The 9 Box Grid: A system for talent evaluation

For any company to scale, it needs systems. This is true for every part of your business, including how you build, grow, and retain your team. In fact, this is likely the most important system. Get this one right and your team will take care of the rest. At least twice per year, take every person in the company and allocate them based on their performance and potential. At FreshBooks, we used a system called a 9-Box Grid. I'll include a link to it. It helped us evaluate and segment our people based on their potential and performance. Startups are dynamic. No one person has all the skills today. So potential for growth is key. However, results matter, and so performance is just as important. As an executive team, we would take personal ownership over getting close to and developing the high-potential team members. They were our future leaders. We would also be decisive about what to do with people on the other tiers, but the emphasis was on the high potential, high performance people.