 9-box grid to make decisions, and employees find out about it without being told, it can be a recipe for distrust and disengagement. Instead, be open with employees about the methods that are used to evaluate performance and answer any questions to proactively avoid misunderstandings.
Stay aware of unconscious biases: Although unconscious biases can be unavoidable, there are some ways to try to avoid bias when looking at employee performance and potential. Identify potential areas of bias and implement techniques to make a fairer assessment.
Find complementing assessment methods: Finding alternative assessment methods that can help provide a clearer, more holistic view of employee development and performance can help ensure that decisions are made strategically and fairly.
Final Thoughts
The 9-box grid is a popular tool for talent management, employee development, and succession planning. However, the efficacy and fairness of the tool have been widely debated for years by HR pros.
The 9-box grid comes with its own set of pros and cons like any other assessment tool. If organizations do use the 9-box grid, using it strategically can help ensure that potential issues are mitigated and employees are evaluated fairly.
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