The handover was done. The work wasn’t.
A signed-off handover tells you the knowledge was explained. It doesn’t tell you anyone else can do the work. Here is a practical way to check.
A handover document shows the knowledge was shared. It doesn’t show the work can carry on.
For that you need evidence that someone else can do it. Here is a simple way to get it.
Get the Handover Readiness Test and template
The full issue adds the six-check Handover Readiness Test, a one-page printable template and an Excel tracker, what to prioritise when someone is leaving soon or has already gone, a note for your own career and a plan for Monday.
A colleague moves on. They do everything right. The handover note is filed, the walkthroughs are recorded, the checklist is signed.
Three weeks later something odd lands. Say a supplier invoice that fails matching for a reason nobody has seen before. The team finds the procedure. It covers the normal route. It doesn’t say how this one gets resolved, who can approve the fix, or what has to happen before the deadline.
Nobody was careless. The handover was complete on paper. It’s just that nobody had asked the team to do the work while the expert was still around to help.
I think most of us have been on one side of that handover. Plenty of us have been on both.
Two surveys, with limits
SHRM asked 1,912 HR professionals in the United States what their organisations formally document. 83% said company policies and 75% said processes and procedures. Only about a third said the same of cultural norms or client relationships.
Limble, a maintenance software company, surveyed 686 maintenance and operations staff in the United States. 74% said their organisation has critical assets that depend on one person’s knowledge. 47% said it has lost knowledge it couldn’t recover when someone left.
Neither shows that weak handovers cause failures. But the picture is familiar. The formal process gets written down. The knowledge around it is harder to capture.
Three stages. Most handovers stop at the first.
- Knowledge transferred. The next person has the instructions, the explanations and the context.
- Capability demonstrated. They have done the work under supervision, or shown it in another acceptable way.
- Readiness accepted. Their manager has looked at the evidence, the access, the controls, the open work and the backup, and has accepted what is still open.
A signed checklist covers the first stage. It says little about the other two.
The quickest route to the second is a supervised run. The next person does the task. The expert watches, and steps in only if safety, compliance or control needs it.
Write down the questions that come up. They show you what the handover missed.
Some point to a missing instruction. Others point to a training need, a missing permission, or judgement that only comes with practice. And one good run doesn’t cover every case.
You will know your own version:
- Finance operations: the month-end adjustment only one analyst can explain.
- Supply chain: the supplier who only answers one coordinator.
- IT operations: the recovery steps that live in one engineer’s head.
- Manufacturing: the fault one technician can diagnose by sound.
- Shared services: the approval route for the case the system rejects.
The rest of this issue is for subscribers
The full issue adds the Handover Readiness Test (six checks, with a one-page PDF template and an Excel tracker), what to do when someone is leaving soon or has already gone, a short note for your own career, and three steps for Monday.
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Two courses on passing work on well
Neither is about handovers by name. Both build the skills behind one. These are direct links, not affiliate links, and we earn nothing from them. Access options, pricing and certificates vary, so check Coursera’s current terms before enrolling.