Committee Handover
A good Handover can make all the difference for a new committee coming in. It can support them as they learn how to complete their new roles and ensures knowledge that you have learnt over your time on committee isn't lost at the end of the year. This page will help you to build a strong handover.
Don't forget to complete your handover with the Guild of Societies or AU so that new committee members can access their admin tools and receive communications from the SU.
Handover Documents
Creating a Handover Document is a great way to support new committee members long after you have left the committee. It is a record of the things that you have done throughout the year and reviews what worked and what didn’t. It means committee members don’t start from scratch and can learn from your experiences.
You can create your Handover Document however you like, although we recommend using a Google Document as multiple people can access and edit the document at the same time and can be easily updated passed over each year.
Things to include in a Handover Document:
- Descriptions of each role and their responsibilities
- Key Contacts in the SU and University and for sponsors, venues, coaches, etc.
- List of events you have run, descriptions of how they were organised, what went well and what didn’t
- Usernames and passwords for social media and other accounts
- Group-specific information
Shadowing
New committee members officially take over your Society on 1st August, although they may be given access slightly earlier to start making arrangements for the new academic year. Once elected, new committee members can start shadowing the current committee and start learning how to do their new roles.
Things you can do during shadowing include:
- Invite new committee members to Committee Meetings and other meetings
- Include new committee members in organising events and activities
- Support new committee members to lead regular sessions or activities
- Allow new Treasurer to help submit finance requests – these must still be signed off by the current Treasurer!
- Introduce new committee members to SU Staff, University Staff, sponsors, venues, coaches, etc.
Core Documents
It is important that these core documents are passed over to the new committee each year, as well as being submitted to the SU.
Constitution
This is the agreement your Society makes with the SU in order to affiliate. It needs to be approved at AGM each year and any amendments updated and resubmitted to us. It is a useful document for new committee members to familiarise themselves with when they join the committee, as it gives some information about Society Aims and Objectives, Committee Roles, etc.
Equipment Inventory
A list of the equipment owned by the Society and rough value. All equipment owned by the Society is also owned by the Students’ Union, meaning it can be covered by our insurance. The inventory helps us do this and also helps new committee members to track Society equipment. Use our template to create your inventory. If your Society owns no equipment, we need a blank copy of the template inventory with your Society’s name on it to recognise this.
Society Development Plan
This document identifies three main aims for the society in the upcoming academic year in the form of specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound (SMART) targets, as well as identifying what steps need to be taken to acheive them. It is also to provide a projection of your society budget for the year. It is best for the incoming and outgoing committee to work together on this document so that you can decide on what the new committee would like to achieve, with the benefit of wisdom from the outgoing committee's experience. It is a working document which you will discuss with your coordinator each semester.
General Risk Assessment
This risk assessment should cover all of the activities which your society will be planning to do on a regular basis. All society activity needs to have a risk assessment so having one thorough risk assessment for regular activities means that those regular sessions are all covered and you don't have to do a separate risk assessment for every session. The more detailed and thorough your general risk asessment is, the less work you have to do in the future.
More Hints and Tips
Here are some more ideas for Handover:
- Hold one-to-one meetings or discussions for each committee role so the new person has time to find out more about the role and get their specific questions answered
- Encourage them to create a Society Development Plan and give ideas about how to achieve their development targets
- Review the year just gone with both committees and support their ideas on what needs to be changed
- Talk about how to run a committee meeting, how to take notes, etc.
- Check new committee members have access to all social media accounts and they know how to use them
- Remind all committee members to buy their membership when it comes on sale – they’ll be removed from the committee otherwise!