The Handoff Map

​

Some of your work has no one's name on it.

​

The Handoff Map is a two-page worksheet that shows you which parts of your work would simply stop if you were to leave your role today, who could carry on each part, and which of those people you have actually talked with about the handoff.

Most of us assume our work will find its way forward. Some of it will. The parts that will not are usually invisible until the moment they matter, and by then the choice has been made for you.

​

The Handoff Map makes them visible in about 20 minutes.

​

Three columns. In the first you write the work that would stop. In the second you write a person's name, not a job title, because a row with no name is work that ends when you do. In the third you mark whether you have actually talked to them about it.

​

​

What it covers

​

• The Tasks — what you actually do
• The Relationships — who you know
• The Judgment — what isn’t written down
• What the work is for — the question it answers

Most people fill in the first block quickly and stall on the third. The stall is the useful part.

​

​

What the map shows you

​

• Tasks are the easiest thing to transfer, and they are where most people stop.
• Most names will have a No or a Not Yet beside them. A No is a gap. A Not Yet is a plan, and the difference between them is worth being honest about.
• You will know it is working when a decision gets made without you, and your first reaction is not a flinch.

Downloading this tool also adds you to my monthly newsletter, Field Notes, where I write about my own experience “in the field” of my own career design and what my coaching clients are teaching me. We don't sell or share your information and you are free to unsubscribe at any time.

​