Change plans often focus on the new process, system or structure. In practice, the result is frequently decided at the handover: the moment a customer promise becomes delivery work, a purchase becomes an operational dependency, or a decision becomes an instruction for someone else.
A handover carries more than work
A handover transfers context, authority, risk and timing. When any of those are unclear, people compensate with checking, workarounds or escalation.
- Sales commits without a shared view of delivery capacity.
- Procurement places an order without the latest demand or specification.
- A manager approves an exception but the rationale is not recorded.
- A system changes, while the old spreadsheet remains the trusted source.
- A project hands over to operations without ownership for unresolved items.
YJ Consulting’s handover method
- Name the trigger
Define the event that starts the handover.
- Set entry criteria
Agree the information, approval and quality needed before work moves.
- Assign one receiving owner
Shared responsibility can support the work, but the receiving decision needs a visible owner.
- Make status explicit
Distinguish proposed, in progress, blocked, ready for review and approved.
- Define the exception path
State who can decide, what must be recorded and when escalation is required.
- Close the loop
Give the upstream team feedback on defects, delays and changed conditions.
Test the design with real work
Before rolling out a new handover, run several real examples through it. Include an ordinary case, an urgent case and an incomplete-information case. Observe where people interpret the rules differently or create workarounds.
Useful measures may include first-time-right rate, queue age, avoidable rework, number of exceptions, time to decision and the proportion of handovers returned for missing information.
Adoption is part of the process
A new template or system field does not create adoption by itself. People need to understand why the handover is changing, what good looks like, where to raise problems and which old method will stop.
The change record should show the owner, affected roles, training or guidance, implementation date, open risks and review point. Early feedback should be expected and used to refine the design.