The Ultimate Guide to the 9 box grid for Talent Management in 2025

Question: Should you put people in a box? 

Answer: Only if it helps unbox under-optimized performance and untapped potential. 

9 Grid Box is a widely used performance amplification and potential optimization tool for businesses and HR departments. 

This quick guide helps you: 

• Understand what a 9 box grid really does in the context of talent management. 
• Benefits of a 9 box grid for any business that employs workers. 
• How to design and deploy a 9 box grid for your own teams. 
• Caveats and considerations to keep in mind. 

The 9 box grid, also known as the 9 box talent grid, is a popular, visually structured tool used by companies, founders and HR teams for evaluating the ‘quality of fit’ of an employee in the organization.  

The 9 box evaluation grid attempts to understand whether continuation of the professional engagement between the two parties (employee and organization) will fetch desirable benefits for either – or if yes, by how much. 

This forecasting is done based on past and current performance, as well as expected contributions going forward. 

This is where the 9 box grid comes in. It provides workforce leaders and HR managers a tested framework and standardized formula for both (A) assessing and comparing their employees’ performance and (B) understanding and controlling the factors and forces that drive it. 

Operationally speaking, the 9 box grid is easy to use, analytical and, when done  right, reasonably unbiased -  which explains the model’s enduring adoption across organizations and industries.   

“Governments and organizations must make talent strategy a key priority.”  - Yannick Binvel,  President, Korn Ferry’s Global Industrial Markets practice.

The 9 box grid helps businesses level up their talent management game, overcome the challenge of labor shortage, and build competitive edge over rivals. In the process, it moves several needles for the overall business as well - such as significant savings in time, bandwidth and cost. 

In the hands of experts, the 9 box development grid morphs into a versatile and transformative instrument amping up nearly every point along the talent value chain : From performance monitoring to goal setting to incentive and rewards planning, and beyond. 

A closer look on what exactly is the 9 box grid

The 9 box grid, also called the 9 Box Model, is a 3X3 matrix featuring nine quadrant categories that group employees on the dual criteria of past performance and future potential. Consider it a holistic (qualitative and quantitative) inquiry into the ROI of your employee investments across a future time horizon. 

• The horizontal axis of the 9 box grid captures a worker’s existing performance stats and specs ranging from low to high.  
• The vertical axis of the 9 box grid articulates the worker’s perceived potential, also moving from low to high. 
• At the two corners of the primary diagonal lie the two utopian extremes of high performance - high potential and low potential - low performance. All other boxes in between represent different combinations of these two extremes, making up the various grades and shades of personas whom we actually encounter and engage with in the real world of work. 
• Each box (quadrant) and combination in the 9 box grid reveals the status quo of aggregate value of a given employee in a given role for a given competency at a given period in time. In the context of a specific target, purpose and industry, each box takes on a connotation that’s even more textured, relevant and actionable.  

The quadrants (boxes) of a 9 box grid can be creatively coded basis trait or status for easy reference and comprehension - such as ‘Rockstar in the Making’, ‘Most Valuable Player’, ‘Laggard, not Loser’, ‘X Factor’, ‘Enigma wrapped in a Riddle’, ‘Needs a Hand that’s all’, ‘Leadership material’, and so on. 

A classic representation of the 9 box grid. 

So, backstory: Why do organizations need the 9 box evaluation grid in the first place? 

Let’s find out why: 

1. Simply put, it’s good business.  

With around 20% of folks in an organization responsible for 80% of the output (and vice-versa) according to the Pareto principle, it is critical that an organization holds on to its best people. It is 2025 already, and businesses are finding it harder and harder to do. 

2. Direct financial loss is only a fraction of the total damage 

From up to 36% drop in productivity, to grievance driven litigation expenses, to a broken culture denting future talent pipelines, to reputation ruin in talent communities – faultiness between employer and employee can snowball into untold grief for businesses.  

3. Good hiring is just the beginning 

 Though, and must be followed by great nurturing and loyalty building. A Gallup study estimates that employee burnout results in $322 billion in lost productivity and turnover.  

High quality talent, on the other hand, does the exact opposite: It ticks nearly every box that matters in business. 

9 box development grids: A new grid for a new reality 

In the era of workforce 2.0, businesses are having to navigate an unprecedented crisscross of forces: From breathless technological advancements to an increased appetite for risk to rebooted societal and behavioural dynamics to shifting employer employee expectations. 

Manpower leaders are rushing to the drawing board to reset perspectives and wrest back control. And that means rethinking talent frameworks fundamentally. 

In times of ambiguity, fixed beliefs and dogmatic boundaries must be the first to go. The modern day manpower landscape – where business and talent priorities tend to segue freely into each other – isn’t much different.  

The 9 box grid, a multifaceted and versatile talent unlock, helps organizations embrace the emerging grey areas and play in the overlaps – fixing flaws and plugging gaps with supple, understanding fingers and a holistic, sensitive view.  

With the 9 box grid, entrepreneurs and people leaders can rebuild their manpower gameplan from the ground up with new Lego clay, one block (ok, box) at a time - for a ‘new reality ready’ worker model that is fluid, nuanced and data-driven-realistic.  

By slicing, dicing and parsing their employee personas through different trait permutations and habit combinations, the 9 box grid can help talent leaders reimagine and realign organizational strengths to better address the challenges and opportunities of a new age. 

What do the boxes stand for? 

Decoding the 9-box grid, one quadrant at a time. 

(re-design above graphic) 

1. Low performance x low potential 

Here is someone who hasn’t really delivered on the job, and exhibits no sign or enthusiasm to do so. This 9 box performance grid normally represents a ‘dead end mismatch’ between the member and the role.  

While coaching, role adjustments and incentivization may be tried, the chances of termination in the not-too-distant-future are real. Do be mindful of accidental disrespect and treat this box with loads of empathy. 

2. Low performance x medium potential 

These employees may be underperforming now, but there’s clear room for improvement. The right training, better capacity-role alignment and a fresh look at incentivization could break the performance roadblock.  

A change of atmosphere and setting, a different project or a new team may also bring breakthroughs. 

3. Low performance x high potential 

 Something’s obviously holding these talented souls from shining. Advanced tools? Better feedback? A clearer developmental path? Perhaps a mentor? A different department?  

Here is a serious case of asset under-optimization, and as a workforce or revenue leader, it is your job to find out what exactly is stuck in the proverbial craw.     

4. Medium performance x low potential 

Folks in this box are sturdy and reliable performers who seem to be content ‘with less’. What appears to be a lack of ambition may simply be satisfaction with current levels of work life balance, fulfilled expectations, or interests outside work.  

Not every mortal is wired to climb the corporate ladder, but a little nudge here - just for good measure - can’t hurt. Could a change in the type of work, an opportunity to mentor juniors or contribute socially open a secret faucet of enthusiasm nobody knew existed? It’s worth a shot.   

5. Medium performance x medium potential 

Located bang in the thick (middle) of the action as it were, these are employees who have delivered steadily and also possess a fair bit of potential. Consider priming them for higher roles with personalized development plans that resonate with their personal motivations. 

Bridging skill gaps, opportunity to lead big projects and the occasional recognition in public can bring their ambitions to life.       

6. Medium performance x high potential 

These guys may not have dazzled you yet, but give them the right stage and they will. There are many ways to tap into the massive reservoirs of potential this group evidently possess.  

Stretch their limits, challenge them with special assignments, stimulate their ambition. Follow up with executive training, praise generously and in public, and allow exposure in leadership environments to prime them for the big role you have in mind. 

7. High performance x low potential 

These are employees who consistently outperform and yet show little interest in personal or professional advancement. The good news is that the company doesn’t need to spend on making them happy – they are already in state of bliss. 

8. High performance x medium potential 

These are high performers who have displayed a consistent pattern of excellence. They carry a positive appetite for greater challenges and opportunities which they can evidently handle.  

These folks are quintessentially middle to higher management material who can be developed for more significant roles with an unambiguous progression map, customized development strategy as well as strategic and frank dialogue. 

9. High performance x high potential 

We are now at the hallowed top right corner of the grid, and in the company of rockstars. These are, as you may have guessed, brilliant folks who habitually push boundaries, chase perfection and can be upto 800% more productive (that too, in highly complex occupations) as compared to counterparts in other quadrants.  

The 9X9-ers, so to speak, also come factory-fitted with supertraits like high EQ, evolved self-awareness, confidence in multi-cultural environments and empathy driven leadership.  

This is a tribe that has demonstrated both appetite and ability to shoulder top roles and are probably already being primed for them.  

Caveat: They are also 47% likely to quit for a rival. 

You know what to do. Give them the time, space, autonomy and respect they prefer, reveal your gala succession plans with them, make them the star at public occasions and get generous with exotic level, VIP-tier rewards.   

Benefits of the 9-box grid for businesses and organizations 

The North Star of the 9 box grid is pretty straightforward: To double down on what’s working, relentlessly lift competencies and mould future rockstars. The big goal is also to part with what isn’t delivering results, and offload misfits gently.  

 This core objective, however, also translates into a barrage of solid benefits that generate impact across the organizational matrix.   

Let’s take a look at the multidimensional benefits of using a 9-Box Grid in business. 

1. Objective and actionable assessment of in-house talent 

The 9 box grid provides a compact and clear frame of reference to understand the strengths, weaknesses, impact generated, level of engagement and forward possibilities associated with each employee in an organization.  

Data is carefully crunched through appropriate methodologies and frameworks, providing an evidence-based context for smart, unbiased and high impact decision making at the leadership level.  

Often, the biggest legacy of the 9 box grid is that it shakes things up, forces the leadership to take a second look at its talent force, and gets a structured conversation going around the topic. 

2. Strategic succession planning 

 “Having a succession strategy is as important as, if not more important than, having a corporate strategy”, says David Ager, senior fellow for executive education at Harvard Business School.  

Clear visibility about the quality, mindset and attitude of employees can help the company leadership accurately identify workers who are ready to step into bigger roles, greater responsibilities and senior cadres. This results in the creation of a high-quality talent pipeline that can be deployed on demand. 

3. Informed workforce development 

Basis clarities gained, HR and talent leaders can relook and reboot their macro level talent strategy. At a micro level, they can optimize cost and outcomes of employee skilling, development and readiness programs by making them more personalized and targeted. Check out the Forbes Human Resources Council discuss the 16 big advantages of of online and in-person training programs and events. 

4. Uniting departments under a common agenda 

The 9-box grid creates a common language that synergizes departmental leaders on a common platform and narrative around the company’s employee assets - status quo, future movements, imperative improvements, and the interventions required to get there. 

5. Culture lift 

With technology and systems drawn from roughly similar pools, culture may be the single most powerful differentiator and advantage a business has today. Research shows that companies with an upbeat workplace culture enjoy higher average annual returns.  

In the best case scenario, the 9 box grid helps minimize gaps, address grievances, remap role with ability, align personal goals with organizational purpose, and lay out rewarding pathways for individual growth.  

The upshot is that key variables like performance, job satisfaction and loyalty are positively impacted, giving a distinct lift to employee engagement, team morale and organizational culture. 

9 box development grids: Balancing business urgencies with talent priorities 

Achieving the right balance between organizational and human outcomes is often central to unlocking superlative performance at work. It doesn’t have to be a zero sum equation, though. Planned intuitively on the 9 box grid, it can evolve into a sophisticated maneuver capable of harmonizing business profits with employee welfare to deliver a winning work experience. It the process, it can generate value that is significantly larger than the linear sum of its diverse moving parts. 

9 box grids: Answering knotty questions for modern talent leaders 

• Who’s really doing the work? 
• Who needs help? 
• Whose work in the organization is, so to speak, done? 
• Control or empowerment, what must the culture prioritize? 
• Sources of predictable stability or spaces for innovation fuelling agility, what is the need of the hour? 
• Delivering on short term results or punting for long term gains, where does the juice lie? 

The 9 box grid helps leaders answer critical questions in a complex time to better align, develop and motivate employees. 

Pitfalls and perils: Limitations and caveats to consider when using the 9-box grid 

1. Start right: Slot the right employee in the right quadrant. 

Performance and potential make up the two axes of the 9 box grid. Accurately evaluating each, for a given employee, is key to success. Blending both industry best practises and the hunch of experience can make your assessment yardsticks comprehensive and credible. It will help you place employees in the quadrants they honestly belong to, and enhance the quality of the verdict by several notches. 

2. Stay mindful of oversimplification 

Both performance and potential are complex and layered concepts. Additionally, they are dynamic in nature, constantly evolving in time. A reductionist translation of the  implications generated by the 9 box grid – based on a static snapshot in one specific time - runs the risk of overlooking nuances, pigeonholing employees into unflattering slots and missing the wood for the trees.    

3. Guard against bias, misuse, abuse 

Despite its fundamental moorings in structure, the 9 box grid is susceptible to individual interpretation and subjective bias which can reshape its contours. This can unduly rank employees in a poor light, leading to a drop in morale, a disengaged workforce and measurable loss in culture quotient - resulting in more harm than good. 

4. Ask yourself: Do you have the time? 

Be it data and feedback gathering, collaborating between departments or figuring out the right assessment methodology (and then deploying it), implementation of the 9 box grid may demand significant amounts of effort and time. This may be a deterrence for fast-paced, matrixed or resource challenged teams and environments. 

5. Leave margin for error 

Exercises in measuring human performance and potential inevitably run into intangible abstracts like involvement, motivation, focus, engagement and commitment.  

These unquantifiable not only vary from individual to individual but can generate different outcomes from individuals displaying the same level of a given trait. Any model of employee performance evaluation – not just the 9 box grid – must stay flexible to accommodate the   inherent inconsistencies of the human condition.  

Best practices for getting the best out of your 9 box grid 

Following are the best practices: 

• Use the 9 box grid positively: To inspire and develop, not punish and disgrace. Avoid labelling that is derogatory or unfair. Let the benefit of the doubt - any doubt, at any stage - accrue to the employee and not the organization. 
• From an employee perspective, make constructive feedback the ultimate objective of your 9 box grid initiative. A Gallup study reveals strong correlation between meaningful feedback and employee engagement.  
• Define parameters and criteria clearly and unequivocally, right at the outset.  
• Do you have sufficient high quality data to start and sustain your 9 box grid program? Don’t begin without it. Examine your data sources, make sure the data is both relevant and current, and ensure data integrity and consistency throughout the exercise. 
• Employ a variety of assessment methodologies – behaviour, cognitive, skill, peer reviews – to arrive at an authentic and impartial view. 
• Take your stakeholders – including employees – into confidence. Involve them at critical stages of the process to ensure transparency, manage expectations and instil confidence in outcomes. 
• Integrate your 9 box grid exercise seamlessly with HR systems and processes to derive maximum returns (ROI) from the time and resources you pump into it. 
• Make sure everyone is aware of the objectives, process and criteria of your 9 box grid assessment. This will help neutralize speculation, misinformation and friction in time. 
• Keep channels of communication open at all times, solicit feedback to iteratively review and refine, and encourage healthy discussions and debates around it.   

Finally, do make a mental note of the ‘fun fact’ that the 9 box grid was originally conceived by strategy and management consulting firm McKinsey & Company in the 1970’s to help their client General Electric (GE) predict growth potential of investment funds.  

From moolah to the mind – the model’s playground, or terrain of impact, has shifted radically since. The rubric’s effectiveness on the vastly more complicated terrain of the human psyche will understandably suffer from natural drawbacks, and the same must be accounted for appropriately in calculations.   

Rewards: The 9 box grid hack not many know about 

Did you know the magic of rewards can transform the way you use the 9 box grid, and ensure you derive maximum value out of its insights and verdicts?  

As some of the boxes of the 9 box grid shows consistent delivery at work can be deceptive: It doesn’t always mean everything is hunky dory with your workforce. While many perform, not all do with all their heart – causing potential to languish neglected and leaving value on the table for everyone.  

Bridging the gap between overt performance and covert potential calls for high level judgment and sophisticated employee interventions – specialized professional capacities not all companies possess. Way out? A memorably delivered ‘Thank you!”, “You got this” or “That was awesome!” 

That’s right. Appropriate incentives and personalized rewards carry the power to cut through the haze and maze of talent management and deliver big breakthroughs. Global workforce engagement and motivation leader.  

Empuls reward and loyalty solutions simplifies the performance – potential riddle for talent and revenue leaders with over 10 million options across 1M+ merchants that can be conveniently plugged into any business systems seamlessly at short notice. 

By masterfully mapping incentive to motivation, Empuls thoughtfully curated rewards categories unlock a box in the brain that usually lies in the blind spot of supervisors and HR managers. The upshot? Over 5,000 clients across 175+ countries today trust Empuls to drive their business growth. That includes behemoths like Pepsi, VISA, Shell, HP and Siemens, to name a few.  

Ace the talent game with Empuls 

Want to explore Empuls secure, scalable and enterprise-grade incentive and rewards solutions for your business and crack the stubborn productivity - potential code? Write in at: 

“Determining the ROI of your employees is a multidisciplinary and sophisticated exercise calling for out of the box approaches. The 9 box grid is only one of them. Mastering it, though, could be the first big step in building the team of your dreams.” Manoj Agarwal, CoFounder, XOXODAY