Succession Planning Archives

What is a 9 Box Talent Review? Tactics for Effective Implementation in Your Organization

Did you know that a major challenge HR leaders face is identifying and cultivating top talent? According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, over 4.3 million people quit their jobs in December 2021, slightly below the record high in November.

This phenomenon, which is a component of the “Great Resignation,” has increased the significance of talent-finding, development, and retention strategies. 9-box talent review is one such technique.

The 1970s GE model inspired the 9-box grid, which rates employees based on their potential and performance. Managers categorize their employees into nine groups according to their performance history and prospects. This strategy helps companies find future leaders and create career paths to keep a strong pipeline of qualified candidates.

As you read this blog, you will have a thorough understanding of the 9-box talent review and how to implement it effectively in your business.

What is a 9-Box Talent Review?

Human resources evaluate and map out employees’ performance and potential using the dynamic 9-box talent review framework. A 3×3 matrix representation of this grid is necessary for effective talent management. It helps managers distinguish between employees based on their past contributions and future potential.

The 9-box model also known as the 9-box review essentially graphs nine potential employee types based on potential and performance, two crucial aspects. While performance measures how successfully an employee meets and exceeds job criteria, potential measures an individual’s ability to take on more significant responsibilities in the future.

Components of the 9-Box Review

Source

Performance Axis: This axis assesses a worker’s performance in their current position, considering output, work quality, and skill proficiency.
Potential Axis: This determines a worker’s ability to advance and take on more demanding and senior-level responsibilities.
The Grid: The nine boxes are organized from top right (high potential, high performance) to bottom left (low potential, low performance). Each box offers special features that help managers make informed decisions.

The Nine Boxes of the 9-Box Talent Review

The Nine Boxes of the 9-Box Talent Review provide a comprehensive overview of each individual’s development and contribution level. They represent an intentional synthesis of employee performance and potential. Below is a summary of each box:

1. Low Potential, Low Performance

Employees who require assistance in their existing roles hesitate to take on more difficult jobs.

Action Plan:

Consider transferring to more relevant tasks.
Develop specific skills.
Keep an eye on any changes to ensure they improve.

2. Low Potential, Moderate Performance

Dependable workers with little room for advancement but who perform effectively in their current positions.

Action Plan:

Promote dependability and consistency.
Provide programs for improving skills.
Acknowledge efforts to raise spirits.

3. Low Potential, High Performance

Effective performers are unlikely to ascend to leadership positions despite their value as specialists.

Action Plan:

Reward and laud great performance to increase morale.
Create a distinct career path without leadership as a main priority.
Consider how you can gain specific information.

4. Moderate Potential, Low Performance

Workers with potential who are currently performing below expectations because of a mismatch in positions or a lack of support.

Action Plan:

Use coaching to address performance concerns.
Short-term goals can help you improve your performance.
Examine the help requirements and role compatibility.

5. Moderate Potential, Moderate Performance

Solid performers with growth potential, good candidates for development.

Action Plan:

Encourage developmental assignments.
Provide mentorship opportunities.
Develop skills pertinent to future roles.

6. Moderate Potential, High Performance

High achievers with some potential to take on more significant responsibilities in the future.

Action Plan:

Prepare for higher responsibility roles.
Increase leadership training.
Foster skills that support long-term growth.

7. High Potential, Low Performance

Employees with significant potential who still need to perform at expected levels are often new to their roles.

Action Plan:

Investigate reasons behind underperformance.
Offer tailored coaching and feedback.
Realign expectations and objectives.

8. High Potential, Moderate Performance

Employees who show leadership promise but have yet to perform at high levels may need more challenges.

Action Plan:

Tackle obstacles in high-impact projects.
Enhance your leadership development programs.
Increase visibility with senior leadership.

9. High Potential, High Performance

The best candidates for succession planning are top performers capable of taking on leadership roles and who thrive in their current roles.

Action Plan:

Make succession planning a priority.
Assign positions of strategic leadership.
Participate in executive development programs.

The Importance of 9-Box Talent Reviews in Modern HR Practices

The 9-box talent review is a strategic tool for modern HR operations, not just an evaluation tool. It is the foundation of effective HR management in the following ways:

1. Enhanced Succession Planning

The 9-box review assists in the critical work of good succession planning, which is necessary for long-term business success, by identifying potential leaders early on. It is more difficult than ever to fill key positions since there are many more job openings than candidates—10.9 million vs. 6.3 million.

2. Complying with Business Goals

The 9-box model’s strategic needs directly impact the organization’s personnel performance and potential. This ensures that HRM programs support and improve corporate goals, allowing businesses to grow and change successfully.

3. Identifying Future Leaders

The 9-box talent review is critical for identifying high-potential people who are well-suited to leadership positions. Organizations may establish a strong pipeline of qualified leaders by proactively recognizing them and preparing them to step into critical positions as opportunities arise.

4. Tailored Development Programs

Businesses must make the most of their current staff, as 44% of workers indicate no interest in returning to traditional jobs. HR directors may ensure that talent is prepared for present and future problems in a competitive labor market by using the 9-box review. This will help them establish focused development plans based on employee performance and potential.

5. Workplaces with Hybrid Environment

Evaluating performance in a hybrid setting is difficult since employees work an average of 3.2 days per week, and workplace attendance is 30% lower than before the pandemic.

HR teams, on the other hand, may effectively manage and extend the talent management process in hybrid models thanks to the standard framework provided by the 9-box talent evaluation for assessing performance and potential.

How to Conduct a 9-Box Talent Review

The 9-box talent review is an essential tool for strategic talent management. It provides an organized method for identifying and nurturing organizational talent.

However, effective implementation of this evaluation necessitates thorough planning, cautious execution, and deliberate follow-up. Here is a detailed guidance on how to carry out each stage.

Preparation: Steps to Prepare for a Review Session

Step 1: Communicate the Purpose and Process

To promote transparency and buy-in, inform all stakeholders about the goals and methodology of the 9-box review. This includes clarifying how the data will be used and the potential outcomes for employees.

Step 2: Educate Assessors Completely

Conduct training sessions for managers and HR specialists participating in the review procedure to guarantee uniformity in comprehension and implementation of the 9-box grid standards.

Step 3: Schedule Reviews Strategically

Organize review sessions during periods of low operational pressure to ensure that all participants are focused and undistracted. Consider multiple short sessions over a single lengthy session to reduce fatigue.

Execution: Best Practices During the Assessment Process

Ensure Consistency: Use the same evaluation standards for all employees to prevent bias and ensure fairness across the organization.
Facilitate Open Dialogue: Encourage managers to discuss their assessments with each other to gain multiple perspectives and refine their evaluations. This collaborative approach can help achieve a more balanced view of each employee.
Document Insights and Decisions: Maintain detailed records of discussions and decisions to provide a reference for future reviews and to track employees’ progress.
Utilize Multiple Assessors: Involve more than one evaluator per employee, particularly for high-stake decisions, to minimize personal biases and enhance the objectivity of the review.

Follow-up: Actions to Take Post-Review to Ensure Effectiveness

Communicate Outcomes: Clearly articulate the review results to both management and employees to ensure everyone understands their next steps and the expectations going forward.
Develop Individualized Action Plans: Tailor development plans for each employee based on their specific placement in the 9-box grid, focusing on enhancing their strengths and addressing areas for improvement.
Monitor and Adjust Development Progress: Regularly review the progress of development plans and make adjustments as necessary based on feedback and changing business needs. This can involve additional training, new assignments, or changes in career paths.
Schedule Regular Review Updates: Plan for periodic follow-up reviews to reassess employee placement on the 9-box grid and update development plans accordingly. This ensures the talent management strategy adapts to personal growth and evolving organizational goals.

Tactics for Effective Implementation of 9-Box Talent Reviews

Effective implementation of the 9-box talent review process requires strategic tactics that ensure evaluation accuracy and that the process is dynamic and integrative with organizational practices. Below are key strategies to enhance the effectiveness of your 9-box reviews.

Training for Managers: Importance of Training Evaluators

Comprehensive Understanding: Ensure all evaluators fully understand the 9-box model’s dimensions, performance, and potential.
Assessment Consistency: Train managers to apply evaluation criteria consistently to avoid biases and ensure fairness.
Decision-Making Skills: Focus on enhancing managers’ ability to make informed decisions about talent development and placement.
Scenario-Based Training: Use real-life scenarios during training to help managers practice applying the 9-box model effectively.

Regular Updates and Feedback: How Continuous Feedback Enhances the Process

Real-Time Adjustments: Provide real-time feedback to employees, allowing for immediate developmental adjustments.
Motivation and Engagement: Continuous feedback keeps employees motivated and engaged by showing progress and areas for improvement.
Performance Trends: Regular updates help track performance trends over time, providing a deeper insight into employee development needs.
Feedback Loops: Establish feedback loops between employees and managers to foster a culture of open communication and continuous improvement.

Integration with HR Software: Leveraging Technology for Efficient Reviews

Automated Data Collection: HR software can be used to automate the gathering and analysis of performance data.
Visualization Tools: Implement tools that visually map out the 9-box grid, making it easier to understand and use.
Accessibility and Updates: Ensure the 9-box data is easily accessible to authorized personnel and can be updated in real-time.
Integration with Other HR Functions: For a holistic approach, connect the 9-box system with other HR processes, such as training programs and performance appraisals.

Conclusion

In this discussion, we’ve explored the 9-box talent review system, a powerful tool for assessing and developing organizational talent. The benefits are clear, from understanding its basic framework and significance in aligning HR practices with business objectives to implementing it. The 9-box review identifies potential leaders and ensures a strategic approach to talent management.

If you haven’t incorporated the 9-box review into your talent management strategy, or if it’s time for a reassessment, consider the insights shared here. Embrace this model to enhance your organization’s ability to develop a robust leadership pipeline and maintain competitive advantage.

Start today by assessing your current practices and plotting your path forward with the 9-box system. Visit Engagedly to learn how our tools can streamline and enhance your talent review processes.

FAQs

1. What is the ideal frequency for conducting 9-box talent reviews?

Conduct 9-box reviews annually to align with performance evaluation cycles, allowing for timely updates and adjustments to development plans.

2. How do you handle discrepancies in assessments during a 9-box review?

Address discrepancies through calibration meetings where managers discuss and align their assessments to ensure a consistent approach and understanding.

3. Can the 9-box model be adapted for small businesses?

Yes, small businesses can scale the model to fit their size by simplifying the criteria or focusing on key roles critical to business success.

4. What are the common challenges when implementing a 9-box talent review?

Challenges include ensuring evaluator training, maintaining unbiased assessments, and integrating the review outcomes with actionable development plans.

5. How should feedback from a 9-box review be communicated to employees?

Feedback should be direct and constructive and include specific developmental advice to help employees understand their current positioning and potential growth paths.

The Importance of Succession Planning

It’s an unfortunate truth that nothing lasts forever – business is no exception, and one of the most damaging events for any organization is the loss of a key team member.

Individuals may decide to vacate a role for any number of reasons – retirement, health or well-being concerns, personal circumstance changes, internal promotions, or new career paths opening up – and you need to be ready to replace a team member.

The key to keeping your business operating smoothly is thorough succession planning. Through this process, you’ll identify the key roles for succession. You’ll also single out the team members who will be best suited to fill the position and the timeline for the process of training the prospective candidate. But does every business need to invest in this process? And are there any pitfalls we should be ready to tackle?

Also Read: Strategic Workforce Planning: Aligning Human Resources With Business Goals

The Benefits of Succession Planning

There are several key benefits to having a succession plan in place, both for the employee and the employer. These benefits can be felt across many aspects of your business. Let’s explore some of these advantages.

Protects business continuity and mitigates risk

At the end of the process, your plan will be in place, and all the necessary roles will have a successor. Now, should an employee change their post, key roles will not be left empty. This helps to ensure that business will continue smoothly as changes occur.

Furthermore, knowing the team members who will be taking on the new roles helps to mitigate risks typically involved with external recruitment. A diligent recruitment process can only take you so far. It isn’t until employees are integrated and working within your business that you’ll have a good understanding of their capabilities. Team members who have been with you for a long time are tried and trusted assets you should leverage.

Promotes loyalty and fosters improvement

There’s nothing more demoralizing than seeing a senior position be recruited externally when quality candidates exist internally. By focusing on the strengths your company already possesses and fostering talent from existing team members, employees will see that loyalty is rewarded with senior roles. This makes them much more likely to work diligently and actively seek to improve their work ethics.

Reduces churn through better preparedness

Many businesses struggle with leadership that lacks the training for the challenges faced by their role. This is either a symptom of an improper hiring process or poor succession processes and a lack of internal support.

Fortunately, by creating a personal development program as part of your succession strategy, employees are much more likely to feel prepared for future promotions and have the appropriate training to tackle new challenges head-on.

Also Read: Guide to Employee Engagement and Retention in Financial Services Industry

The Challenges of Succession Planning

Unfortunately, it isn’t always a smooth process when actioning a promotion of your succession plan. The larger your organization, the more likely that challenges will arise. You need to be ready to meet them with honesty and openness to avoid problems long-term. Here are some of the biggest hurdles you’ll face with a succession plan.

Taxing to implement

Implementing a succession plan into an established business is not a simple feat. Individual managers will have perceptions of their team and will likely have biases. This creates a fine line between promoting the right team member and the wrong one.

Furthermore, the nature of the process takes a lengthy amount of time. Team members marked for a future role need to be properly trained and prepared, all while ensuring they stay happy and are effective in their current roles.

You don’t need a strict succession plan set up for every employee position – an operative reading cold call script examples, for example, is likely not a role you need to form a plan for. But you still need to ensure they have a genuine development path within your company if you hope to keep your team long-term.

Loss of talent being prepared for succession

The most damaging one-two punch is losing a key senior member only to also lose the employee in line for that role during the interim. Given that the rising employee will understand the requirements of the role and its remuneration in great detail, it is not uncommon for them to seek alternative employment, using your offer as a benchmark.

An event leading to the loss of two staff members in a single department can cause a great deal of friction throughout the entire business, not just within their respective teams. You need to ensure that contingencies are in place for such an eventuality and that you remain flexible to adjust as necessary.

Difficult for some employees to adjust to

Despite collaborating daily, it’s an unfortunate truth that there will always be an element of competition in a growing business. Employees want to be recognized for their contributions and given opportunities to further their careers, so the concept of having specific employees planned out to replace other senior members can cause discomfort and frustration.

It’s important to be direct with team members about your intentions and to always keep an open mind as to whether your plans should change. If a specific team member showcases their talents consistently, even if they hadn’t previously been considered for a role, you should seek to find a way to foster their enthusiasm. There’s nothing more valuable than employee happiness and staff who are content in their company.

Also Read: How HR Helps Performance Review Calibration and Standardization

How to approach building your succession plan

With the prizes and pitfalls established, it’s time to start designing your business plan. There are several ways to approach the task. You will also need to make some changes for specific business structures or industries. The general pathway, however, to a complete and robust succession plan will follow these steps.

Identify roles most at risk of vacancies impacting operations

Think about the current structure of your company and the roles that are integral to daily operations – typically managerial roles or key infrastructure engineers – and then map out the requirements for that role.

Treat this process much in the way you would with external recruitment and benchmark your internal talent against the proposed job description. Some companies will opt to create a fresh domain name and host their recruitment efforts there – this can be beneficial for internal recruitment, where you can treat it as an internal job board. Employees can then discuss opportunities with line managers in development meetings.

Refactor your employee development plan

Although the main goal of this article is to help ensure you can foster internal talent for succession, it would be unwise to focus your development plans on specific employees. Instead, create a holistic development plan that works for the entire company.

Outline clear progression paths and create a system that allows employees to achieve meaningful progression at all stages of their development.

Keep communications with your team open

This is good practice for all aspects of employee management, but is especially crucial to understand how your team is evolving, the ambitions of individuals, and whether there is any risk of losing specific members.

Invest time in private sessions discussing their development, and don’t be afraid to communicate information to the company at wide. For important communications such as these, emails can often get lost in the shuffle, but you can send a fax from Google and use that platform for official updates that will be sure to be noticed. Follow this with meetings to discuss updates and field questions and keep all employees informed of the direction of the company.

Create a timeline for succession

Even after your plan is in place, it doesn’t mean you’re ready to handle the loss of any employees. The next step is to train individuals for the role they’re in line for. You need to have a clear understanding of when they’ll be ready to advance. This is critical if you are promoting a senior member and are promoting another into the original role, as both training plans will need to align to ensure the smoothest transition.

Looking to the future

A succession plan will serve as your guiding light for future growth and business changes, give you confidence in taking risks with your structure, and help you focus on business operations. It also will give your employees clear paths to promotion, which will improve morale and foster a positive workplace culture in turn. Don’t hesitate to invest in putting your succession plan in place today – for the benefit of your business and your team.

Also Read: 10 Best Employee Retention Strategies to Keep Your Best Talents

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. What is an important tool in succession planning?

Ans. An essential tool in succession planning is the talent assessment process. It helps identify and evaluate potential leaders within an organization, ensuring a smooth transition of leadership roles when needed.

Q2. What are the features of succession planning?

Ans. The key features of succession planning include identifying high-potential employees, providing training and development opportunities, creating leadership pipelines, setting clear goals for career advancement, and ensuring a seamless transition of leadership roles within an organization.

Q3. What are the five steps to succession planning?

Ans. The five steps to succession planning typically involve identifying key positions, assessing and selecting potential successors, providing development and training, creating transition plans, and regularly reviewing and adjusting the succession strategy to ensure its effectiveness.