How to run a talent review with a 9-box
A talent review answers who your future leaders are and who is at risk. A 9-box gives the conversation structure so it produces decisions, not just labels.
What a talent review is for
A talent review is a structured look across a team or org to identify high-potential people, spot flight risks, and plan development and moves. Done casually it becomes gossip with a grid; done well it produces concrete next steps - a stretch assignment here, a retention conversation there.
- Identify high-potential people worth investing in.
- Surface flight risks early enough to act.
- Plan stretch assignments and internal moves.
- Feed succession thinking for key roles.
Structure it with a 9-box
The 9-box plots performance against potential. The cells give the room a shared language: consistent high-performers with high potential are your future leaders; strong performers with lower assessed potential are valued specialists; low on both may need a candid conversation. The value is in defending each placement out loud.
How Fintra supports talent reviews
- A 9-box grid places people by performance and potential.
- Placements can be compared across managers to surface rater spread.
- Highlights call out notable cells - high-potentials and risks.
- The review runs alongside the same cycle as performance reviews.
Talent-review checklist
- Rate performance and potential as separate axes.
- Every placement is defended out loud with evidence.
- Compare placements across managers for consistency.
- Each high-potential leaves with a development move.
- Each flight risk leaves with a retention action.
- Notes feed succession thinking for key roles.
Frequently asked questions
What is a talent review?
A talent review is a structured session to identify high-potential employees, flag flight risks, and plan development and internal moves, usually using a 9-box of performance and potential. Fintra supports it with a 9-box grid, cross-manager placement comparison, and highlights for notable cells.
How is a talent review different from a performance review?
A performance review evaluates one person’s past period; a talent review looks across people to plan the future - who to invest in, who is at risk, who could move. They share the 9-box but ask different questions. In Fintra both run within the same cycle using the calibration grid.
How do you identify high-potential employees?
Assess potential as a distinct axis from current performance - capacity and appetite to grow into a bigger role - and place people on a 9-box. High performance plus high potential signals a future leader. Fintra’s grid keeps the two axes separate and compares placements across managers to reduce bias.
Does a talent review cover succession planning?
It feeds it. A talent review surfaces the high-potentials and specialists who inform succession for key roles, though full succession planning is a broader exercise. Fintra’s 9-box and highlights give you the raw material - who is ready and who is at risk - to start that planning.
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