Leadership Transitions

Remember a successful executive board is not only the glue that holds your organization together but also the fuel that propels it in a forward direction. A successful officer transition is neither difficult nor very time-consuming, however if you don’t do it or do it wrong your organization can struggle.

Leadership Transition Checklist [ PDF Download]

Responsibilities for outgoing officers:

Be sure to review all of the following information with incoming officers:

  • Your organization’s history
  • University of Rochester’s policies and procedures
  • Your organization’s constitution, mission statement, and officer responsibilities (if these need updating, now is a great time to do that!)
  • Old records (including meeting agendas and minutes), binder(s), files, notebooks, copies of documents used for advertising past events, and correspondence (upload what you can to CCC)
  • Officer job descriptions and expectations for each new officer regarding the role and responsibilities, verbally share advice on past successes and mistakes (upload what you can to CCC)
  • Your organization’s calendar (and any important annual events that non-executive board members might not know about, such as leadership training events and/or budget and bill deadlines)
  • Forward on reservation confirmations for meetings and programs
  • Your organization’s status reports on continuing projects (inform new officers—with specific detail—any organizational responsibilities that will been left unfinished at the end of the year)
  • Your organization’s annual budget, evaluations for projects and events, achievements, and mistakes
  • Important contacts used for past and future events
Be sure to do the following:
  • Transfer ownership on membership lists, mailing lists, account passwords (social media, website, email, bank), contracts, addresses, phone numbers, etc.
  • Sit with your incoming officers and help them plan their first courses of action over their first few months
  • Give them access to the CCC group page with instructions on how to update executive board members and general members
  • Introduce officer to key contact people, especially your group’s advisor(s) and any relevant supervising staff

Responsibilities for incoming officers:

  • Renew organization and/or attend mandatory meetings to access funds
  • Understand present and future programs
  • Develop a master calendar with meetings, programs, and events
  • Update  CCC presence and webpage (if applicable) with new officer information
  • Update your Virtual EMS contact so you can reserve rooms
  • Attend a Community Kitchen training if you do programs in that space.
  • Establish meeting agendas, times, and locations
  • Remember to keep well organized and detailed records in the upcoming year so it will be easy to transition when you recruit and train new leadership
  • Work with outgoing officers to review last year’s concerns, achievements, and goals
  • Establish new goals and prioritize them
  • Attend fall and mid-year leadership training
  • Bookmark the Wilson Commons Student Activities and SA government website AND know your key resources there
  • Review past Activity Reflections, Student Organization Annual Report (SOAR) evaluation letters, budgets, and financial statements

Great questions to get the transitional meeting started

1) What was your best experience in this position?

2) What are you most nervous about going into this position?

3) Name the administrators/staff you found to be helpful in your position.

4) What did you find most difficult in this position?

5) What was the best resource you used in this position?

6) Which offices/departments/student groups did you co-sponsor with that worked well?

7) Please list any projects or ideas you were developing that you would like to see continue.

8) Name one thing you wished you knew when you started the position.

9) Do you think the student body knows of your position and the services your group provides?