Unlocking Potential, Fueling Growth: Master the 9-Box Grid for Your Team

Its a given that you want to maximise growth in your business. But the way you get there, is by having a great strategy, and then excellent execution. So why are we talking about a 9-box grid for understanding employee performance and potential?

Well you can have the best business rhythms in the world that underpin your execution, but if you and your leadership team are not thinking actively and clearly about each individual's performance AND potential in your business and...

Then have a clear action plan about how you can enable them to maximise that potential, or move them on (if they're poor performers with low potential), you're leaving MASSIVE opportunities on the table AND killing your business slowly by keeping people around that need to go.

In this article I unpack what a 9-box talent grid is, how it works, and what to do with people once you've assessed where they fit.

Enjoy!

So what is the 9-Box grid?

The 9-box grid is a commonly used framework by leaders around the world. It's a simple diagram that allows you to assess your team members based on two important factors: their current performance, but also their future potential.

In reality... you can't have a business full of high potentials.

You need a mix.

You need stable team members who are good-to-excellent at what they do but have limited ambition and will never become leaders. Awesome! You need these people - they're the foundation of any good business. They keep it stable, and working.

You also need people with amazing potential who will become either amazing performers, or amazing leaders (or both) but who need some development.

What you don't need, is a business full of people who perform poorly and have limited potential. Who would want that really? (if that's you.. call me and I'll get you the number of a good therapist!)

4 Advantages of the 9-Box Grid

The 9 box grid is good because:

1. It's simple: All you have to do is match employees to the right box based on performance and potential.

2. It helps you identify valuable talent: It pinpoints high performers with great potential which aids decisions about development and your organisational structure.

3. It helps you identify people who need to go: Too often we allow people who are performing poorly and have no potential to improve, to stay. This framework brings that conversation to the surface with your leaders.

4. It's wholistic (to a degree): Because you're assessing both current performance and future potential you get a broader perspective and it de-risks you just focusing on current performance.

Of course, the 9 box grid is not a tool without its faults.

The Flaws of the 9-Box Grid

If your leaders are waiting for an "annual 9-box appraisal" before dealing with performance issues, then it's not being used correctly.

They should be providing CONTINUOUS feedback, so people know how they are going all the time. Not waiting for some kind of six-monthly or annual "performance review".

Surely if continuous feedback models (like the model we teach all the Founders we support) are good enough for Accenture and Deloitte (because they show better performance improvement than once-per-year methods), then it's good enough for you.

The true purpose of the 9 box grid is to develop and nurture talent, not to weed out and remove the lowest performing employees. But if the real conversation about whether they should stay or go isn't happening? Then it's a great way to use a tool to bring that conversation to the surface.

Assessing Someone on the 9-Box Grid

When we are assessing someone on the 9-box grid, we assess two factors. Performance and Potential.

The nine-box grid consists of three performance ratings: low, moderate, and high.

So you first rate performance (typically easier and quick), then you assess potential.

Are they low, moderate or high in their performance in their current role?

Then... are they low, moderate or high in their potential to rise into a more senior role?

The Action Plans for Each Category

Ok great. You've put all your team members on the grid.

But now what?

Let's talk potential action plans for each of the main categories.

1 - Bad Hires

In the 9 box grid's bottom left corner are employees with low performance and potential. They're labeled with terms like risk, bad hire or underperformer.

They're individuals who shouldn't have been hired initially. Dealing with them promptly and fairly is essential.

Allowing these bad hires to persist turns them into icebergs, jeopardising the organization's success. Investing in them diverts resources from more promising employees. Moreover, their low work quality drags down colleagues, redirecting efforts towards rectifying their mistakes instead of adding value.

Potential strategy for bad hires

1. Address - provide immediate feedback and short-term improvement expectations codified in a performance plan. And I mean SHORT term. Like the next week or two

2. Consider - alternative roles that better harness their skills (if they exist... they probably don't)

3. Exit - if no improvement quickly, find a (legal) way to move them on as fast as possible

4. Review - your acquisition and selection processes. How on earth did they get here in the first place?

5. Don't - invest in them

Please ensure you seek advice early and quickly as soon as you realise you have one of these people in your business. Deal with it fairly, ethically and legally.

2 - Up or Out-ers

These choices are the "up or out" segment, filled with medium performers with low potential (referred to as "up or out grinders") or medium potentials with low performance ("up or out dilemmas").

Grinders, or effective specialists, maintain satisfactory performance, making dismissal potentially unnecessary. Despite their limited potential, investing extensively in their training wouldn't yield significant returns.

Dilemmas, or inconsistent players, possess potential but struggle to perform. Identify reasons behind their average performance. Interventions like coaching or mentoring can help. If these efforts fail to elevate them into higher performance tiers, a challenging decision must be made.

Potential strategy for "up or out" hires

1. PIP - develop a performance improvement plan addressing role-related roadblocks and skill enhancements. Set measurable expectations and define successful performance

2. Assess - regularly assess and document progress through rhythmic check-ins

3. Consider Exit - if performance doesn't improve within a reasonable period, create an exit plan ideally assisting them to find a more suitable role outside the organisation

3 - Workhorses and Dysfunctional Geniuses

At the extreme corners of the 9-box grid, we encounter individuals excelling in a single aspect.

The "workhorses" or trusted professionals excel in performance but lack growth potential. Valued for their strong work ethic, they should be nurtured. While rewarding them is important, avoid excessive rewards to prevent creating a comfort zone and a "god-like" ego.

Potential strategy for workhorses:

1. Ensure they're content

2. Analyse how their roles might change and assist them to prepare

3. Provide incremental salary raises but be cautious with substantial increases

4. Avoid promotions

Conversely, the "dysfunctional geniuses," also known as enigmas or rough diamonds, possess high potential but struggle to perform. Fostering stable performance is key as is harnessing their capacity to grow into new roles.

Potential strategy for dysfunctional geniuses:

1. Set clear role expectations

2. Let them know you see their potential but also highlight the need for performance improvement

3. Allow them some limited time for development but closely monitor performance

4 - High Potentials (Hi-Pos), Core Players & High Performers

The high potentials (often said "Hi-Poes") display high potential but average performance, usually due to limited time in their roles.

Potential strategies for high potentials:

1. Clarify expectations and role requirements

2. If they're junior, allow time for them to develop their performance but...

3. Offer them consistent praise and monitoring

4. Introduce job rotations to diversify experience

5. Facilitate peer coaching and professional development

Core Players and High Performers

Core players are reliable performers with some growth potential in current roles. The key strategy is to try to elevate their performance to the grid's top-right.

High performers are impactful contributors. Aim to sustain their engagement and prepare them for future responsibilities.

Potential strategies for core players and high performers:

1. Maintain engagement through regular check-ins and recognition

2. Respect the choice of staying content in their role

3. Also use job rotations and challenging tasks for broader exposure to ensure they don't get bored

4. Pair them with mentors for growth and offer upskilling opportunities

Even though these strategies seem similar, the key challenge is to manage expectations. If they're a high potential, they're going to become a leader somewhere so you do have to nurture that desire.

And even though your high performers may not rise into more senior roles, they may want the opportunity.

This group is all about providing support WHILST managing expectations (either on performance or potential).

6 - All-Stars

All-Stars, also known as "impact players:, represent your exceptional high performers who are also ready for new roles. They are A-players and hold immense value, playing a vital part in your leadership succession planning.

Potential strategies for all-stars:

1. Assign them challenging tasks. Their high performance makes them capable

2. Regularly check in and spot any early signs of dissatisfaction

3. Provide mentorship by senior members in the team and/or yourself

4. Foster networking with fellow stars and senior leaders

5. External roles like board positions (subject to their seniority) can incentivise, raise profile, and provide fresh challenges

6. Reward them generously. Their contributions deserve both recognition AND reward

How to Invest in Talent with the 9-Box Grid

This distribution is an interesting concept. It gives you some food for thought around how you might invest your professional development budget. Note it's not 100% on all-stars and 0% on everyone else... but there are weightings towards those with higher performance and/or potential.

How much are you spending right now, and on whom?

If it's all even across the board, you might want to consider whether that's actually reflective of the value being contributed.

If it's not, perhaps you're a bit nervous about applying more to those who deserve it? Don't be! This is about their performance, and their potential, and you need to put your money where the greatest returns will be.

Ok.. so what do I do now?

The tool is useful for evaluating performance, potential and is fantastic for thinking clearly about how you're going to manage talent, and succession plan.

Remember that above all else, the true worth of the 9-box grid lies not in labeling people, but in the assessment process and subsequent discussions. It's an opportunity to bring unsaid views on people in your organisation to the surface and to develop action plans to optimise the chance that they succeed - or move them on.

So.. that's it! Go ahead and:

1. Evaluate your team's 'performance, and potential

2. Position them on the grid based on you and your leader's assessment results

3. Implement a bespoke coaching, development and talent management strategy for distinct groups.

Hope you found it useful.

Good luck!

If you'd like to step back from your business and do some in-depth planning on how you can maximise your valuation in the next three years worth of effort, you should join us at the next ScaleUps Roadmap program. We help you build a kick-arse growth strategy, optimise your business model for scalability and valuation and much more! Check out the program here and register your interest now.