Protect operating continuity
List current programs, commitments, budgets, suppliers and upcoming decisions. Identify who can approve urgent changes during the transition. Confirm ownership of advertising accounts, analytics, domains and shared assets without exposing credentials in handover documents. Access changes should follow the organization's security process.
Transfer reasoning as well as files
Explain why major choices were made, which assumptions remain uncertain and what has already been tested. A campaign calendar is less useful without its audience, objective and acceptance criteria. Record unresolved issues so the incoming leader can distinguish an inherited constraint from a new problem.
Agree the transition mandate
An interim leader may stabilize delivery, assess the team or prepare for a permanent hire. Those are different scopes. Establish authority, working capacity and the expected handover outputs. Review the priorities with the executive sponsor instead of treating all inherited activity as a commitment to continue.
Put the decision into practice
- List commitments and deadlines.
- Assign temporary decision owners.
- Confirm controlled access ownership.
- Transfer decision context.
- Agree the incoming leader's mandate.
Bring the business question, the evidence already available and the constraints that matter. Discuss your next step with Nancy Chou.
Transfer the reasoning behind the plan
A handover should include priorities, customer assumptions, approved briefs, budget commitments and the reasons decisions were made. Identify open risks, supplier obligations and the next review date. Files and passwords alone do not preserve the context a successor needs. Transfer access through an appropriate process and remove unnecessary continuing access when responsibilities end.
Give the transition an accountable endpoint
Specify which decisions the outgoing leader retains, which the incoming owner assumes and how urgent exceptions are handled during the overlap. Agree acceptance for documentation and operating continuity. Interim support may bridge a defined gap, but its authority and availability must be explicit. Review the first real decisions after handover to identify context that did not transfer successfully. Defining a fractional CMO's authority and responsibilities.
The plan transfers but its assumptions do not
Hypothetical decision exercise. Imagine a successor inherits a campaign calendar without knowing that its audience choice depended on a temporary delivery constraint. They may preserve an outdated decision or reverse a justified one. Transfer the evidence and review conditions alongside the files. Test the handover through the next real priority choice, not only a document checklist.