9 Box Grid: What It Is, Template & the Real-Time Alternative 2027

The 9-box grid is a talent assessment matrix that plots employees against two dimensions:

1. Current performance.
2. Future potential.

Also called the 9-box grid model or 9-box talent grid, it helps HR teams identify development needs, support succession planning, and structure talent reviews.

However, subjective ratings and fixed employee labels can limit its usefulness when assessments lack clear criteria and supporting evidence.

Key facts about the 9 box grid

• Two assessment dimensions: Current performance and future potential, arranged on a 3×3 matrix.
• Nine employee categories: Each box represents a different combination of performance and potential.
• Common uses: Talent reviews, employee development, and succession planning.
• Main limitation: Potential ratings can reflect manager opinion when shared criteria and supporting evidence are missing.
• Practical application: A 9-box grid template helps managers document assessments, compare ratings and plan employee development.
• Is the 9-box grid outdated? Not necessarily. It remains useful for structuring talent discussions, but organisations need regular reviews, evidence-based assessments and clear development actions to avoid relying on static labels.

The 9-box grid has been the succession planning tool for decades.

A visualisation of all your employees, based on potential and performance?

Sounds great. But is it actually effective?

Are you able to categorise all of your employees in just 9 vague phrases? We definitely couldn’t.

9 options wouldn’t even be enough to categorise what colour car we all drive. What city in the world we work from. Our favourite type of music.

You get the point.

Every member of our team has their unique strengths and abilities. They put in the hours to make sure that our business succeeds, and they progress in their development.

How on earth would we group them into 9 boxes?

We don’t think it’s possible. And thousands of other HR leaders feel the same way.

What is better than the 9 box talent grid?

• Success Circles™ (StaffCircle): a competency-based, real-time view of employee value built from everyday signals (feedback, reviews, objectives, recognition) rather than a one-time calibration label.
• Role success profiles: assess people against role outcomes + behaviours, not generic “potential”.
• Readiness + trajectory: “ready now/soon/later” plus evidence of growth over time.
• Skills & capability mapping: skills inventory tied to projects and learning plans.
• Success Circles™ is StaffCircle’s alternative to the 9-box grid

What is the 9 box grid?

Simply put, the 9-box grid is a succession planning tool.

It helps HR professionals visualise their workforce to identify employees’ strengths and weaknesses.

The 9-box grid aims to pinpoint employee performance, allowing leaders to better understand talent management.

Each grid section represents a category of employees. They are sorted based on their performance and potential.

If you’ve been in HR as long as we have, you’ve probably seen one.

It looks like this—you’ve got one, right? HR teams get an at-a-glance overview of employee performance and potential.

The objectives of the 9 box grid are:

• Finding succession opportunities
• Creating training plans for development
• Understanding areas for concern
• Influencing hiring strategies
• Tracking employee progress over time

It’s been used for decades, so it must be useful. Right?

Kind of. We’re among the growing number of people management voices who think it’s become outdated.

We’re not denying that it has its uses.

We just think that succession planning can be done better.

Deloitte did a study and found that lots of businesses don’t take succession planning seriously.

In their words:

More often than not, we found that companies were either avoiding succession planning altogether or were taking a dispassionate, process-oriented approach that minimises, or even ignores, the very real impact that it has on the people involved.

Sound familiar?

The dispassionate approach they reference is none other than the 9 box grid.

It takes the ‘people’ out of ‘people management’. And that’s not good enough anymore.

What Do the Nine Boxes Mean?

The 9-box grid groups employees into nine categories based on two factors: their current performance and their potential to take on future responsibilities. Performance usually reflects how well someone meets the expectations of their current role, while potential considers their capacity to grow or succeed in a different or more demanding role.

Each box represents a different combination of performance and potential. The labels can vary between organisations, so HR teams should define what each category means before using the grid to assess employees.

Performance	Potential	What it means	Suggested development action
High	High	Employees who perform well in their current roles and show potential for greater responsibilities.	Consider leadership development, stretch assignments, or preparation for future roles.
High	Medium	Employees who deliver strong results and may be ready to deepen their expertise or take on broader responsibilities.	Build specialist skills, offer cross-functional projects and discuss career goals.
High	Low	Employees who perform well in their current roles but may prefer to remain in their current career path.	Recognise their contribution, support continued growth and explore specialist career opportunities.
Medium	High	Employees who show potential for growth but need to improve or strengthen their current performance.	Identify performance gaps, agree on clear goals and provide coaching or targeted training.
Medium	Medium	Employees who meet some expectations and have room to develop in their current or future roles.	Set specific improvement goals, review progress and identify relevant learning opportunities.
Medium	Low	Employees whose current performance needs attention and who may not yet show readiness for broader responsibilities.	Clarify role expectations, provide feedback and agree on practical improvement steps.
Low	High	Employees whose current results are below expectations but who may have strengths or capabilities that could support future growth.	Understand the reasons for the performance gap, provide support, and reassess progress before making decisions about future roles.
Low	Medium	Employees who need support to meet current expectations and may have some areas of potential to develop.	Set clear performance goals, offer coaching and review progress at agreed intervals.
Low	Low	Employees who are currently struggling to meet role expectations and have not yet demonstrated readiness for broader responsibilities.	Investigate the causes, agree on a support plan and assess progress against clear expectations.

Is the 9 Box Grid Outdated?

The 9-box grid has been used in talent management for decades. It gives HR teams a visual way to compare employee performance and future potential, identify development needs, and support succession planning.

But a simple matrix cannot capture everything about an employee's contribution or capacity to grow.

The problem isn't necessarily the 9-box grid itself. It's how organisations assess employees, interpret their placement, and use the results to make decisions about their future.

Where the 9 Box Grid Falls Short

The traditional 9-box grid places employees into one of nine categories based on performance and potential. This creates a useful starting point for talent discussions, but it also has limitations.

• Potential can be subjective. Without clear assessment criteria, managers may rely on personal impressions rather than observed behaviours and evidence.
• Employee strengths can be overlooked. Someone who excels in a specialist role may contribute significant value without fitting the organisation's definition of high potential.
• Ratings can become fixed labels. An employee's placement may not reflect changes in their skills, responsibilities, performance or career goals.
• Development plans can become too generic. Employees in the same box may have very different strengths, ambitions, and support needs.

These limitations don't make the model useless. They show why HR teams need to look beyond an employee's position on the grid when making talent and succession decisions.

What Modern Talent Reviews Need

Effective talent reviews should connect employee assessments to clear criteria, supporting evidence, and practical development actions.

Rather than relying on a single rating, HR teams can:

• Assess performance against role-specific outcomes and observed behaviours.
• Use consistent criteria across managers and teams.
• Review employees' skills, development progress and changing responsibilities.
• Create individual development plans based on strengths and areas for growth.
• Revisit assessments regularly instead of treating a grid placement as permanent.

This approach helps organisations use talent assessments to guide development rather than simply classify employees.

Moving Beyond Fixed Employee Labels

The 9-box grid can help structure succession planning, but it should not be the only basis for decisions about employee growth or future responsibilities.

Approaches such as role success profiles, skills mapping, and readiness assessments can provide additional context. They help HR teams consider what an employee does well, which capabilities they need to develop, and what responsibilities they may be ready to take on.

StaffCircle's Success Circles offer an alternative approach, focusing on employee performance, development, and contribution over time rather than relying solely on a position in a nine-box matrix.

The goal is not to replace one label with another. It is to give managers and HR teams better information for development conversations and talent decisions.

Why is the 9 box grid still used in 2027?

Listen, we’ll admit there are some advantages to the 9-box grid.

It’s better than using nothing, for a start.

If you use the 9-box grid in your performance management strategy, you recognise the need to take succession planning seriously. And you’ve implemented an industry-recognised talent management process to do so.

You might agree with the following:

1. It can be easy to get started

As an established tool, the 9-box grid model is familiar to most people working in HR or people management.

It has an intuitive layout, easy-to-read results, and a simple structure.

The values inputted require a consensus from managers and HR leaders, so it is tailored to each employee. This works best with the use of 360-degree feedback.

2. It can help to identify valuable talent

The visual nature of the 9 box grid makes it very easy to identify employees with potential.

It’s easy to spot who’s struggling or needs to make changes, too.

As an at-a-glance visual, it’s great to get an idea of your workforce. It doesn’t go into detail, but it makes a great starting point for assessing performance.

3. It encourages performance and development discussions

Creating a 9-box grid encourages HR teams and managers to discuss employee performance, potential, and development needs. These conversations can bring different perspectives together and help identify strengths, skills gaps, and opportunities for growth.

For more reliable assessments, managers should use agreed criteria and relevant evidence, such as performance outcomes, observed behaviours and feedback from colleagues.

4. It supports succession and workforce planning

The 9-box grid can help organisations identify employees who may benefit from leadership development, stretch assignments or preparation for critical roles. It also gives HR teams a structured starting point for discussing succession risks and future capability needs.

However, a high-potential rating doesn't automatically mean an employee is ready for promotion. Organisations should also consider role-specific skills, demonstrated results, career aspirations and readiness for the responsibilities involved.

When leaders can easily assess employee potential, they can invest the time, resources and effort in employee development.

It takes time to develop into leadership positions. The 9-box grid offers a competitive edge by identifying high-potential candidates early.

This is also useful for effective talent retention and talent management.

Long-term development goals can be created for upcoming leadership talent. With a clear vision and end-goal in sight, they’re more likely to stay with you for longer.

Common 9-box grid pitfalls

We’ve been pretty clear. We think that the 9-box grid isn’t fit for purpose anymore.

If you’ve read this far, chances are that you think the same way we do.

We’ve already covered the main disadvantages. But there are more that we’ve not had a chance to mention. These include:

1. Reliance on subjective opinions can lead to bias and favouritism

2. Objective data measuring performance and potential is lacking

3. Employees can be confined to vague labels

4. Low-ranking employees can easily be discouraged

They’re the backbone of business success. And finding out that you consider them ‘low’ in anything could be totally demoralising.

How to create a 9 box grid

To create a 9-box grid, assess employees against two factors:

Current performance: Current performance measures how well an employee meets the expectations of their role. It considers work quality, goal achievement, productivity and the behaviours needed to do the job well.

Future potential: Future potential refers to an employee’s ability to grow, develop new skills and take on greater responsibilities. It considers their learning ability, adaptability and readiness for future roles, rather than their current results alone.

Define clear criteria for high, medium and low ratings, use evidence to place each employee in one of the nine boxes, then agree on development actions based on their strengths and needs.

One of the reasons that the 9-box grid is still used today is its simplicity. There hasn’t been an alternative that’s as easy to use and delivers more in-depth insight.

If this is your first time delving into succession planning, understanding the basics of the 9-box grid methodology will help.

There are three main steps to creating a 9-box grid. These are:

1. Assessing employee performance

The first step is to understand how well every employee performs their role.

Take a look at each employee’s current performance. How often do they achieve their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)? Are they consistently hitting targets, or do they often fall behind?

Using performance management software is the easiest way to evaluate performance accurately. The data is generated from performance scores against measurable expectations.

• ‘Low performance’ employees don’t perform as expected, frequently missing personal targets or deadlines
• ‘Moderate performance’ employees typically meet their job requirements, although there are some lapses
• ‘High performance’ employees consistently hit targets, regularly exceeding performance expectations

2. Assessing employee potential

Unlike performance, assessing potential is based on subjective opinions.

You need to be careful to avoid bias. One way to reduce this is by getting feedback on potential from as wide a range of people as possible.

Just like performance, it’s also measured as low, moderate, or high potential.

To properly split each employee into different talent categories, you need to consider:

• How motivated the employee is
• What level of expertise they have demonstrated
• How frequently they have learned new skills
• How willing they are to take on board coaching and mentoring
• How proactive they are in taking on new challenges
• Expected future behaviour

3. Merging performance and potential into a 3×3 grid

The final step is simple.

Plot the employees on an overall 9-box talent grid.

From there, you will have a single visualisation of your best candidates for future leadership.

How to make the 9-box grid better

If you choose to use the 9 box grid, vague descriptions will hold you back.

You can add context to justifications by using the 9-box talent grid matrix.

For example:

“A potential star” Low performer High potential	“Shows great potential” Moderate performer High potential	“An A-player” High performer High potential
“Inconsistent employee” Low performer Moderate potential	“A core player” Moderate performer Moderate potential	“High performer” High performer Moderate potential
“A high-risk employee” Low performer Low potential	“An average performer” Moderate performer Low potential	“A solid performer” High performer Low potential

But even then, you’re stuck using labels. What do they actually mean?

• A high-risk employee: low performance and limited potential, a candidate for reassignment to a lower level or, in the worst-case scenario, exiting the company
• An average performer: may have reached their potential, a candidate for coaching and other developmental programs
• A solid performer: a valuable employee who delivers results, could benefit from skill development and coaching
• Inconsistent employee: potential for future growth with the relevant coaching and stretch goals
• A core player: requires coaching and people management skills development, but a potential candidate for future progression
• High performer: their role provides an opportunity for growth and development, with strategic thinking a priority
• A potential star: a seasoned professional with the capability for an expanded role with some coaching and mentoring requirements
• Shows great potential: performs highly in their role and can reach the next level with appropriate stretch goals
• An A-player: a consistently high-performing individual who solves problems, sees the bigger picture, and is fully motivated to excel.

These descriptors certainly add more context to decisions. But is that enough?

Your succession planning process shouldn’t rely on boxes.

It’s time to identify potential successors by making it personal.

Free 9-Box Grid Template

Creating a 9-box grid from scratch can take time, especially when you need to compare assessments across teams. A template gives HR teams and managers a consistent starting point for recording performance, discussing potential, and identifying development needs.

Use the template to:

• Record each employee's performance and potential assessment.
• Document the evidence behind each rating.
• Identify strengths and areas for development.
• Agree on individual development actions.
• Review progress and update assessments over time.

Download the free 9-box grid template

Before using the template, agree on what high, medium, and low performance and potential mean in your organisation. Use evidence to support each assessment, and avoid treating an employee's placement as a final judgment about their future.

The grid is most useful when each assessment leads to a clear next step, such as coaching, skills development, a stretch assignment or a review of role expectations.

Alternatives to the 9-Box Grid for talent assessment

It’s time for a change, right?

While the 9-box talent grid may have been a valuable tool 50 years ago, modern succession planning needs a more intuitive process.

But what is the alternative? Is there a tool that can make succession planning more effective?

We struggled to find one. So we decided to build one.

Success Circles vs 9 Box Grid for Modern Succession Planning

The 9-box grid is a simple succession planning visual based on performance and potential, but it relies heavily on subjective judgement and vague labels. Success Circles™ are generated from everyday employee signals across the StaffCircle platform to create a more accurate, real-time view of performance, engagement, and development.

Dimension	9-Box Grid	Success Circles™ (StaffCircle)
Data source	Manager/HR calibration of performance + “potential”	Continuous employee signals (feedback, reviews, objectives, awards)
Output	9 labels (e.g., “High potential”)	Multi-factor view across segments (performance + potential plus competency areas you choose)
Bias risk	Higher risk: subjective opinions	Reduced risk: evidence-led signals gathered over time
Actionability	Broad direction (limited detail)	Pinpoint development actions (identify opportunities/risks and build targeted development plans)
Timing	Point-in-time snapshot	Real-time view; compare month-by-month or year-by-year

Use Success Circles to improve succession planning

Success Circles make succession planning simple.

An intelligent AI-powered tool, they are automatically generated during the employee lifecycle.

Every objective completed, every award received, every piece of feedback given.

Success Circles analyses it all, turning everyday performance data into a live view of potential.

Combine engagement, performance, and development

Every piece of feedback your employees receive through the StaffCircle platform is tracked.

Success Circles automatically condense the data. They document the steps of progression from every interaction.

And then automatically create a visualisation.

Make succession planning personal

Let’s stop labelling employees. It’s irrelevant, and no one likes being put in a box.

What do they like?

A simple way to understand their performance and progress. At a glance.

This is the power behind Success Circles.

No longer a tool for HR leaders to complete in private. No need to gather potentially biased opinions on potential.

Data isn’t biased. And Success Circles helps you own it.

You can choose what you want to track across the board.

Each segment of a Success Circle displays employee performance and potential.

• Development
• Performance
• Culture and brand
• Communication
• Leadership

The segments grow over time. They can be viewed at any time.

You and your team can get a real-time view to accurately evaluate performance progress and progression.

The benefits of real-time succession planning

The benefits are vast. Success Circles users list the following advantages:

• Take action fast if an employee is underperforming
• Understand who your high performers and workplace champions are
• Identify potential successors and nurture their development
• Involve employees in their own progression
• Create clear personal development roadmaps
• Understand performance barriers and highlight skills gaps

And that’s just the start.

The more you use Success Circles, the more valuable they become.

Compare data month-by-month or year-by-year to see the progress of your strategy come to life.

Clarify leaders' expectations on performance management initiatives. Feed back to board members, leaders, or investors on how your policies improve business success.

If you’re tired of your outdated succession planning process, it’s time to make a change.

Book a call with our experts. They’ll help you realise your vision for better employee success.

Astronomical expectations for succession planning

Consider this: the 9-box grid was invented just one year after we first landed on the moon.

Think NASA still uses the same launch process? Think again.

There have been 50 years of solid research and state-of-the-art developments since that first mission.

And it’s why companies like Virgin and Tesla can even consider starting space tourism.

In short, a lot of improvements can be made in 50 years.

So why are you still using the 9-box grid when assessing potential?

We want to hear your thoughts. Do you think the 9 box grid still has its place in today’s working world?

Or do you think like us? Are you ready for a change? Book a demo, and we will show you Success Circles on your own data.

FAQs

1. How often should you update a 9-box grid?

Review the 9-box grid during regular talent reviews and whenever an employee's performance, role, or development needs change. Regular reviews help keep assessments relevant and development plans up to date.

2. How can HR teams reduce bias in 9-box grid assessments?

Define clear rating criteria, use evidence to support decisions, and compare assessments across managers. StaffCircle helps organisations support employee performance and development through structured performance management processes.

3. Should employees know their 9-box grid placement?

Managers should discuss employees' strengths, performance, and development needs openly. Focus on specific feedback and agreed next steps rather than treating a grid placement as a permanent label.

4. Can the 9-box grid support employee development?

Yes. The grid can help identify areas for coaching, training, and new responsibilities. StaffCircle supports ongoing performance and employee development, helping organisations connect feedback with development goals.

5. What are the alternatives to the 9 box grid?

Alternatives include skills matrices, competency assessments, and succession readiness assessments. StaffCircle Success Circles™ offers another approach for organisations looking beyond the traditional 9-box grid.

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