A Guide to Using SIGMA’s 9-Box Grid

Many organizations struggle with talent development, succession planning, and other strategic programs, due to a lack of clarity regarding best practices. SIGMA streamlines these processes by providing tools and templates designed to guide your organization’s strategic approach. One such tool is the 9-Box Grid.

SIGMA has refined and improved the 9-Box Grid, enhancing its effectiveness within a robust talent development program. This post offers an introduction to the template, explaining the improvements we’ve made and outlining its intended use. For further instructions on how to use the tool with our assessments, we have compiled a comprehensive step-by-step guide. Continue reading to discover more about the 9-Box Grid and to download our free guide today.

What is the 9-Box Grid?

The 9-Box Grid is a widely used framework for organizing and evaluating internal talent in an organization. In fact, many organizations favor this approach for its simplicity, usability, and versatility. Traditionally, the grid categorizes talent based on performance and potential. In this model, performance represents an employee’s past behavior, whereas potential demonstrates an employee’s expected future behavior. Supervisors rate their employees as low, moderate, or high on each metric, placing them within the 3×3 grid. This placement can then be used to inform next steps regarding employee development.

Why Use the 9-Box Grid?

The traditional 9-Box Grid has many benefits that make it a valued tool for talent development:

• Straightforward to use.
• Applicable across various work contexts.
• Evaluates employees based on relevant metrics.
• Presents an intuitive visual.
• Allows leaders to easily review the talent pool that exists within the organization.
• Facilitates discussions about resource allocation and talent development.

Limitations of the Traditional 9-Box Grid

Despite its popularity, the traditional approach to the 9-Box Grid lacks standardization and validation. Leaders often fail to define relevant metrics before raters evaluate employees, leading to inconsistent benchmarks. This inconsistency, combined with individual preferences or cognitive biases, can result in subjective or speculative ratings, which are not advisable for making critical organizational decisions.

Consider, for example, Jane and Sarah, two hypothetical employees who have been selected to participate in a talent development program. Their leadership team decides to use the 9-Box Grid but does not define performance and potential metrics, leaving it to the supervisors to determine evaluation criteria. Unfortunately, Jane’s direct supervisor focuses on a minor mistake, overlooking her holistic performance, and believes that low ratings motivate employees to improve. In contrast, Sarah’s direct supervisor considers Sarah’s overall abilities, and aims to generally rate employees favorably. These subjective factors result in Sarah being placed much higher on the grid than Jane, and the two employees subsequently receive different opportunities for growth and development, impacting their overall career trajectories. Had the leadership team provided more specific definitions and considered using standardized assessments, the organization would have been able to effectively maximize the growth potential of its employees.

SIGMA’s 9-Box Grid Template

Is the 9-Box Grid worth using, despite its limitations? At SIGMA, we believe it is — with modifications. Our talent development experts enhanced the grid with our evidence-based competency framework and standardized definitions of potential, increasing the tool’s objectivity. Our approach also improves transparency. By clearly defining the metrics used in the grid, leaders can easily explain the talent development process to their employees and feel confident in the decisions they make for allocating resources and opportunities.

SIGMA’s Approach

SIGMA’s 9-Box Grid evaluates potential from two different perspectives: leader-rated and assessment-rated.

• Leader-rated potential is measured by the Talent Review Survey and is completed by the employee’s direct supervisor. This survey covers five dimensions of employee behaviors and abilities, including performance, initiative, feedback, strategic engagement, and relationships. Each dimension includes a specific definition and is assessed by a defined rating scale.
• Assessment-rated potential is measured by the Leadership Skills Profile – Revised® (LSP-R®) Focus Report, which is self-rated by employees. The LSP-R is an evidence-based measure of SIGMA’s leadership competency framework. Incorporating personality-based assessments of leadership potential adds a layer of objectivity to the evaluation process.

The placement of employees on the grid reflects their overall potential as derived from these assessments. SIGMA’s template uses the following categories: low potential, uncertain potential, hidden potential, unverified potential, moderate potential, high potential, and top potential. Regardless of an employee’s category, organizations must take further action to develop support strategies, each uniquely tailored to a specific leadership style.

Advantages of SIGMA’s Template

Like the conventional model, SIGMA’s 9-Box Grid is user-friendly, can be used in a variety of work contexts, and presents an intuitive visual of employee potential. Moreover, it encompasses additional enhancements:

• Using assessments and standardized definitions enhances objectivity.
• Raters receive clear guidelines for evaluating employees.
• Employees actively participate in the process through self-assessment.
• SIGMA’s step-by-step instructions allow for easy categorization on the grid.
• Clearly defined metrics promote organizational transparency, ensure perceptions of fairness, and enable leaders to make key organizational decisions with confidence.

How to Use SIGMA’s Template

Utilizing SIGMA’s 9-Box Grid in strategic initiatives involves three primary steps: discussing talent with the leadership team, completing assessments, and populating the grid. Download the detailed guide for an explanation of this process — and continue reading for a sneak peek.

1. Discuss talent with the leadership team: This initial step involves establishing a dedicated team to discuss the organization’s talent development program, including the value of talent development and how the 9-Box Grid can support this process. Leaders convene to nominate employees for talent development. A sample email template and a meeting agenda are provided in the guide.
2. Complete assessments: After identifying a select group of employees, the next step is to complete the necessary assessments. This begins by informing employees and their direct supervisors about their role in the talent development process. Employees complete the LSP-R assessment, and their supervisors complete the Talent Review Survey. For additional information, including sample email templates, refer to the guide.
3. Populate the grid: Leaders then compile the scores from both assessments, applying SIGMA’s scoring bands to categorize employees on the grid. Detailed instructions, including the scoring bands and guidelines for filling out the grid, are available in the guide.

Beyond the 9-Box Grid: Creating a Lasting Impact

The 9-Box Grid is a helpful tool that can provide a starting point for conversations about employee development. However, for a talent development program to be successful it must extend beyond simply categorizing employees on the grid. If you are ready to transform your talent management strategy, fill out the form below. We would be happy to speak with you about the unique context of your organization.