Continuity
Don't let knowledge walk out the door
When a board member steps down, everything they know can leave with them. A handover pack captures it, structured, reviewed, and ready for the person who takes over.
What it captures
The institutional knowledge that usually disappears
A handover pack is a structured record built by an outgoing board member for their successor. It brings together the things that live in one person’s head and rarely make it into the minutes.
Key contacts
The internal and external relationships that keep things moving.
Ongoing obligations
Commitments and context the successor needs to know about.
Inside a pack
What goes in a handover pack
- ✓Key internal and external contacts
- ✓Ongoing obligations and commitments
- ✓Notes, context and institutional knowledge
- ✓Links to relevant documents
- ✓Links to governance records
- ✓A clear structure the successor can follow
The lifecycle
Draft, review, hand over
1
Draft
The outgoing member builds the pack while the knowledge is fresh.
2
Pending review
The pack is checked before it’s finalised.
3
Finalised
Once finalised, it’s accessible to the incoming director.
Why it matters
Institutional knowledge loss is one of the biggest real problems in governance. Terms end, people move on, and the reasoning behind decisions goes with them. A finalised handover pack means the next person starts with context, not a blank page.