Capture of the result of a 9 box that evaluates potential and performance

July 30, 2024

Hrider TeamHrider Team

How to make a 9-Box Talent Matrix (Nine Box)

Table of Contents

Talent maps are a strategic Human Resources tool that is based on a correlation matrix of two variables that allows to identify the level of development of the organization's employees, mainly in terms of their Performance and Potential. Depending on the box or quadrant in which each employee is located (the conjunction between the X and Y variables), the decision to be made will be different.

1. What is a 9 Box Matrix?

The Talent Maps or Talent Matrixes, usually presented in a 9-box (or box) format, are a tool with which we can identify our key employees: those who show career potential in the organization and high performance. In this way, we can have a visual map on which to position each employee and ensure that their professional development needs are kept up to date, that they feel engaged in the organization, and that they assess their ability to become leadership benchmarks; look at your strongest contributors and determine what they need to keep pace on their journey, or if they show potential, help them develop it with the right initiatives; and finally, it allows us to identify people who are not performing well and don't seem to have the potential to improve.

2. What is the Talent Matrix for?

A talent map allows us to have information at a glance, just as a map would. It allows us to situate each of the people in the organization and know where each one is. This information is invaluable in order to make decisions that are fairer, more transparent and more agile.



This is some of the information that we can obtain from a Human Resources Matrix:

  • General situation of talent in the organization.
  • Visually identify the performance level of each person.
  • Identify people who can be promoted to positions of greater responsibility in the company.
  • Distinguish the ideal people to fill a position that requires a high development of two specific skills.
  • Find out who is the most appropriate collaborator to lead a project x.
  • Provides information to develop succession plans.
  • Analyze if people are where they should be according to position and seniority.
  • Identify people with potential to occupy leadership positions in the future.
  • Quick comparison of the collaborators with the average results of the group.
  • Measure the quality of selection processes.
  • Find out if specific training is necessary for a considerable group of people.
  • Identify if there are people who are not aligned with the corporate strategy.

As a logical consequence of the above, the Benefits provided by the Talent Maps are more than evident:

  • It is ideal to reflect a complex situation using a simple graphic.
  • It allows you to make the right decisions with the right people.
  • It helps to objectively focus the future of employees.
  • Prevents people from occupying the wrong positions or roles.
  • In addition to correlating potential and performance, it can be done with two competencies, two values, values with performance, behavior with results...
  • It makes it possible to agree on specific development actions.
  • Provides coherence to the creation of training plans.
  • Allows planning remuneration policies and defining compensation and benefit plans.
  • It is a great tool to give strategic value to the Human Resources function, as it helps to display information visually in presentations and share talent management decisions in Management Committees.

3. Origin of Talent Matrixes

Before delving into explaining what a Human Resources Matrix is, let's see how this technique arose in the business world and what its historical evolution has been, since the coordinate planes perfected by René Descartes were devised hundreds of years ago, until nowadays they became the new must of talent management:

  • The first matrix known and used as a business strategy is the BCG Matrix , a 2 for 2 created in 1968 by Bruce Henderson, founder of Boston Consulting Group, having as axes the Relative Market Share and Growth, with the purpose of classifying their businesses in four categories and being able to decide where to concentrate their resources to generate the greatest value, as well as where to cut your losses.
  • Following in the footsteps of BCG, in the early 1970s, the McKinsey Consulting firm prepared for General Electric an evolved nine-quadrant matrix, known as GE-McKinsey, giving you an analytical map to manage 150 business units based on the axes of Market Share and Growth Potential.
  • Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric from 1981 to 2001 , who spent more than half of his time getting the right people to the right places and then helping them prosper, developed a 2x2 Matrix correlating Behavior and Results, originally for evaluating managers and later also used to evaluate managers. employees throughout the organization. Welch not only focused on Performance, but also created another 2x2 matrix to correlate it with organizational Values.
  • George Odiorne, in his book Human Resources Strategy: A Portfolio Approach (1984), described employees as assets that can be valued and managed much like a stock portfolio is managed, noting that their value can increase. He categorized managers through a two-dimensional matrix, with Performance on one axis and Potential on the other.

4. What data is related in a 9 Box Matrix?

A 9-box matrix, or talent matrix, allows us to classify the people in an organization according to the results of two assessments, usually a potential assessment and a performance assessment.

For those of you who already know what a 9-box is, in this post we will explain how to easily create them with Hrider.

Graphically, we use a map divided into 9 quadrants is used (hence the 9-Box), where the Y-axis is the score obtained from Potential and the X-axis is the score obtained from Performance. Therefore, each person evaluated will have a single quadrant, the one that contains the coordinate resulting from his or her scores (X, Y).

For example, an appraisee with a score of 90 in Potential and 90 in Performance will correspond to box number 1, while an apraisee with a socre of 50 in Potential 90 in Performance will correspond to box number 3.

In Hrider you will be able to create not only talent matrixes with 9 quadrants, but you can also do it with 4, 16 and 25 quadrants, it is what we call an N-Box:

For a 9-Box the quadrants go from 1 to 9 and their default labels are:

5. Enigma.
2. High potential.
1. Super star.
8. Dilemma.
6. Key employee.
3. Star in your area.
9. Consider post.
7. Good performance.
4. Excellent performance.

These labels as well as the colors are fully configurable, you can change them, even change the color and number of each of the quadrants if you wish.

 

We are going to give you in a detail way the steps to create your own talent matrix:

4.1. Step 1: Create a new evaluation type N-Box

From the Evaluations section, click on the "New" button and in the wizard select the option N-Box.

4.2. Step 2: Select the initial data

To populate the N-Box you have two options, choose two already completed evaluations, one for the Y axis, and another for the X axis. Or, create an empty N-Box and then import the results from a file Excel.

4.3. Step 3: Add the rest of the data

Whether you selected two reports in the previous step or decided to create it empty, you can add people individually using the "Add Person" button on the toolbar, or you can do it massively by importing an Excel file. You can do this whenever you want, the data will be automatically added to the current N-Box to reflect the changes. This import option is very useful if you had the data in another system and now want to have it in your Hrider account.
 
Once populated, you will be able to see the people distributed in the N-Box in their respective quadrants:

Among other functions, you can move the mouse over a person to see their data, zoom in on the graph, change its size or calibrate a person's scores.


4.4. Step 4: Calibration

The calibration process allows us to change the current coordinates that correspond to a person, and thus the quadrant to which they are assigned.
 
Depending on the initiatives in which we want each employee to participate, it will be more appropriate for us to place them in one or another box of our talent matrix. In addition, calibration allows us to homogenize the criteria by which each person has been evaluated by pooling all the results.
 
To calibrate, we simply select the person in the graph and press the "Calibrate" button, which allows us to set new values for both the X and Y coordinates. Once the changes have been confirmed, the graph now shows the person in his new position, with a dashed line marking the original position he had before calibration.

 

4.5. Step 5: Configuration

Finally, as usual the configuration options are excellent with Hrider. From the "Settings" section, you can change the name of the axes, the dimensions of the N-Box, you can go from one of 9 quadrants to one of 16, 25 or 4, at any time, also you can change the colors of each quadrant, the number they are assigned and their label.

5. Standardisation of scores in the 9 Box

When assessing who stands out the most in our teams, taking into consideration performance and potential, we sometimes face a challenge: original scores may appear uniform, resulting in people clustering in a single quadrant rather than being distributed across our N-Box. To overcome this difficulty and make the information on the chart more useful, we can standardise the scores. This helps us better understand the differences among contributors, as they are centred around an optimal value, the mean, and scaled according to the standard deviation.
 
In standardisation, also known as z-score normalisation, data is centred and scaled so that it has a mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 1. This is achieved by subtracting the mean from each value and dividing by the standard deviation. The formula for standardising a variable is 𝑧 = ( 𝑥 −𝜇 )/𝜎 where 𝜇 is the mean of the variable and 𝜎 is the standard deviation.
 
By standardising the data, the original measurement units are removed, making it easier to compare different variables that may have different scales and units.
 

6. What decisions should be made according to the place that the employee occupies in the Nine-Box of Performance and Potential? 

Group I: Retain and motivate

6.1. High Potential- High Performance:

This is a future leader who has the skills to play a larger role in the organization. Have no doubt that you can count on this employee:

- Delegate significant responsibility to him/her.

-Allow them to work on high-profile projects that take them out of their comfort zone.

- Give them new products to promote, new levels of dialog, new areas to cover, new processes to design, etc.

-Coaching and/or mentoring support.

6.2. High Potential – Medium Performance:

They are an emerging leader who shows they have the qualities to be one, but need to develop more professionally to be able to lead by example.

- Retention and analysis of motivational factors.

- Coaching and/or mentoring from a technical-functional perspective,

- Training in the field or in the professional tools needed on a daily basis.

- New challenges.

6.3. Medium Potential – High Performance:

They are excellent in their professional area, but they need to develop leadership skills.

- Motivate them to assume a more responsible role within their department.

-Retention and analysis of the motivating factors of their professional ambitions.

- Coaching and/or mentoring assistance.

- Training in the field or in the professional tools needed on a daily basis.

- New challenges.

Group II: Training and keeping motivated

6.4. High Potential – Low Performance:

They are an unformed diamond because they have leadership skills, but for some reason their performance is low. It is likely that this person is demotivated because they do not identify with the company, or because they are in the wrong position and need to be in a position that matches their skills.

- Verify that they have received adequate training.

- Make sure they have the tools they need to do their jobs well.

- Pay close attention to the way they do their work.

- Consider being coached by a high-performing colleague.

- Incentivize with rewards for meeting goals.

- Analyze if there is a position that is more in line with their skills.

6.5. Medium Potential – Medium Performance:

They are a key contributor with a promising future. They have average levels and if developed, he can achieve a high potential and/or high performance.

- Train and stay motivated.

- Consider being coached by a high-performing colleague.

- Propose new challenges.

6.6. Low Potential – High Performance:

They are an experienced professional in their field, but show no leadership skills or inclinations. If this person is doing very well in their current role, it is best to train them in their area of technical or functional expertise, keep them motivated, and leave them where they are, otherwise the typical case of an employee who was great in one role may occur when we move them to another position with more responsibility, they are not up to the task, or we simply do not make them feel motivated.

- They can mentor new talent and colleagues who need support, helping you develop new skills.

- Keep up to date with specific training in their technical field.

- Keep them engaged and motivated.

Group III: Training and Feedback

6.7. Low Potential – Medium Performance:

You are a professional with adequate performance in that you meet the expectations of the position without exceeding them, but you do not show the qualities to develop to occupy a position of greater responsibility. You don't see potential for future positions.

- Know your vision or expectations for improvement.

- Consider being coached by a high-performing colleague.

- Reinforce with training.

- Provide information about the organization's strategic goals.

6.8. Medium Potential – Low Performance:

You are an individual who shows potential for growth, but is not meeting performance expectations for your current position.

- Analyze the causes of poor performance.

- Suggest challenges where their skills will shine, or suggest other positions that will motivate better performance.

- Consider being coached by a high-performing colleague.

Group IV: Feedback and if applicable, consider position

6.9. Low Potential – Low Performance:

They are a person who shows very little potential and performs below expectations. Typically, they do not identify with the organization and are not committed to its mission.

- Provide feedback.

- Know their vision for their current situation and urgently develop a joint action plan.

- If you do not make an effort to improve, or if you have made it clear that you do not want to continue, prepare for your offboarding.

 

So are there people who have no potential? The question is: low potential in what direction or compared to what? Perhaps this person's potential is directed at something very different from what he/she is currently doing, and although it sounds bad, the way to help him/her may be to consider a future for him/her outside the organization. After exhausting the above process, of course.

For this reason, it is wise to review the quality of the recruitment process to ensure that the people who join the organization are aligned with the values, culture and challenges of the company, in addition to the competencies of the position, and that you don't waste your investment of time and energy on someone who will end up leaving in the short term.

It is important to emphasize that you have to know how the person feels where they are, find out what they need, if they are motivated or not, if they intend to do something about it, ask them how the company could support them in their development, so that by giving them this participation, building action plans together with the employee will always have better results.

Continuous feedback makes it clear to the employee that the company is interested in their growth. It is about guiding the employee to look further ahead, making them aware that they can be much better than they are now, and that they have the support to get there.

No one is better or worse than another. Each employee plays a role and is at a different stage of development; what matters is what the company does with the information available. It is logical to understand that we do not need the entire organization to be in the first three quadrants mentioned, not everyone can hold positions of high responsibility at the same time, and all positions are important for the common mission, but it would be good to avoid having employees in the last quadrant.

The matrix is not static, but tends to move people over time, taking into account the life cycle of an employee in the organization: recruitment, selection, training, development, retention and dismissal. It is necessary to ensure that the movements tend to move forward in development and not backward, i.e. that an employee's performance drops can be an alarm signal that something has happened and needs to be found out.

Overall, since we've invested time and effort in recruiting talent, we want to make the right moves with them so we don't lose them. Talent maps help us prepare succession plans or plan internal promotions.

We are all valuable, we all have potential, but sometimes we are not in the right place. The job of Human Resources and the leaders of an organization is to guide people to that magical place where each person finds their Flow status.

7. Use Cases 

The 9-Box is a versatile tool that can be used in a variety of talent management and organisational development scenarios. Some of the most common use cases for the 9-Box include:
 
· Identifying high-potential talent: It allows for the identification of high performing employees with potential for future development within the organisation.
 
· Succession planning: Assists at identifying and developing employees who could fill key positions in the future, thus facilitating succession planning.
 
· Performance management: Facilitates the interpretation of performance evaluations and helps identify areas for improvement and development.
 
· Development decision-making and resource allocation: Enables HR leaders to make strategic decisions about development more effectively by identifying areas where more attention is needed.
 
· Strategic human resources planning: Helps leaders make informed decisions about human resource allocation and talent development to support the organisation's strategic objectives.

 

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