The 9 Box for Succession Planning

The 9 Box is part of a talent management system to help organizations manage the capability of their workforce.  The Nine Box is in wide use now in many companies, but is generally credited as having been pioneered by General Electric and McKinsey.  Below we talk about the following aspects of the 9 Box:

• What is the 9 Box?
• The typical 9 Box grid.
• How to use the 9 Box.
• Common challenges to using the 9 Box.

What is the 9 Box?

The 9 Box is a Leadership Talent Management Tool used to assess individuals on two dimensions:

1. Their past performance and
2. Their future potential

The outcomes of running a 9 Box session include:

1. Helping identify the organization’s leadership pipeline
2. Identifying the ‘keepers’.
3. Identifying turnover risks.
4. Identifying employees with potential to provide development assignments or special projects
5. Making ‘improve or remove’ decisions about those employees and leaders whose skills are out of date.

The Typical 9 Box

How to Use the 9 Box

The 9 Box system is most often part of a larger Talent Management system.  It is also easy to understand and implement, but efforts need to be made to people to explain why it is being done, and how it will impact them.

• The tool is most effective when used by a team.
• Have each manager fill in a grid assigning each of their team members to one of the squares on the grid.
• Consider asking for additional information, such as years in current position, retention risk, or relocate-ability.
• Conduct the calibration meeting.  This is where you as a manager get feedback from your peers, and potentially your boss on where you have elected to place your people on the grid.
• Use the grid as a guideline to developmental activities, promotions, and transfers
• Repeat every six months.

Common Challenges to Using the 9 Box

Although the 9 Box is conceptually easy to understand, there are some challenges to implementation:

• Open or closed?  This essentially asks the question as to whether people are made aware of their place on the grid or not.  There are good arguments on both sides of the argument.  Regardless of the decision to reveal their place or not, every employee should be given regular performance feedback, and developmental opportunities.  The Nine Box can assist greatly in doing this effectively.
• Defining Potential.  Most organizations have some infrastructure to assess performance.  Fewer assess potential as effectively.  In a traditional hierarchical organization, potential may be defined as how quickly someone might climb one or two rungs on the corporate ladder.  In other organizations, it might be worth facilitating a conversation on what “potential” means.

3 Things to Remember About 9 Box Grids

1. The 9 Box  is only part of a larger Talent Management process.
2. Action plans on what to do to improve performance and/or potential are much more important than simply completing the Nine Box.
3. Encourage healthy debate and set high standards.

Watch the ‘3-Minute Crash Course’ about The Nine Box (CLICK THE ARROW TO START THE VIDEO):