Developing employees participant guide

Supervisory Training Series: Developing Employees
Kevin R.Thomas, Manager,Training & Development · Office of Human Resources · kevin.r.thomas@williams.edu · 413-597-3542
January 2016
kevin.r.thomas@williams.edu
413-597-3542
Manager, Training and Development
Office of Human Resources
Presented by Kevin R. Thomas
Supervisory Training Series
Developing Employees
1) Stay Interviews
2) 9 Box Grid
3) Writing Development Plans
a) Strengths Based
b) Development Based
4) Walking the Walk
Page 1

1. A stay interview is a periodic one-on-one
structured retention interview that identifies
and reinforces the factors that drive an
employee to stay.
2. Typically used only for highly valued employees,
3. Helpful in finding out what motivates average
and lower performers.
Stay Interviews
• Read the questions in the
stay interview handout.
• Take turns conducting a
stay interview with your peer
coach.
• Debrief.
Your Turn
Stay Interview
Page 2

1. The 9 Box chart is a matrix which contains
employees categorized by two variables
(their performance ranking and their
potential for advancement).
2. Identifying your employees on a 9-box can
suggest coaching strategies for bringing out
the best in them.
9 Box
9 Box
Page 12

• Identify your employees on
a 9-box.
• Review materials in your
participant guides to
identify a coaching strategy.
• Debrief with your partner.
Your Turn
9 Box
Page 13

© Warner Results Coaching (WRC), 2009. All Rights Reserved. WRC is a division of the Worldwide Centre for Organisational Development
Using a Performance and Potential Grid to Guide Coaching Interventions by Dr Jon Warner
The Performance and Potential Grid, or Matrix, is a well-known and useful model which has been used for the past
twenty-five years by HR professionals and line managers to help determine individual’s (and mainly manager’s)
organisational contribution. A simplified version of this nine-box grid is shown below:
Charts like the one above are commonly used (although they may vary slightly on occasions, such as having
“performance” and “potential” the other way around for example. However, they all use a simple numbering system,
such as that shown on the chart. Typically, the “1” at the top right represents those individuals whose performance and
potential is seen as most optimal, with then progressively higher numbers in each box representing various contributions
down to number “9”, at the bottom left, representing the organisation’s “problem people”.
The Performance and Potential Grid has been used most often for leadership development and on-going succession
planning purposes. In this respect, most of the focus is on boxes 1, 2 and 3 shown here (with some performance
management effort naturally also being directed at box 9). This usually translates into an often very detailed and focused
effort to develop people in these top three boxes, with far less attention, time and money being spent on boxes 4, 5, 6, 7
and 8. This may be quite a sensible way to allocate precious training and development investment but may do little to
change the overall group picture for the better, over the medium to long term. This is because some individuals may
continue to slide backwards or may not develop or improve because they are being left largely to their own devices and
to flounder, often for years (also partly because termination of lower-performing individuals may be impractical).
Page 14

Using the Performance and Potential Grid for Coaching
Although it has been little used for this purpose in the past, the Performance and Potential Grid is an excellent
mechanism for considering possible coaching interventions for each type of individual in the boxes on the chart. In other
words, we can utilise the basic Performance and Potential Grid to attach our own labels to the various populations of
people we find in each instance and then look more closely at the behaviours (productive and counter-productive) that
seem to be most prevalent. This then allows the most appropriate coaching interventions to be made.
As an example of this approach, in the detailed grid below, each of the nine boxes has been assigned a label and some
broad and general descriptors of behaviour added as illustrated. A range of applicable coaching interventions are then
listed at the bottom of each box.
Coaching Performance and Potential Grid
PERFORMANCE (Right results)
POTENTIAL(Right“stuff”)
High
HighLow
STARS
Likely Behaviour:
-Inexperience/lack of maturity
-Lack of competence in some
areas
-Over-pressured/stressed
-Overwhelmed with tasks/work
-Poor organisation skills
Coaching typically needed:
-Prioritisation/time management
skills
-Knowledge transfer in identified
areas
-Personal organisation/discipline
coaching
-Networking capability building
DETRACTORS
EMERGERSLATENTS
CONTRIBUTORSTRANSITIONALSPLACEHOLDERS
WORKERSBLOCKERS
Likely Behaviour:
-Keen and enthusiastic to
try new things
-May not utilise others optimally
-Detailed focused
-Prefer familiar problems/challenges
-Intuitive decision-makers
-Critical thinking ability
-Goal/Target/Milestone
-setting ability
-Dealing with under-performance
-Communication breadth/versatility
-Assisting/developing others
Likely Behaviour:
-Self-motivated/Initiating
-Helpful and co-operative
-Effective and focused problem
solvers
-Wide networkers/communicators
-Big-picture focused
-Stretch Goals/Tasks/Projects
-Cross-functional assignments for
next job succession
-Broader networking opportunities
-Wider/more diverse presentations
-Influence/Negotiation development
-Assign senior mentors
Likely Behaviour:
-Set personal and team targets
at low levels
-Workat slow or steadypace
-Lessprepared to get “handsdirty”
-Some missed goals/deadlines
-Potential “prima donna” attitude
-Stretch goal-setting competency
-Pressure tolerance/“tempo” skills
-“Hands-on” project work/challenges
-Cooperative projects and teamwork
opportunities
Likely Behaviour:
-Focused on immediate issues/problems
-May send mixed messages to other
people
-May work in “fits and starts”
-Evolving team leader/people
relationships
-Unsure of themselves in face of change
-Emotional intelligence capability
-Longer-term planning/organisation
-Quality/Consistency of
communication
-Focused people management skills
Likely Behaviour:
-High personal confidence
-Individually competent
-Tactically/operationally focused
-Project/Task/Change management
oriented
-Effective resource allocators
-Setting higher/harder/more
strategic goals
-Evolved teamwork/collaboration
skills
-Wider commercial/business acumen
-Presentation skills
Likely Behaviour:
-Negative attitude at times
-Poor relationships in evidence
-Conflct/antagonism towards
particular people
-Low morale/self-esteem
-Over-tolerant of mediocrity
-Self-awareness/discovery
-Conflict management skills
-Empathy/people sensitivity
-Listening skills
-Personal coping/pressure
management skills
-Performance manage or
out-council
Likely Behaviour:
-Overly “traditional” thinking about
issues
-Low levels of initiative
-Precious about personal knowledge
-Directive or even autocratic style
-Prone to micro-management
-Letting go/delegating work
-Creativity/lateral thinking skills
-Openness/Flexibility of attitude
-Self-starting techniques and
personal motivation skills
Likely Behaviour:
-High personal work ethic
-Low ability/need to delegate
-Task-focused (possibly at the
expense of the relationship)
-“Silo” work area focused
-Too little communication
-Greater forward planning and
thinking
-Analysing/designing work and the
people to do it best
-Becoming a team-player
-Nurturing/Developing others
As we can see, this already creates a useful “at-a-glance” summary to be used by a manager, internal coach, mentor or
external coach as appropriate.
Page 15

Issues arising from the Performance and Potential Grid when used in Coaching
When looking for the next generation of leaders or seeking the most likely successors for a more senior management
role, the tendency to focus on the top 3 boxes on the grid is relatively logical. However, in seeking to lift overall
performance of the organisation, the grid can be used quite differently to achieve higher levels of success as discussed
below:
Boxes 1, 2 and 3 individuals
Clearly, all individuals that are assigned to or reside in these boxes are generally well-regarded and worthy of some
coaching and mentoring attention. For “contributors” in box 3, the main focus is on helping an individual to become as
ready as possible for the next career step. For “emergers” in box 2, the main focus is on helping an individual to lift
performance to best possible levels in the current job before moving on or up. Finally, for the “stars” in box 1, the focus is
mainly on how to maintain their attention and to ensure that these more “at risk from poaching” individuals are not lost
to other organisations.
Not surprisingly, all individuals in these 3 boxes are usually popular or attractive people to coach, as they are (in broad
terms) looking at the future positively and seeking to find ways to enrich their contribution to the enterprise. However,
even though such people may attract as much as 80-90% of the internal and external coaching effort, we also need to pay
close attention to individuals in the “bottom six” part of the grid (who may collectively make up 70-80% of the entire
population).
Box 4 individuals – “workers”
People in this “worker” box often operate “below the organisational radar” because they are likely to be working hard
and achieving better than acceptable results most of the time. However, in many cases this can disguise underlying
possible problems for the organisation such as low levels of delegation and teamwork, an overly individualistic task focus
and perhaps an unhelpful willingness to tell people what they are doing and why (all behaviour which may have limited
job promotion prospects). This can lead to too little time spent building the skills and experience of others, which can be
a big problem if a person in this box manages many people.
From a coaching perspective, it is important with individuals in this box to assess the contribution that a particular person
is making to the medium to longer-term strength of the organisation. This will either be by transferring knowledge more
openly to others or by taking on a more “nurturing role” for others in the team and using more opportunities to delegate,
for instance.
Box 5 individuals – “latents”
At the other corner of the grid in box 5, “latent” individuals are often far more visible or “known” in the enterprise
because they are likely to have demonstrated high potential earlier in their career (and therefore been promoted) and
continue to show “flashes” of even higher potential in their current position. However, future capacity to contribute is
not an excuse not to look closely at current job performance and contribution. Coaching is therefore critical here because
we can ensure that any continued lack of confidence or competence in getting the present job done well is properly
highlighted and managed, before the individual seeks to press to move on to the next role.
From a coaching perspective, individuals in this box will benefit from coaching which allows the person to gain helpful job
performance knowledge for their present role (to help build up confidence and experience) and to learn some of the
major contributors to better current performance. This will potentially include task prioritisation skills, greater
organisational ability and tools and project management capability, for instance. Help with building partnerships and
networking with others at peer level may also be helpful with this group.
Page 16

Box 6 individuals – “transitionals”
“Transitional” people are different to all others in the Performance and Potential Grid because they may be capable of
moving into any of the other boxes on the grid quite quickly. Some people in this box may therefore be “on the way up”
and some might be “on the way down”-time will tell. However, whether it is up or down, what all people in this box share
in common is that they have to prove themselves in both performance and potential in the eyes of others.
Because as many as 25-30% of a managerial population may be assigned to or reside in box 6 of the grid, coaching
interventions are critical here for two main reasons. Firstly, individuals may need direct and on-going help to move
forwards (planning, organising, communicating more effectively etc). Secondly, individuals may easily start to slip
backwards if they are not coached (which may quickly be felt as a competence shortfall by those they manage or deal
with). Even the box 6 individuals themselves may start to feel unappreciated and overlooked. Being such a large
population, we therefore often need to give people in this group more coaching time than they are typically getting.
Box 7 individuals – “blockers”
Although people in several of the grid positions can block the progress of others, individuals in box 7 are more likely to be
the most obvious blockers simply because they have low or even no potential to move and are making only a basic or
minimal contribution. Like box 4 individuals, blockers consequently often operate under the organisational “radar” and
may only become visible if and when a higher performing or potential individual working with or for them criticises the
individual concerned or a valued subordinate employee leaves the enterprise.
From a coaching perspective, intervention here is critical because we need to ensure that we do not have any immediate
“at risk” issues as a result of these people’s contribution shortfalls. In addition, we also need to take the time to properly
assess whether or not we could readily get a more effective contribution in the job, if performance is not improved. In
actual fact, experience tells us that these individuals will often respond well to coaching, especially if it brings new ideas
or helps to open up options for the target people that they have not previously considered.
Box 8 individuals – “placeholders”
Placeholders are usually those people who have more capacity and ability to contribute but find themselves doing the
minimum possible when it comes to performance and results. Individuals in this box are often highly intelligent but may
see their work to be repetitive or not challenging enough. They may also see themselves as merely “passing through” and
therefore fail to hold either themselves or others accountable for getting things done efficiently and effectively.
From a coaching perspective, once again this box might include a large population of people on the overall grid, and
thereby offer many opportunities and scope for improvement in areas such as tempo of work, more “stretching” goals
and greater team-work, for example.
Box 9 individuals – “detractors”
Obviously, box 9 individuals are problematic for the organisation, having both low potential and a low performance or
results contribution. However, the typical first response is a performance management intervention, when coaching may
be a better first step.
Many individuals in this box in an organisation, who end up leaving the enterprise, often say in external out-counselling
sessions that they could have turned performance around and even had greater potential to reach higher levels if they
could have had coaching to help in areas of high personal frustration or need (such as conflict handling or developing
greater listening skills, for instance). Obviously this is a decision for the organisation to make in terms of how much time
and money it wants to spend with its “box 9s”, but once again experience tells us that even a small amount of coaching is
likely to pay good dividends.
Page 17

Summary
In this brief article, we have suggested that the familiar and popular Performance and Potential Grid, used mainly for
leadership development and succession planning purposes, is also an excellent tool to use in making balanced coaching
interventions. Used in this way, rather than to focus on our box 1,2, and 3 individuals most of the time, we are well-
served to pay as much attention to the large proportion of the population who are likely to reside in the other six boxes
on the grid (being perhaps as much as 80% of the population). The chart below offers a final visual summary.
Coaching Performance and Potential Grid
PERFORMANCE (Right results)
POTENTIAL(Right“stuff”)
High
HighLow
1. STARS
9. DETRACTORS
2. EMERGERS5. LATENTS
3. CONTRIBUTORS6. TRANSITIONALS8. PLACEHOLDERS
4. WORKERS7. BLOCKERS
Individuals in all three of these boxes
may only represent 20-30% of the
entire population but typically receive
80-90% of the coaching intervention
effort. The main coaching focus here
is on stretching assignments and
knowledge broadening so as to aid in
retention and succession planning.
Individuals in this box need
to be coached to focus on
the current job and to
achieve valuable personal
and team results before
expecting to move on.
greater personal flexibility,
better organisation and
more teamwork. They also
often need to evolve
greater accountability for
results in themselves and
others.
Individuals in this box need to
be coached to focus on
greater delegation and team-
working skills. In addition,
they may need to spend much
more time communicating
with others at peer and senior
level about what they are
doing to contribute to overall
department or organisational
goals
planning, organising and
communicating more
effectively at all levels. In
addition, they may need to
develop greater “emotional
intelligence” and “political
savvy” about themselves
and others.
areas of personal frustration
and need, particularly when
adversely affecting job
performance (for
themselves and others).
This may mean spending
time on issues of self-
esteem or specific skill-
building in areas such as
conflict management.
letting go of his or her
“turf”, building trust with
others and to developing
more open attitude and
level of overall flexibility.
Dr. Jon Warner
www.WarnerResultsCoaching.com
This article was written by Dr Jon Warner of Warner Results Coaching, an executive coaching business,
which focuses across all sectors of the Performance and Potential Grid. Jon is an experienced coach
with over 20 years experience in assisting individuals of all types and at all levels of management. He is
also an experienced author having published several books in the leadership and coaching areas, as
well developing several assessment instruments including the Coaching Effectiveness Profile, the
Leadership Effective Profile and the Management Effectiveness Profile. Jon has an MBA and PhD in
Organisational Psychology. He can be reached at jon@WarnerResultsCoaching.com
Page 18

9 Box Management Tips
In coaching and talent management, the value of the 9-box grid is to identify when coaching or a
change in job or responsibilities may be needed. It may not be valuable to the organization to
spend time and effort in attempting to salvage an individual with low potential and poor
performance. However, an individual with low potential but effective performance may need to
be engaged or motivated in his or her current job.
PerformanceD
W
Potential
5 2 1
8 6 3
9 7 4
# Tips for Managing
1. Provide challenges, encourage cross training, conduct a stay interview, create a
retention plan.
2. Does extremely well at current job with potential to do more; give stretch assignments
to help prepare for next level.
3. Current role may still provide opportunity for growth/development; focused on tactical;
focus should be on helping improve strategic thinking.
4. Experienced high performer but has reached limit of career potential. Focus on
appreciation, eliminate red tape, provide good tools and resources.
5. Seasoned professional capable of expanded role, but may be experiencing problems
that require coaching and mentoring. Provide regular, clear feedback, conduct
strengths story interview. Check for personal problems that may be stressors.
6. May be considered for job enlargement at the same level, but may need coaching in
several areas, including people management. Collaborate to create professional
development plan.
7. Effective performer, but may have reached career potential. Coach as necessary to
improve performance.
8. With coaching, could progress within level; focus on stretch goals for this employee.
9. Consider reassignment, reclassification to a lower level or exit from the organization.
Adapted from: “Succession Planning: What is a 9-box grid?” Society for Human Resources
Professionals, retrieved from:.
http://www.shrm.org/templatestools/hrqa/pages/whatsa9boxgridandhowcananhrdepartmentuseit.
aspx on May 20, 2014.
Page 19

9 Box Worksheet
For each of your direct reports, identify which box they may be in, and create a strategy for
working with them.
Employee Box # Management Plan
Page 20

1. Development plans are written, concrete
plans designed to:
– Develop strengths and/or
– Address stumbling blocks
Writing Development Plans
• What kinds of activities can
be part of a development
plan?
You Write the Slide
Page 21

• With your partner, decide
which of you will write a
strengths-based and which
will write a development
need plan.
• Write a plan for one of your
employees.
• Debrief
Your Turn
Page 22

Planning Templates
Development Plan
Build on Strengths
Stepl Step2 Stll!l 3 Step4
StHl!ltil Action Pla11S Involvementoflltl!ers Ta(iet Dat&s
Strength, I.
l
2.
3.
4.
Strength: I.
2.
3.
I
4.
Strength: I.
2.
3.
'I
14.
660 ~ SUCCESSFUL MANAGER'S HANDBOOK
Page 23

PianningTemplates
Development Plan
Address DevelopmentNeeds
Step1 Step2 Step3 Step4
DnelojrnientKeed Actlllfl PlallS 1omMm1entofOthers TarplDates
Development Ned: L
I
i
2. i
i
3. i
!
4.
-·Development Need: L
2.
3.
4.
···-· ... -·-
Development Need: 1.
2.
3.
4.
SUCCESSFUL MANAGER'S HANDBOOK • 661
Page 24

1. Employees will be inspired by your example
2. Make a development plan and share it with your
employees.
Walking the Walk
• Create a development plan
for yourself.
• Debrief.
Your Turn
Walking the Walk
Page 25

PlanningTemplates
Learning Plan
!Name Date
-t. f'OCUS oncritical priorities.
What do1wanttochange or develop? What developmeot r,rioritfes giveme the greatest leverage?
I
2. IMPLEMENTsomething every day.
Whatsituations,people, or events signal What new behavior will Itiy?
that right now is thetime to put 11ew Where will Ipush mycomfort zone?
IbehaviorsInto action?
Every time Isee the following sitnationls) .. ... Iwill takethe following action: I-I.
I
I
2.
I
3.
I4.
I I
5.
I
I
6. --,I
I.
658 .,. succrssrutMANAGER'SHANDBOOK
Page 26

PlanningTemplates
Learning Plan
IJ. RERECT on what alearn.
, What wHI Idoeach dayto consider what worked, what didn't work,artd what Iwantto do nexttime?
4. SEEKfeedback and support.
How will I draw on other people to track my progress, gather advice and feedback, and support
mylearning?
Seek feedback and information
Seek resources, support, and opportunities
5. TRANSFER learning to the next level.
Howwill Ievaluate my progress? Consideringmy goals and organizat1011al priorities, howwill
I update my development strategy and learning plan? How will Ileverage what Ilearn?
Co~-right.)11)04,lll09 f'et!lll,11el Oe<:I~i<1r1$ Inl".mali<JI1<1l Curporatfun.All 1ighttI'('8Cl"Td.
SUCCESSFUL MANAGER'S HANDBOOK .. 659
Page 27

Links coming via email:
Contact Kevin Thomas at 413-597-3542
or email kevin.r.thomas@williams.edu
Supervisory Training Series
Developing Your Employees
Questions?
• Course page link to all course materials
• Program evaluation link, feedback welcome
Page 28

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