Mark Batchelor

I was recently in discussion with a colleague about the quality of handover briefings I’ve experienced over the years. This was in response to an instance he was describing where an organisation had to recall someone who had recently retired, to help their former department regain its efficiency and performance, which had dwindled under the newly installed team leader. When I asked how this could have happened, he shrugged and concluded that little time and effort had been made to suitably brief and handover to the incumbent.

This sadly resonated, and given the variety of industries and organisation I’ve worked with over the decades, I’ve personally witnessed a widely varying level of commitment to such an important action.

As most of us invariably will experience the giving or receiving of a handover briefing, how much time do you give to it, and what is it that you feel needs to be covered? Do you feel confident enough when handing over the responsibility to another? Will it be a seamless transition? Equally, do you feel fully equipped to confidently step into another’s shoes when being ‘handed the reins’ without spending too much time trying to work out the priorities, how to structure your approach, and fathom the rhyme and reason for a host of seemingly disconnected tasks?

I remember one incident when I was given a handover briefing that comprised of an hour’s face-to-face meeting with my predecessor and subequently emailed two sides of A4 with a list of tasks before they finished their assignment and left the building that day. I then spent the next three months trying to piece together the context, inter-relationships of the multiple stakeholders, the functions, processes and priorities, while keeping ‘the wheels turning’ and the momentum of the project on-track, while avoiding any pitfalls or reputational damage. The analogy I used to describe this at the time was – I was being asked to drive a racing car around a race circuit and achieve fast times and a poll position. The car however was in bits on the garage floor, and I had to assemble it without any clear plans or proper guidance, while reassuring the race teams and sponsors that the car will be running smoothly and on pole position for the beginning of the race. Such a scenario is something I make every effort to avoid putting someone else through, as I know how frustrating and unnecessarily stress-inducing this can be. A year later when I handed the project function into a centralised team, my handover document was a comprehensive 20 pages that meant the team were immediately able to fully grasp the complexity of the programme, understand the nuances, prioritise actions and seamlessly introduce the management activity into their workstreams without any disruption.

Courtesy: Francesco Scatena

It’s worth spending some quality time thinking through how best to induct and handover to someone as seamlessly as possible. Doing so ensures they’re empowered and able to quickly adjust, learn and move forward with confidence. In turn, consistency and high standards are maintained from the outset, while allowing that extra time for that person to bring their own creativity, insights and capability to a team without worrying about ‘dropping the ball’.

So here are some well-trodden lessons that will ensure you can provide a smarter handover. These approaches will meet with a welcome from those who are trying to grasp the enormity of the task ahead and importance of the perspectives they need to adopt, what their role is, and what they need to do:

1. Context – Always, always, always start with the ‘big picture’ first. Explaining how the role and responsibilities link with the wider organisation, and its impact externally and internally across the different environments quickly provides a holistic view and appreciation by the individual of their accountability, as well as the value of their contribution towards productivity and outcomes. Too many times people jump into the minutiae of tasks, systems and process – which do not answer the key questions of ‘What is my purpose? What am I here to do?’ ‘Where do I fit in to the wider organisation? What are we looking to achieve?’ Knowing from the outset what your contribution will be provides you with the rationale and readiness to absorb the technical information for performing the array of ‘day job’ activities. Context is just as important if introducing a new board member, briefing a senior consultant, introducing someone into your team from another department, or recruiting a junior member of staff. Once people know why they are there, what they need to focus on, and what effort they need to make over which time period – they’re primed and ready to start making their contribution. Context answers ‘The why?’, putting priorities into perspective which informs decision-making and helps settle people while they align their mindset. It further enables them to quickly ‘get in step’ with the aspiration and efforts being made, consider their impact, and ultimately ‘pull in the same direction’ to achieve shared goals.
2. Avoid telling people how to do their job – in an attempt to be helpful, those briefing can sometimes be overly specific on how to perform key tasks, which can be time-wasting and at worst insulting. If handing over to an experienced colleague, they will already be very capable and adept within their own professional sphere. Therefore, allow them to review existing tasks and processes and leave it to them on how they decide to implement these going forward. In the case of a change/transformation project detailed tasks may well be noted as part of the workflow audit, however these are always open to change as part of a wider adjustment within the organisation.
3. Explain stakeholders and relationships – knowing who key people are within and outside your organisation and the nature of the relationship with them is essential to establishing an effective footing. To quickly establish a rapport and knowledge of stakeholders makes a huge difference to how effective you can be, as well as clarifying the dynamic that exists with another person, team, or organisation. Getting a grip of this early on ‘smooths the path’ to cooperation and enhances your own professionalism and reputation. I’d recommend drafting a table that shows stakeholders and key teams, their role as part of your coordinated activities, the nature of the relationship with you and your team/function/programme, the messaging and value your activity provides to that stakeholder/audience. This enables the person being briefed to know who to speak to, why they need to speak with them, what approach and tone-of-voice they need to adopt, and how often. 
4. Show connectivity and structures/infrastructure – understanding what and who fits where in relation to each other provides the landscape you need to walk through every day. Being able to navigate your way smartly around the environments in which you operate optimises your productivity. Organigrams, infographics and schematics within your presentation are ideal to help convey complex structures easily and are instantly comprehensive reference tools.
5. Keep it simple, keep it pithy – use clear specific language, avoid vast tracts of text in the handover document. Help people understand and grasp information using a concise structured layout – sections, bullet points, and page nos. with index.
6. Avoid jargon – wherever possible use plain language and terminologies people will understand. Where a technical term or acronym is used give the full term (and meaning) in the first instance.
7. Structure and signpost throughout – make it easy for people to navigate the handover document so they can find what they need to know quickly. An appendix of technical terms at the back + links to key website/information resources are useful. Include names of people and stakeholders with contact details, email address, hyperlinks to websites, links to videos to speed up connectivity and accessibility.
8. Assume the reader knows nothing (of your project) from the outset – a useful default position to start with. They can always fast-track forward if they have some knowledge or you’re covering familiar ground.
9. Avoid information dumping – it’s very easy for time-poor colleagues to burden you with heavyweight, text-heavy documents to wade through. Where possible take the time to condense the essence of the document explaining its context and usefulness into a few lines and hyperlink to it. This ensures the reader quickly understands its importance or relevance and can decide when to access and read it.
10. Face-to-face and written handover – always try to have a face-to-face run through of the handover explaining each aspect. This gives the receiver a chance to question and clarify any issues and content. It also helps familiarise with the navigation of the handover document and reassures that all bases are covered, giving confidence to the recipient, as well as peace of mind to the person handing over – that their activity/project is in ‘safe hands’.