9-box grid template (Excel) and how to calibrate it as a team
By Deibson Silva · Reviewed on
A 9-box grid template is a sheet where each manager proposes the performance and potential of their team with evidence, and where the calibration session records the final position, the reason for every change and the agreed development action. Here is one in Excel, with the method to calibrate it as a team without turning the box into a label.
What goes into a 9-box grid template?
Whatever it takes for each person's position to be explained: who proposed it, on what evidence, what the session changed and why, and what happens next. The template you can download has five sheets: instructions, criteria for each axis, people, a grid with the counts, and a reading of each box.
The people sheet is the core. These are its columns, in the order they are filled in.
| Column | What it is for | Who fills it in |
|---|---|---|
| Person, role, area and manager | Identifies who is reviewed and who proposes | People or HR, before the session |
| Proposed performance (1 to 3) and evidence | What was achieved in the period, with facts that can be checked | The line manager |
| Proposed potential (1 to 3) and evidence | The capacity to take on more or a different role | The line manager |
| Proposed box | Calculated from the two values | The sheet |
| Calibrated performance and potential | The position the session agrees | The chair, during the session |
| Reason for the change | Why the session moved someone to another box | The chair, during the session |
| Development action, owner and review date | What is done with each person afterwards | The line manager, with the person |
How are the axes defined before you fill it in?
In writing, and before anyone proposes a position. If each manager reads potential their own way, the session compares opinions rather than people. The criteria sheet in the template comes with a proposal you can change: for each criterion, which evidence counts and which does not.
For performance, two criteria are usually enough: results in the period, measured against objectives or OKRs, and how they were achieved, which the 360 review from colleagues provides. For potential, four: how the person learns something new, whether they take on responsibility beyond their role, how they work outside their area, and whether they want to grow, which you only find out by asking them.
The scale has three bands, 1 low, 2 medium and 3 high, and the template accepts no other values. More bands look more precise, but they force debates about differences nobody can back with facts.
How do you prepare the calibration session?
With proposals closed a few days before. Each manager rates the performance and potential of their team with two or three pieces of evidence per axis, and the sheet goes to everyone attending so that they arrive with questions rather than surprises.
Three things are worth deciding before you send the invitation. Who chairs: someone who rates none of the people under review. Who attends: the managers who propose, someone from People or HR and, if key roles are reviewed, the leadership team. And how much time there is per person, so that the first cases do not eat the whole session.
The grid sheet already shows how many people each manager proposed for each box. If one whole team sits top right and another whole team bottom left, that is not necessarily wrong, but it is the first question of the session.
How do you run the session?
From the corners inwards, with the record open. Start with the corner boxes and the cases with most doubt; positions in the middle tend to move less and are reviewed afterwards.
For each person, the manager reads out the evidence and the others ask questions. The useful question is always the same: which fact shows this? When the group changes a position, the chair fills in the calibrated performance and potential and writes the reason in one sentence. If it does not change, the proposed values are copied across, so the final sheet has no gaps.
The session ends when every person has a development action, an owner and a review date. Without those actions, the grid stays a snapshot of the moment.
What does the count sheet show?
It shows how many people sit in each box, twice: with the proposed values and with the calibrated ones. Comparing the two grids shows how much the session moved and in which direction, and helps you spot a manager who always rates higher or lower than the rest.
What the sheet deliberately does not do is impose how many people should sit in each box. Quotas force people into boxes the evidence does not support. If the distribution looks odd, review the criteria and the evidence; do not move anyone to make the count fit.
What does the law require when you use the template?
The template is a sheet of personal data, so the GDPR applies. Staff must be told that the review exists, what it is for and who sees the data (Article 13), access must be limited to those who need it, and no more data should be kept, nor for longer, than necessary (Article 5).
No criterion may rest on age, sex, family situation, health or any other protected characteristic. In Spain, Article 24.2 of the Workers' Statute requires promotions to follow criteria and systems aimed at ensuring there is no discrimination between women and men, and Article 9 of Law 15/2022 extends the ban on discrimination to training and career progression. Other jurisdictions have their own equality rules.
If a system calculates the position on the grid and a decision affecting the person depends on it, Article 22 of the GDPR requires that the decision is not based solely on that calculation. If that system uses AI to evaluate performance, Annex III of the EU AI Act classes it as high-risk from 2 December 2027.
When does a spreadsheet stop being enough?
When the review is no longer one session a year with a few people. With several teams come copies of the sheet by email, versions that do not match and box changes nobody can trace. With personal data travelling as attachments, keeping access limited gets harder.
It also falls short when the 9-box has to connect with other decisions: the performance cycle that feeds the axes, the succession plan for key roles and each person's development plan. At that point, what the sheet did by hand is better done by a system that records every step.
Sources
- Spanish Workers' Statute (Royal Legislative Decree 2/2015), Art. 24.2 (BOE, in Spanish)
- Law 15/2022 on equal treatment and non-discrimination, Art. 9 (BOE, in Spanish)
- Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR), Articles 5, 13, 15 and 22
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act), Annex III, point 4
- Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 (digital omnibus on AI), dates in Article 113
Frequently asked questions
- Does the 9-box grid template work in Google Sheets or LibreOffice?
- Yes. It uses basic formulas (IF, CHOOSE and COUNTIFS) and a 1 to 3 validation rule, which work in Excel, in LibreOffice and in Google Sheets once imported.
- How many people fit in the template?
- The people sheet has two hundred rows ready, with formulas and validation in place. For more, copy the last row down and extend the count formulas to that row.
- Do the calibrated columns need filling in if the session changes nothing?
- Yes. Copy the proposed values so the final sheet shows the agreed position of everyone, and the calibrated count leaves nobody out.
- Can the sheet be shown to the people reviewed?
- Each person has the right to access their own data, but the full sheet holds the whole team's. The usual approach is to share with each person their evidence and development plan, not the sheet or the box as it stands.
- How often should calibration be repeated?
- At least once a year, after the review cycle, and whenever something important changes in the organisation or in a key role.