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Practical guide / Free to read

Prepare a useful handover.

Make the everyday work easier for someone else to pick up, one responsibility and one conversation at a time.

Name the change before listing the tasks

A colleague covering a week away needs a different handover from someone taking on a permanent role. Describe the piece of work, the period involved, and who needs to discuss the arrangements. Include what will stay with the current person.

Begin with one question: what would someone need to understand to pick this up tomorrow? You can prepare a first draft yourself, then check it with the people involved. Naming someone in a plan is a proposal until their responsibility and authority are agreed.

Make the ordinary work visible

Write down the practical knowledge the next person needs: how the work starts, the steps that matter, useful records, and how to recognize a problem. For an ownership transfer, keep this operational handover alongside the separate sale or succession arrangements.

Choose a recent, ordinary example of the task. Write when it begins, where the information comes from, what needs doing, and how someone knows it is finished. Include the moment when the usual routine no longer fits: a late delivery, missing information, or a request that needs approval.

Background: SBA: Manage your business

Give unfinished work its own place

A description of the routine will not tell the next person about a customer waiting for an answer. Keep a separate list of commitments already made: what is underway, what has happened, the next step, who needs to follow it through, and the relevant deadline or check-in.

Write uncertain details as questions. ‘Delivery expected Tuesday; needs confirmation’ gives someone a better starting point than a date that looks settled. Ask who needs to hear about the change and who will explain it.

Make information findable and usable

List the contacts, records, and tools needed for the work. Add what each contact can help with and where the current record lives. Use an approved contact directory or a document location where that is enough.

Then try finding the information with the next person. Can they locate the right version and get the permission they need? Keep passwords and access codes in the appropriate protected system; record who can arrange access in the handover. Share only the details needed for the work.

Leave time to try the task together

Walk through the task with the person taking it over. Let them try it, notice where the written instructions are unclear, and record questions that still need an answer. A completed document alone does not establish that the handover has worked.

For an everyday task, show an example, let the next person try it, and ask them to explain what they would do if something changed. Record the questions and adjust the instructions. In the planner, a walkthrough status is your record of what happened. Filling in fields does not automatically mark a responsibility as handed over.

Background: SBA: Manage your business

Agree what happens after the handover

Discuss where questions should go, when help will be available, and when you will review the arrangement. Be specific about the end of temporary cover or any follow-up support. Put the first review point somewhere both people can find.

Revisit your notes when the work or the people change. If ownership, employment, contracts, or other formal arrangements are involved, use the practical notes to prepare questions for relevant professional advice; this worksheet does not settle those arrangements.

Background: SBA: Manage your business

Try it in your own situation

Make a small handover useful today

  1. Choose one responsibility someone else may need to pick up.
  2. Describe when it happens, where to begin, and when to ask for help.
  3. Find one useful record and one person who can answer a question.
  4. List anything already promised that the next person needs to know.
  5. Arrange a short practice run and record what still needs attention.
  6. Choose a review point together and keep a copy of the notes.

Keep exploring.

Turn a loose end into a clear next action. Explore Moving on
Sources and further reading

Original Brass Charter examples and exercises, with background reading from the sources below.

Keep your open draft?

Continuing will discard your unsaved changes. You can return to the draft and save or download it first.