Talent Insights
Using the 9 Cell Grid to Predict the Demand for Leadership Talent
When the 9 cell performance/potential grid is populated accurately, it can help to predict the demand for leadership talent in a business or specific function.
By looking at the distribution of people across the matrix, and comparing that to the rate of growth (or decline) that the business or function is, or will be, experiencing, you can manage your investment in leadership development to either accelerate or reduce the number of leaders it produces.
The ultimate reason for investing in the development of leaders is illustrated in the image above. If the demand (orange) grows faster than the supply (green) then a leadership vacuum is created and this results in people being promoted before they are ready, which usually results in failure.
Changing the face of performance management
In the last 18 months organizational performance processes and systems have been the subject of a lot of criticism for the following reasons:
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Employees and managers experience the process as negative and demotivating
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The process is too complex and administratively time consuming relative to the value it adds (or doesn't add)
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It makes little or no difference to actual performance
Historically the performance process has been focused on communicating goals and incentivizing employees to achieve them. This has lead to a disproportionate amount of energy being spent on quantifying outputs and detailing activities at the expense of helping the person to be successful.
Stop Measuring and Start Managing RoI
Measuring Return on Investment in learning and development spend is a red herring that has been occupying far too much time for HR and attention for Executives.
Change the conversation from "How will you measure RoI?" to "How we will manage the learning and development process to maximize RoI".