What is the strategic action for an employee in the bottom-left box of a 9-Box Grid?

• A. Promote them.
• B. Provide leadership development.
• C. Move to a different function with training.
• D. They likely need to be managed out of the organization.

Answer: (D)

In this grid, the bottom-left quadrant represents employees who are currently underperforming and have minimal potential for future growth. When someone sits here, putting resources into development or redeployment generally yields little payoff, because their current performance is low and there isn’t a clear path to higher impact within the organization. The most strategic action is to move toward separation or outplacement, rather than promotion or extensive development, since this focuses resources on higher-potential, higher-performing employees. This approach also aligns with a disciplined workforce planning mindset that aims to optimize talent and ensure fair, cause-based decisions.