Congratulations on Your Election – Now work on your transition

Whether your chapter is just starting the nomination and election process, are somewhere in the middle of it, or have elected your officers, the election is just a small part of passing the officer reigns to the next generation of Delta Zeta leaders. No matter how well (or maybe not so well) your elections went, the real work lies in effectively transitioning from the old officer to the new. Your chapter’s CCD has most likely scheduled the chapter’s officer retreat for the near future and rather than come in unprepared, here are some tips for both old and new officers to make sure they are ready to hit the ground running.

1. It is helpful for a new officer to have received her manuals and files from the outgoing officer prior to the training. This gives her time to work one on one with the outgoing officer to ask questions and be basically familiar with her job. The outgoing officer should first clean out her binders, boxes, jump drives etc. for out of date materials before handing them over to the new officer.

2. Outgoing officers should meet with the new incoming officers BEFORE the transition retreat. This will allow time for officers to ask questions, review materials, and begin the retreat ready to plan for the next year.

3. Before officers meet to pass files along or transition, the outgoing officer should do some reflection on her time in the position. This should include those elements such as planning, working with others, budgeting, reporting requirements, and anything special to the position which the outgoing officer felt was important to know before getting started.

4. The incoming officer should read and review her manuals, files and notebook that the outgoing officer has passed down to be ready for the transition retreat. She should come ready to start her role as a leader in Delta Zeta right away!

Delta Zeta provides Chapter Officer Training Resources on the Members page of our national website. Log in to www.deltazeta.org/member and go to the Resources section to view the Collegiate Chapter Officer Training Toolkit folder. There you will find officer job descriptions, examples of teambuilders and icebreakers to do during your retreat, and the Chapter Officer Transition manual.