I served a one-year term as the Communications Chair for the Dalhousie University School of Information Management’s student association, SIMSA.
SIMSA’s primary challenge is one that many organizations face: High turnover that leads to a loss of important institutional knowledge. However, for SIMSA this is a much faster cycle than for many other organizations. Chairs on the SIMSA Executive serve only one- or two-year terms. Most outgoing Chairs will finish their term in conjunction with the end of a semester or their overall coursework. Outgoing Chairs are expected to complete a transition document advising their successors of what to do and how to do it. However, in the fray of finishing up the term or the degree, transition documents are often pushed aside until the last moment. Sometimes, they are not completed at all, leaving the incoming Chair playing catch-up at best or clean-up at worst.
The project I took on during my term was improving how SIMSA handles this transition period. It’s a critical time for the association, particularly because many outgoing Chairs are graduating and as a result will be harder for incoming Chairs to reach out to for questions. My solution was for each outgoing Chair to fill out a transition template.
To be useful, a transition document must be succinct but descriptive enough for the reader to understand what they need to do and, if needed, where to turn for help. In my view, the best transition documents are thorough and function best as guides to which the recipient can return when they have questions about the role. That means that simple Do and Don’t lists aren’t enough. Some initial time, effort, and consideration are needed from the original writer, but ideally each transition document should only need to be updated at the end of a Chair’s term instead of being completely re-written, as was the old custom.
I created the template in Word and forwarded it to each Chair for completion. Before the transition document was considered final, I asked each person to send it to me for a read-through. I checked each document to ensure that the required sections were filled out and made comments where more information could be provided. My goal was two-fold: To ensure that each Chair created a transition document, and to ensure that each transition document gave enough detail for a lay reader to feel comfortable getting started in the role. Most of the draft documents I received had an excellent balance of general description and specific detail. Only in a few cases did I request further information; for instance, one document lacked information about how to contact an important external party.
Filling out a template like this can be daunting at the end of any position, doubly so when considering the frenetic pace of the final few weeks of any term. It’s also difficult to recall everything you’ve done in a position. At the beginning of the template, I ask a series of questions intended to help the writer critically consider what their role is about and what key knowledge needs to be passed on.
The template itself contains a lot of SIMSA-specific information, but the key elements are transferable to other contexts.
Transition Document Template
Basic Rules
This template is meant to standardize the structure and content of each Chair’s transition documents. Each section should be filled out unless otherwise indicated.
Be succinct but be thorough. Don’t worry about giving too much information — this is meant to be a reference guide to which the incoming Chair can refer when needed.
Avoid stories and anecdotes. Keep your prose simple and fact-focused.
As you start your transition document, put yourself in the mindset you had when you first started your role.
What did you feel least equipped to do?
What did you not find out you were supposed to be doing until months into the role?
What did you excel at throughout your term and what do you want the next person to do?
Did you need to undergo any special training, e.g., financial or event planning?
Systematically consider what you have done throughout your term.
It may be helpful to think about what you did at each time of year – what did you need to do in fall? What were your goals for the summer?
You may also start thinking about projects – when did you start gathering materials for an audit? How did you find information about your responsibilities for that?
Overview of Role
Here’s where you give a few sentence blurb about your main responsibilities and the overall purpose of your position on SIMSA. Consider your ongoing responsibilities, significant one-time responsibilities or other important tasks for which your role is essential.
What’s in this document?
- Provide a bulleted list of the sections you’re including
- Your document should include, at minimum, two sections: Accounts, Tools, & Passwords and Responsibilities
You may wish to include something along the lines of the following note – the incoming Chair should be encouraged to treat the transition document as a reference guide, not as a plan that needs to be strictly followed or, necessarily, read from start-to-finish.
Note: This guide is fairly detailed because it is intended to serve as a reference for you in case you have questions during the course of the year. As you get into the flow of things, you’ll no doubt make your own process changes and procedures, and that’s encouraged. I hope you find this document helpful as you orient yourself to the role; if you have any questions or need clarification, don’t hesitate to contact me by email.
Accounts, Tools, & Passwords
- Bulleted list of key software or tools to which the Chair needs access along with how to access them
- Consider which tools, if any, you’ve used in your role
- At minimum, you should explain in this section that you have your own folder in the SIMSA OneDrive and provide access instructions.
- Example: For Communications, I’ll describe the SIMSA email account, OneDrive, and listserv.
Subheading for Tool 1
Body text – describe when you use this software or tool, how you access it, and what the login credentials are.
Subheading for Tool 2
Body text (and so forth).
Responsibilities
How you structure this section is your choice – you may determine that describing your duties chronologically is best, or you may prefer to start with the key duties and work your way toward the less common or less essential ones.
Think about what you were most confused about when you started the role. Address those questions when you explain the responsibilities. Consider what accounts or tools the person will need to do this task, who they may need to talk to or work with, and what they need to do.
For Chronological Arrangement
If you choose a chronological arrangement, consider the following times of year:
- Post election
- Summer
- School Year
- End of Term
- Miscellaneous/Ongoing
Use subheadings to separate times of year. You may wish to use the following structure:
Post election
- Duty 1
- Duty 2
Details about Duty 1.
Details about Duty 2.
For Thematic Arrangement
If you choose a thematic arrangement, consider the most important duties and place those at the top of your list. Use subheadings to separate different duties.
Ongoing Projects (Optional Section)
Include this section if you were working on any projects at the time of your departure. For example, if you have been working on re-vamping the website, you’ll want to note that here. If you were working on an audit, this is the place to explain that too.
Explain:
- What the project is and why it matters
- What its current status is
- What the next steps are
- Any tips you have for ensuring the project is completed
Appendices (Optional Section)
Appendices are optional but encouraged. The appendices you may wish to include will depend on your role, but consider including the following, as applicable. Feel free to add other types of appendices if they would be important for your role.
Important Contacts
Who do you need to know? How do you contact them?
If you have worked with any specific organizations (e.g., HLA, APLA), include the name of the organization, their contact information (can just be a website address!), and why they are important to the role.
If you have worked with restaurants or businesses, include the same as above. It may be helpful as well to include basic pricing information that you have access to or specific helpful people that you’ve talked to.
If this information exists in another document, that’s okay. You don’t need to copy and paste or make more work for yourself! Instead, tell the incoming Chair where to find the document in the OneDrive, including the document name. Make sure that you attach it to your email to them as well.
Templates
Does your role involve sending emails to the student body or making social media posts? Will the incoming Chair need to send prospecting emails to other organizations or businesses? Consider adding a Templates appendix.
This appendix should include text only but other than that, what you include is up to you.
For Communications, I’ll be adding some example emails about elections, position descriptions, and other such things that are easier to adapt than to make from scratch. If this information exists in another document, that’s okay. You don’t need to copy and paste or make more work for yourself! Instead, tell the incoming Chair where to find the document in the OneDrive, including the document name. Make sure that you attach it to your email to them as well.
Katherine Luber 
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