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In other organizations, it might be worth facilitating a conversation on what “potential” means. In a traditional hierarchical organization, potential may be defined as how quickly someone might climb one or two rungs on the corporate ladder. Most organizations have some infrastructure to assess performance.
The Nine Box can assist greatly in doing this effectively. Regardless of the decision to reveal their place or not, every employee should be given regular performance feedback, and developmental opportunities. There are good arguments on both sides of the argument.
Open or closed? This essentially asks the question as to whether people are made aware of their place on the grid or not. Use the grid as a guideline to developmental activities, promotions, and transfersĪlthough the 9 Box is conceptually easy to understand, there are some challenges to implementation:. 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. Consider asking for additional information, such as years in current position, retention risk, or relocate-ability. Have each manager fill in a grid assigning each of their team members to one of the squares on the grid. The tool is most effective when used by a team. 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 9 Box system is most often part of a larger Talent Management system. Making ‘improve or remove’ decisions about those employees and leaders whose skills are out of date. Identifying employees with potential to provide development assignments or special projects. Helping identify the organization’s leadership pipeline. The outcomes of running a 9 Box session include: The 9 Box is a Leadership Talent Management Tool used to assess individuals on two dimensions: Below we talk about the following aspects of the 9 Box: The Nine Box is in wide use now in many companies, but is generally credited as having been pioneered by General Electric and McKinsey. The 9 Box is part of a talent management system to help organizations manage the capability of their workforce.