Committee Handover Pack

Committee Handover Pack Skill

Volunteer organizations don't die from lack of volunteers — they die when Linda steps down after eleven years and it turns out Linda was the infrastructure: the venue contact who does mates' rates, the login to the website nobody else has, the knowledge that the council grant deadline is really March despite what the website says. This skill extracts Linda before she goes: accounts, calendar, relationships, unwritten rules, and the successor's first 90 days — captured in a pack that makes the next handover a one-hour meeting instead of a year of archaeology.

What This Skill Produces

• The access register: every account/login/asset (email, socials, website, bank, keys, storage) with what it's for and who holds it — plus the transfer checklist (ownership moved, not passwords shared)
• The annual rhythm calendar: everything that recurs, when it really needs starting, and the deadlines with teeth (grants, insurance renewal, league registration)
• The relationship map: the people who matter (venue, council contact, sponsor, the member who fixes things), what the relationship runs on, and the handover introduction plan
• The unwritten rules, written: the workarounds, the sensitivities, the "we tried that in 2019 and here's what happened" list
• A first-90-days guide for the successor + the one-hour handover meeting agenda

Required Inputs

Ask for (if not already provided):

• The role being handed over and how long the outgoing person held it (the longer, the deeper the archaeology — interview accordingly)
• The org's shape: what happens in a normal year, biggest events, money flows
• The successor situation: known and willing? unknown? reluctant? (the pack doubles as a recruitment tool — "look, it's all written down")
• Time available: an afternoon of interviews or one rushed hour (the skill triages accordingly: access register first, always)

Framework

1. Access register first — it's the emergency. Everything with a login or a key, in a table: what, where, current holder, how transferred. Transfer means ownership changes (admin rights moved, bank mandates changed, recovery email updated) — a sticky note of passwords is not a handover, it's a liability. Bank changes get their own checklist line; they take the longest.
2. Interview for the year, month by month. Walk January to December: "what happens, what do you start early, what bites if missed?" The real deadlines (grant windows, insurance, registrations, AGM notice) go on the calendar with start-by dates, not just due dates.
3. Map relationships with their care instructions. Who, what they provide, what keeps it working ("always ring, never email", "sponsor renews at the summer fair, in person"). Plan warm introductions before the outgoing person leaves — a name in a document is not a relationship.
4. Write down the unwritten. The workarounds ("the heating needs 40 minutes"), the sensitivities ("don't reopen the 2019 kit argument"), the institutional scar tissue with its lesson attached. This section is why successors read the pack twice.
5. Draft the successor's first 90 days. Month 1: change nothing, meet everyone, run the routine. Month 2: own one event end-to-end. Month 3: propose one improvement. Plus the "call the old holder" etiquette — agreed availability, so asking isn't awkward and Linda isn't haunted forever.

Output Format

## Access register (transfer these, don't share these)
| Asset | Where | Holder → Successor | Transfer method | Done? |

## The year, as it really works
| Month | What happens | Start by | Bites if missed |

## Relationships
| Who | Provides | Care instructions | Introduced? |

## The unwritten rules
[Workarounds · sensitivities · we-tried-that list with lessons]

## Successor's first 90 days
[Month by month + the call-me arrangement]

## The handover hour (agenda)
[Walk the pack · transfer live accounts together · introductions plan · keys]

Quality Checks

• Every access-register row has a transfer method that moves ownership, not just knowledge of a password
• The calendar has start-by dates, not only deadlines
• At least three unwritten rules captured — if the section is empty, the interview didn't go deep enough; prompt with the month-walk again
• Relationship rows include care instructions, not just names
• The pack is written to the successor ("you"), not as the outgoing person's memoir

Anti-Patterns

• Do not produce a constitution summary — the pack captures what the constitution doesn't say
• Do not let passwords be "handed over" in the document itself — the register tracks transfers, it never contains credentials
• Do not skip the reluctant-successor case — the pack's existence is the recruitment pitch; say so
• Do not record grievances as unwritten rules — lessons yes, scores no

Related

[[agm-in-a-box]] — handover usually starts at one; [[volunteer-treasurer-basics]] for the books being handed; [[session-handoff]] and [[the-time-capsule]] — the same move at other scales.