Handover

How to Handover to the Next Committee

This guide includes everything you need to include in your handover to the next committee so your project can continue for the next academic year.

Contents 

What is a ‘handover’?

When to handover so your group can be put up for adoption

What should I include in the handover?

Handover Document Contents

Questions?

What is a ‘handover’? 

To ‘handover’ means to give up your committee position and pass over all the important information and skills to the new committee member who is taking over your role. In this instance, although you won’t know who you are handing over to, it’s still essential to help your group continue its success, and think about what the next committee will need to know. It’s even more important in this instance, as YorkSU staff won’t know all of the specifics of how you run your individual group, so it’s your responsibility to pass on that information.

Remember, it’s not just information you’re handing over either, anything physical such as keys, equipment, resources, marketing documents, passwords, logins and anything else you’ve used during your time running your project needs to be passed on as well.

What should I include in the handover?

We’d recommend running handover meetings for each committee position, so the outgoing secretary for the group should meet the newly-elected one, and so on. 

Remember: Sometimes things might seem obvious to you because you’re already experienced in the role, but try to remember what it’s like for a new committee member, who may not know anything about YorkSU or running a student group! Explain how YorkSU works in relation to your group and pass on lead contacts.

Writing a handover is a fantastic experience for you to reflect on your time as a committee member when you come to write your CV and apply for jobs. The challenges you face and skills gained through being in a position of responsibility in a committee are gold dust to employers and it’s really important that you practice articulating these. Additionally, it’ll be invaluable to the new committee members for them to have an insight into what it was like for you running the committee. See  below for guidance on how to do this. 

Your predecessor might have passed on a handover document to you when you were elected, in which case you might know how helpful they can be (or how unhelpful if not done properly!). If you didn’t get one, you might have missed it during your time on your Committee. They’re really handy for new committee members to have around (and it means they’re less likely to message you for help every other day!), so we’d recommend putting one together, or improving the one you already have. You could do one document for the whole committee, or one-per-member.

Handover Document Contents

We recommend you split your handover into three sections. Section A should talk about the project as a whole and give some really specific guidance about how to organise things that are specific to your project. Section B should talk about each individual committee position, what you feel you’ve learnt from the role and how you would see it develop in the future (this should be done by each committee member). Section C should include any final information such as equipment belonging to the project, logins and final information you would usually pass to the new committee in a meeting.

Here are some suggestions for things to include in Section A:

• How you publicised your project

What did you do at Freshers Fair? Did you do any other marketing campaigns throughout the year? If you have any physical marketing materials such as banners or posters, let the new committee know where this is stored so they can access it.

• Information about any major events you organised throughout the year

For example: What were they, how you booked the venue(s), any contacts, what you charged for the ticket.

• Contacts

Any externals you have worked with and their contact details so that the new committee can get in touch.

Any specifics regarding the external partners you’ve worked with.

• How you organised who went to your workshops/activities

For example: if you had a rota, and who organised this.

• Any sponsorship agreement you have or tried to get

Include contact details and what was arranged, including any future opportunities discussed.

• How you manage your accounts and used the member dashboard

We have guides to Finance and the Member Dashboard in the Resource Hub and included in the training, but do pass on any relevant information to the new committee

• Information about your committee and meetings held

Information on the structure of your committee and who did what, although individual duties are defined in your constitution, explain how roles and responsibilities were allocated across the committee

For meetings, include how often and where they happened, what you felt worked well and how you think they could be improved.

Here are some suggestions for things to include in Section B:

Each committee position could aim to answer the following questions...

• How would you define your role?

• What were the day-to-day responsibilities required for you to complete within your role?

• What challenges have you faced through being in this committee position? 

• What do you feel it takes to be a good committee member / to be successful in this particular role? 

• If you could redo the year, is there anything you would do differently within your committee role? 

• Would you say you’ve gained any skills throughout this role? 

• Do you have any ideas about what the next committee could do to develop the project next year? 

Here are some suggestions for things to include in Section C:

Include in this section any final information that would be helpful to pass to the new committee. You may want to include:

• Logins and Passwords

If your group has any social media pages, pass on details of the logins so a new committee can use the same pages you’ve worked hard on building a following for.

• Equipment Inventory

If you have equipment belonging to your group, let the next committee know where it is stored. Any physical assets you have such as keys to storage should be given to YorkSU, or if any equipment is stored in student housing, speak with your link staff member who can arrange to store this for the next committee.

• Contact Details

If you can, it’s always worth leaving your contact details with them. This doesn’t mean you have to be on call, but if they’re really stuck with something it’s good for them to know they can drop you a line for advice.

Questions?

Handing over without knowing who your handing over too can be difficult, so if you’re struggling with anything, having problems contacting them, or have any questions at all, drop an email to