ROTHWELL’S (2010) SEVEN-POINTED STAR MODEL FOR SYSTEMATIC SUCCESSION PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

Phuoc D. Nguyen

Rothwell’s (2010) Seven-Pointed Star Model for systematic SP&M included steps as follows: 1. Commit; 2. Assess present work and people requirements; 3. Appraise individual performance; 4. Assess future work and people requirements; 5. Assess future individual potential; 6. Close the developmental gap; and 7. Evaluate the succession planning program. The first duty of a leader in the SP&M is to create trust in their followers and organization. Trust includes two elements personality and competency. Personality includes integrity, motive, and purpose. Competency includes ability, skills, and results. Both of these elements are very important to building trust in the SP&M process.

The first step is to build and show trust in Rothwell’s model which makes a leadership and management commitment to implement an SP&M program, leaders show their highest honor to commit to the program implementation successfully. Leaders build and show trust throughout the SP&M process, before this program implementation leaders established a good and appropriate management system, this system assigns responsibilities and authority to all leadership, management, and supervisory positions and shows trust to all staff, shareholders, and stakeholders.

McManus and Mosca (2015) propose “Building a culture of trust requires commitment from the top… When employees are assigned responsibilities without the necessary authority to carry out their tasks, trust is bound to erode… show your trust. Support your employees and delegate responsibilities along with the necessary authority… people need to trust the system and the people they work for to be motivated and engaged. In this way, building and maintaining trust among employees is paramount to success.” (p. 38). McManus và Mosca (2015) propose that real change begins with building trust at a personal level. The reputation of a leader directly reflects their trust and it helps him/her in every interaction and negotiation. As a leader’s credibility and reputation grow, it can help him/her to establish self-confidence. Build trust through telling the truth, understanding how to share information with the right people, knowing what information needs to be shared, think twice before sharing any critical information.

Nienaber, Hofeditz, and Romeike (2014) state “In terms of disclosure-based trust leaders may, for example, share important strategic information with their followers…In order to drive reciprocal trust, leaders should build an emotional bond with their followers and secure regular personal meetings with the followers.” (p. 577). The leader works effectively to achieve strategic objectives. What a leader has said then he/she should do so and keep the promise, he/she should have positive comments on business processes, procedures, and policies implementation and communicate openly. Wilson (2009) states “Leaders must realize that building trust requires more than words. While leaders’ intentions serve as a foundation for trust, they must recognize their trustworthiness is judged by their actions.” (p. 51). Leaders build and show trust in all steps; especially, steps of commitment-making, individual performance appraisal, and future individual potential assessment which require leaders’ high leadership and management competencies and trust.