HANDOVER HELP


I’VE just been writing a handover paper for a voluntary responsibility I am passing on to a successor. A couple of years ago I wrote a major manual for a professional post I was leaving. So let me set down some of what I have learned to help you if you need to write something similar.


I have in mind a wide range of examples, both paid posts such as:


• a Minister moving on from a church; • a CEO or department head in a mission agency;


• any church or mission employee: Administrator, Families’ Minister, etc.; but also voluntary positions such as: • a Church Secretary or Treasurer; • the organiser for a major church event such as a church weekend away;


• the editor of a church or mission publication.


To add to this variety, the person moving on may only be doing so temporarily, as with maternity leave or a sabbatical, or it might be long-term sick leave.


In all these cases it is vital that the experience and knowledge of the present post-holder is not lost. Hence the writing of a ‘handover document’ which might be backed up with a range of digital and hard-copy files for the new post-holder to refer to.


Seven principles to follow


1 Provide information not opinion What you write should be strong on factual information. You may also want to add some visuals to your document such as deadline diagrams, screen shots for using software or your photographs of equipment. But try to avoid personal opinion.


For example, if you have organised speaker events, provide names, contact details, dates, titles. You can summarise what the assessment sheets said about them, but avoid adding in your own views about the quality of their delivery. Someone else might have had a different impression.


2 Avoid too much ‘how to’


This point applies to more senior posts. The aim of the handover document should be to


JOHN Truscott normally writes articles for us in series but is currently contributing a number of one-offs.


So far he has covered ‘Worrying websites’, ‘Global giving’, ‘Changing churches’, ‘Eco- education’, ‘Difficult decisions’, ‘Able Assistants’, ‘Mission metrics’ and ‘Staff sessions’. This time he provides practical ideas for writing a handover document.


clarify what the role is all about, what it is aiming to achieve, perhaps to explain how it has been done to date, but not to instruct too tightly on how it should be done in future. The new post- holder may find better ways of achieving the same ends.


So a mission department head may run their area of work in quite a hierarchical way, whereas their successor may be much more used to a team approach and want to get their results through a different style of working. But if this is only a temporary hand-over then it may be wiser to follow the current systems so the permanent post-holder can pick things up once they return. The same will apply to some basic roles where someone coming in will be looking for detailed ‘how to’ advice. You can always explain how it is done today but say there may well be better ways of doing it.


3 Take care over what you pass on


You need to work out what can be passed over and what should remain confidential to you alone. Some files of pastoral opinions and personal correspondence may need to be destroyed. Aspects of your own ministry (such as talks given) clearly remain yours. But public domain data that can inform your successor become part of the handover file. In everything in the lists that follow in this article, be sure to follow best practice in data protection, GDPR, safeguarding, etc.


4 Refer to other files


List and explain other documents which form a resource library to be passed over, but ensure they are tidied up and so easily understood by someone coming fresh to them. These might include digital files of publications, meeting minutes and papers, sets of accounts, or lists of actions taken. They might be selected email folders, or hard copy publications and file sets of important outputs. For paid posts there will be the staff handbook.


Handing over is an opportunity to tidy the digital and hard copy files, to ensure everything will make sense to a newcomers, to get rid of materials that are not important and no longer needed, but to pass on the key documents that


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