9-box grid maker

What the 9-box grid is

The 9-box grid is the standard picture used in a talent review. It plots every person on two questions: how well are they performing in the job they have now, and how much could they grow beyond it? Each question is answered Low, Medium or High, which gives three by three, or nine, boxes. Where someone lands suggests what the organisation should do next for them, whether that is a stretch assignment, a development plan, recognition for steady work or an honest conversation.

Its value is not the picture. It is that the grid makes a leadership team say out loud what it believes about each person, and then compare notes.

Two ratings, kept apart

Performance is about results delivered in the current role: what was achieved against what the role asks for. Potential is about the future: the capacity and the appetite to take on something bigger, broader or more complex.

The method only works when these stay separate. A deep specialist can be a High performer with Low potential for a larger role, and that is a perfectly good place to be. Someone new and stretched can show High potential while their results are still Low. If your best performers are marked High potential by default, the grid bunches into one corner and tells you nothing you did not already know.

How the tool places people

You choose the two ratings and the tool does the rest. Performance runs across the grid, Low on the left and High on the right. Potential runs up it, Low at the bottom and High at the top. So the top-right corner holds people rated High on both, and the bottom-left corner holds people rated Low on both.

Each of the nine combinations has a name:

• Top row, High potential: Rough Diamond, High Potential and Star.
• Middle row, Medium potential: Inconsistent Player, Core Player and High Performer.
• Bottom row, Low potential: Risk, Solid Professional and Trusted Professional.

The colours are a guide to where attention goes. Green marks the three boxes nearest the top-right, your strength and your succession bench. Amber runs along the diagonal, where the right answer is to develop and decide. Red marks the three boxes nearest the bottom-left, where a plan is due.

Above the grid the tool keeps a running count: how many people are on it, the share sitting in the three green boxes, the share in the Risk box and how many of the nine boxes are in use.

Reading the shape

Before you look at any one name, look at the spread. A grid with almost everyone in the top-right is rarely a sign of an exceptional team. It usually means the ratings were generous. A grid with everyone in the middle usually means the hard judgements were avoided. A believable grid has people in most boxes, a solid core in the centre and a small number at each extreme.

Then look off the diagonal, because that is where the exercise earns its keep. A Rough Diamond, High potential with Low results, is often someone in the wrong role or without the support they need. A Trusted Professional, High results with Low potential for a bigger job, is someone to value and keep, not to push toward a promotion they do not want.

Using it in a talent review

Agree what Low, Medium and High mean before anyone rates anyone, in a sentence or two for each axis. Without that, one manager's High is another manager's Medium. Have each manager place their own people first, then bring the grids together and challenge them as a group. The useful question is always "what have you seen that makes you say that?".

Finish with actions, not labels. Every box implies something to do, and a review that ends with named actions, owners and dates has done its job. The grid is a record of a judgement made on one day. Revisit it, expect people to move, and do not let a box follow someone around.

There is more on scoring fairly and running the meeting in the 9-box talent grid, without the guesswork.

Common questions

Should each box hold a set share of people?

No. Forcing a fixed number into each box makes managers rate against a quota, not against the role. Use the spread as a prompt for questions, not as a target.

Should people be told which box they are in?

That is a decision for your organisation. Many share the development conversation that follows and keep the label itself within the review, because a box name is easy to misread as a permanent verdict.

Are the names I enter stored anywhere?

No. Everything stays on this page in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server, saved on your device or added to the page address. Reload the page and the grid is empty again. A printout or PDF you make contains personal data, so look after it accordingly.

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