Decoding The Nuances of Potential: Observable Behaviours

Just as slipping on a pair of prescription glasses for the first time can transform your view of the world into crystal-clear vision, the 9 box grid talent mapping process offers a similarly revelatory perspective on your workforce. It sharpens your ability to pinpoint top talent while revealing those who are inconsistent or underperforming. By categorising employees into nine distinct talent category segments based on rating their current Performance and perceived future Potential, the 9 box grid serves as a foundational framework for implementing customised talent management strategies to support each individual in reaching their peak career goals.?

However, a critical factor that can obscure this clear view is the use of vague definitions of what is meant by ‘Performance’ (X-Axis) and what constitutes ‘Potential’ (Y-Axis). This lack of specificity creates an opening for subjectivity to seep into the assessment process, undermining the entire mapping exercise.

Your Culture: Your Methodology

Having grasped the foundations of the 9 box grid and selected the key critical roles to target, the next step of successful implementation is accurately defining the sliding scale of each axis: Performance (X-axis) and Potential (Y-axis). It's crucial these definitions are clear, and linked to objective measures. The descriptions of high, moderate, low (well placed/reached) should reflect the organisation's culture and present the recipe that has resulted in the success of your current top talent.?

The definitions and/or supporting metrics used should be agreed upon in advance with all levels of leadership, management and even employees. Below we explore best practice methods for stamping out subjectivity and ensuring uniformity in ratings.?

9 Box Grid: What is High Performance?

The Performance axis of the 9 box grid displays the ratings reflective of past achievements. The ideal time frame under consideration is at least 12 months. This length of time is to prevent recency effects from impacting ratings. This is where a recent incident, either positive or negative, has an unfair bearing on the performance rating provided. In best practice, Performance ratings should reflect the consistent level of results achieved across a sustained period of time.?

Most companies will use some form of performance appraisal process (e.g. yearly objectives, KPIs, OKRs), which provides a performance outcome rating. This outcome can then be easily converted into a rating of High, Moderate or Low Performance to plot staff along the X-axis.

In organisations that have moved away from performance appraisal ratings, managers are asked to rate their direct reports as High, Moderate, or Low using an agreed-upon sliding scale definition.?

An example of this would be something akin to:

• High performance: Exceeds set task expectations and high level job requirements; seeks additional work experiences and proactively undertakes development opportunities.
• Moderate Performance: Meets set task expectations and core job requirements. Undertakes development as assigned.?
• Low Performance: Does not consistently meet set task expectations or basic job requirements.

Best practice is to use performance appraisal outcomes as the basis for rating ‘Performance’ on the X-axis. These outcomes are more objective and have been discussed and agreed upon with employees as a fair reflection of their past performance.?

9 Box Grid: What is High Potential?

Determining staff Potential is more abstract than determining Performance. Codifying a staff member’s potential as high, moderate, well placed (reached/low) requires forecasting a team member's ability and willingness to learn new skills and undertake more responsibility and/or a higher-level position.?

Vague statements like “Potential: the ability to move up 2 levels in 5 years” should be avoided.? Whilst these are easy to apply across the entire organisation, this kind of definition gives rise to subjectivity, fails to consider horizontal moves as progression and is hard to substantiate in talent calibration sessions. Potential should not be linked to how quickly someone is perceived to climb one or two rungs of the corporate ladder.??

Example definitions for Potential include:

• High Potential: Ready for movement. Exceeds current role responsibilities and demonstrates behaviours consistent with the ability to undertake a more complex role. Proactively seeking ways to improve and ready themselves for career advancement/leadership.?
• Moderate Potential: Develop in post. Has the capability of developing in their current role or reaching the next level in their career with further training, guidance, or mentorship.
• Well Placed/Low/Reached Performance: Maximum Capacity. Low to no desire to progress further in seniority or enhanced responsibility. Currently working at their full capacity due to lack of motivation, newness to the role, or desired career stability.?

It comes as no surprise that accurately applying complex and verbose sliding scale statements proves challenging. A frequent mistake involves overloading the definition with too many category markers, leading to situations where an employee partially aligns with one level and partially with another. This complexity can cause managers to question the credibility of the Talent Mapping exercise and also complicates the process of providing feedback on why someone is categorised as low or medium. A more effective approach to forecasting Potential is to focus on an individual's current observable behaviours as a predictor of future success in a more challenging or senior position.

Accurately Predicting Potential: Observable Behaviours?

Staff Potential is best viewed by rating a mix of observable behaviours under the dimensions of Ability, Social Aptitude and Drive. Current behaviours are a more accurate predictor of a staff member's ability and aptitude to undertake a more complex role or advance into a leadership position.?

Using this methodology, a manager would rate their team member against a mix of each of the below-listed behaviours: Ability: Cognitive factors such as possessing a hunger to learn, being curious, growth mindset and being adaptable. Social Aptitude: Emotional Intelligence factors of successfully managing yourself and others. This includes demonstrating resilience, integrity, cooperation, and the provision of/seeking feedback. Drive: Willingness and motivation factors to consistently achieve, especially in the face of obstacles. This includes behaviours of ambition, perseverance and proactiveness.

Using this method each observable behaviour rated generates a highly focused development plan designed to drive staff to achieve their full potential while also contributing to an aggregate rating of current Potential to plot on the Y-axis.?

Development plans rooted in observable behaviours are significantly more valuable and actionable compared to the more abstract goal of preparing team members to "move up 2 levels in 5 years." This approach offers tangible, behaviour-based development actions that are directly applicable and meaningful to employees, standing in sharp contrast to the vague and often intangible targets of traditional methods.

The prospect of requesting managers to evaluate 11 observable behaviours to derive a single Potential score might seem daunting. To alleviate this challenge, introducing a talent mapping tool that facilitates simple, repeatable talent assessments of observable behaviours can be a practical solution. Talent assessments take just 5-7 minutes to complete? (Line manager and/or employee self-rating) with prompts of development actions provided to help staff improve each behaviour. This streamlines the process of data capture and reinforces what ‘good looks like’ whilst simultaneously embedding a learning culture through building a custom individualised development plan.??

Potential Profiles: Decoding the Nuances of Potential

One question managers should be asking during the rating process is, "Potential… for what?”. The leadership potential necessary for an entry-level employee to ascend to a shop floor Team Leader role differs markedly from what is required for a Division Head to transition into a Department Leadership position, reporting directly to the CEO. This disparity underscores the importance of tailoring the behavioural criteria used to assess leadership Potential to the specific organisational echelon in question. This is called determining ‘Potential Profiles’.?

To bring this to life, consider an executive leadership role; the spectrum of behaviours indicative of Potential to move into this level position would encompass Ability-related behaviours like strategic thinking, vision, creativity, and an entrepreneurial spirit. Social Aptitude behaviours could include diplomacy, the ability to inspire, and political savvy. Meanwhile, Drive-related behaviours might highlight a global mindset and a relentless pursuit of strategic goals.

This differentiated approach for evaluating Potential enables HR and Leadership to overlay Potential-Profiles across the business and deeper into the org chart to spot emerging HiPo talent who may be ready to jump two or three levels. This not only enhances the precision of talent identification and targeted investment but also solidifies the organisation's reputation as a talent incubator.

Next Up: Talent Calibration

Leveraging the insights obtained in my two previous articles in this series (The 9 Box Grid and Identifying Critical Roles), my forthcoming article delves into the pivotal third step of the implementation process—talent calibration. These structured discussions counteract talent hoarding and surface any discrepancies or unconscious bias to ensure fair talent evaluation and true mapped results.

Getting In Touch:

If you'd like to explore digitising your talent assessment process, our software enables you to map your entire organisation in minutes, using observable behaviours as the foundation for identifying Potential. You'll instantly generate data-rich talent maps, succession plans, and individual development plans that are actionable and precise.

Message me directly or visit www.dothings.io to explore our affordable, fully customisable solutions designed to streamline and elevate your HR strategy.

This article was originally posted on the DoThings blog.