The 9-box grid is one of the most widely used tools in talent management—and for good reason. It’s a simple yet powerful framework that helps leaders assess employees based on performance and potential, identify top talent, and make more strategic decisions around development, succession, and retention.
But not all 9-box tools are created equal.
At Quantum Workplace, we believe talent reviews should be more than a one-time event or spreadsheet exercise. We’ve modernized the 9-box grid by embedding it into a collaborative, data-rich, and repeatable talent review process—helping organizations evaluate talent fairly and act with confidence.
What is the 9 Box Grid?
The 9-box grid is a visual matrix that typically maps employees across two axes:
- Performance: How well an employee is executing their current role.
- Potential: Their ability to take on broader, more complex responsibilities in the future.
Each employee is placed into one of nine boxes based on their current performance and future potential, ranging from “low performance/low potential” to “high performance/high potential.”
Each box corresponds to typical talent strategies—like employee development, coaching, recognition, or succession planning.
Advantages of the 9 Box Grid
When done well, talent reviews are a powerful lever for building high-performing, future-ready teams. The 9-box grid helps HR teams and leaders evaluate employees more effectively—balancing performance and potential to drive smarter development, succession, and retention strategies. Here’s how it adds value:
1. Accelerates leadership development.
The 9-box grid makes it easy to visualize who’s excelling today and who’s ready to grow into tomorrow’s leadership roles. By mapping employees based on performance and potential, you can quickly identify high-impact talent and provide the right coaching and development to keep them engaged—and advancing.
2. Promotes fair, data-informed decisions.
Too often, succession planning is influenced by gut feel, favoritism, or tenure. The 9-box grid brings structure and clarity to the process. When paired with performance data and meaningful manager conversations, it helps reduce bias and focus attention on the employees most aligned with your future needs.
3. Uncovers targeted coaching needs.
Not every employee is a ready-now leader—but many have untapped potential. The 9-box framework helps managers pinpoint where support is needed, whether that’s skill building, clearer expectations, or additional stretch opportunities. It sparks productive, forward-looking coaching conversations.
4. Drives consistency and accountability.
The 9-box isn’t just a tool—it’s a conversation starter. Defining what performance and potential mean in your organization ensures more consistent evaluations and better alignment across teams. Cross-functional discussions around placements foster shared ownership in developing talent and growing your bench strength.
How to use the 9-box grid in talent reviews
The 9-box grid is a go-to tool for visualizing talent and guiding performance conversations—but how it’s used makes all the difference.
What’s Typically Done
Most organizations use the 9-box grid to plot employees along two dimensions:
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Performance: Based on past results—whether an employee has met, exceeded, or fallen short of expectations. This usually comes from performance review scores or manager assessments.
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Potential: A subjective measure of whether an employee is likely to succeed in future leadership roles, often based on observed traits or leadership competencies.
These conversations typically aim to:
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Identify high-potential future leaders
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Pinpoint flight risks or performance concerns
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Calibrate manager feedback
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Guide succession and development plans
When done well, this approach can help leaders move from gut instinct to more structured, consistent talent decisions. But it often falls short—especially when “potential” lacks definition or is overly focused on leadership readiness alone.
The Quantum Workplace Difference
At Quantum Workplace, we believe today’s talent landscape requires a more modern lens—one that looks beyond static measures and toward what truly drives engagement, performance, and retention.
That’s why our framework reimagines the 9-box grid using three essential dimensions:
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Employee Impact: A forward-looking view of how an employee contributes to team and business success—not just whether they hit goals, but how they elevate those around them.
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Growth Trajectory: An employee’s readiness and desire to take on more—whether through leadership, skill-building, or broader responsibilities.
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Retention Risk: Insight into how likely an employee is to stay, factoring in engagement, sentiment, and external opportunities.
This evolution of the 9-box gives HR and business leaders a more actionable, people-centered view of talent—so they can coach with intention, invest in the right employees, and proactively reduce turnover.
👉 Learn more about Quantum Workplace Talent Reviews >>
The limitations of traditional 9-box tools
Despite its popularity, the traditional 9-box grid often falls short in practice. Why? Because the tool alone isn’t enough—it's how you use it that matters.
Many organizations struggle to get real value from their 9-box process due to a few common challenges:
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It’s treated as a one-time event.
Talent reviews become an annual checkbox activity, disconnected from the rhythm of business. When the 9-box isn’t revisited regularly, insights quickly become outdated and irrelevant. -
Assessments lack structure—and open the door to bias.
Without clear definitions of performance and potential, placements often reflect subjective opinions instead of consistent criteria. This leads to misalignment across teams and erodes trust in the process. -
Insights live in static spreadsheets.
Traditional 9-box tools are hard to scale. With data scattered across disconnected files and systems, it’s difficult to collaborate, take action, or integrate findings into broader talent strategies. -
There’s no clear link between placement and next steps.
Employees get labeled, but not led. Without actionable follow-through—like coaching plans, growth opportunities, or retention strategies—the grid becomes a snapshot, not a springboard.
That’s where Quantum Workplace comes in.
We take the best of the 9-box concept and power it with dynamic tools, meaningful data, and guided workflows—turning talent reviews into an ongoing, insight-driven strategy for developing and retaining your most valuable people.
Quantum Workplace's modern take on the 9-box grid
We believe the 9-box grid is most valuable when embedded in a comprehensive, repeatable Talent Reviews process that’s designed for action—not just analysis.
Here’s how Quantum Workplace enhances the traditional 9-box:
1. Structured input from managers.
Managers complete a quick talent review for each employee by answering three key questions—about employee impact, growth trajectory, and retention risk. This structured approach helps reduce bias and create consistency across teams.
2. Simplified 4-quadrant grid view
Traditional 9-box grids can get overly complex—making it harder, not easier, to have meaningful talent conversations.
That’s why Quantum Workplace starts with a streamlined 4-quadrant view, helping leaders quickly see who’s thriving, who’s at risk, and where to focus development.
Our simplified model is designed to drive clarity, consistency, and action. But it’s also flexible. If your organization prefers a more detailed view—like a traditional 9-box or a 16-box grid—we can easily configure the experience to match your approach.
3. Real-time visualization and filtering
Talent ratings are automatically plotted into your chosen grid format—giving you instant visibility into trends across the organization. Built-in filters let you explore the grid by team, role, location, or cycle date.
4. Multi-rater and calibration support
You can invite multiple reviewers—such as matrix managers, mentors, or skip-level leaders—to ensure a more well-rounded assessment. Calibration tools help teams align on criteria and remove blind spots.
5. Built-in action planning.
Each box or quadrant can be connected to key talent strategies. Whether it’s launching coaching plans, initiating succession conversations, or recognizing high performers, Quantum Workplace turns 9-box insights into action.
Best practices for using the 9-box grid effectively
To get the most out of your 9-box grid, consider the following:
Conduct talent reviews frequently.
Move away from the once-a-year approach. Quarterly or semiannual cycles help capture performance shifts, changing risk factors, and emerging potential.
Evaluate across the organization.
Don’t limit reviews to leadership roles. Reviewing talent across all levels helps uncover rising stars and reduce turnover in critical roles.
Ensure transparency and calibration.
Encourage consistency by aligning reviewers on what each rating means. Use calibration sessions and multi-rater input to minimize bias.
Connect talent review ratings to development.
Each 9-box placement should have a clear next step. Turn insight into action through targeted development plans, retention strategies, or growth opportunities.
Bringing it all together
When used well, the 9-box grid is more than a chart—it’s a decision-making engine. With Quantum Workplace, you’re not just plotting employees on a grid. You’re building a repeatable, strategic process for identifying, developing, and retaining your best talent.
Our Talent Reviews solution helps you:
- Create structure and fairness in evaluations
- Gain deeper visibility into organizational talent
- Align talent decisions with business strategy
- Take action that drives real impact
Ready to transform your talent review process?
Let’s reimagine the 9-box grid—backed by data, supported by collaboration, and built for action.
