Officer Transition Manuals

The Phi Sigma Pi Officer and Chair Transition Manual

Transition is vital to the future of the chapter. Don't just ignore it! Ideally, your officers and chairs should all be elected to allow at least four weeks of shadowing and one-on-one training/transition. The following are suggestions for strengthening transition so the new officers/chairs don't feel like they are up the creek without a paddle.

Binders

Each officer and chair should have an effective binder. It should be a helpful tool for the incoming officer or chair to use throughout their term.

• Officer or Chair Handbook These handbooks are available in the "Brothers Only" section of www.phisigmapi.org. Each handbook highlights and describes the specific duties of the officer and chair positions as stated in the Phi SIgma Pi National Constitution and the Phi Sigma Pi National Operating Policy.

• List of Responsibilities: This list should go beyond what is outlined in the National Consitiution and your chapter by-laws. For example, if you committee always plans formal, but that on the list. If your position is in charge of updating the chapter website, write it down. If you're supposed to reserve the rooms for the meetings, be sure to mention that. If you recognize birthdays, make sure to mention it, etc... List every possible thing that you can think of that your position or committee is in charge of.

• Form 110 Report: The Form 110 Report gives a description of the goals, events, and suggestions of the previous officer or chair. It is a useful document to refer to when deciding whether or not to continue a particular event or activity that the chapter has done in the past. When you write your Form 110 report - put a copy of it in your transition binder! This way, the new officer or chair won't have to go looking for it.

• List of ongoing ideas: Never discount any idea. You never know what could spark someone to twist a seemingly crazy idea into a feasible one. The committee should brainstorm to add to this list at least onc a semester. An ongoing list of ideas is available for the committees in the "Brothers Only" section of www.phisigmapi.org.

• Contact Information: A contact sheet for all people, departments offices, businesses, organizations, etc. related to the position is useful so that the new chair does not have to "re-discover" good contacts.

• Goals: This should include information about what past committees and officers were working toward and what has been accomplished as a result. This should also include anything that you have discussed with your Region Consultant during their visit, such as long-term goals or projects (i.e ordering dual signature checks instead of signature checks the next time you reorder checks or suggestions on how to make events more successful the next time you do it.

• Chapter Calendar: It is important for your chapter to collectively make a calendar at the end of each semester/quarter for the following semester/quarter. Put all the certainties on it ahead of time (initiation calendar, holiday breaks, big athletic events, big university events, convention, regional and ICR events, elections, etc.). The calendar should be set as far in advance as possible. Each officer and committee should have everything that they're doing on the master calendar so other committees and chairs can program around the entire chapter. Obviously things will come up and be added to the calendar, but too often we don't take the time to simply log onto our school's website to see when Relay for Life, Homecoming, the rival game or Spring Fest is. Universities set their calendars months in advance, so we can easily set ours one month in advance.

• Event Planning & Evaluation Sheets: An example evaluation sheet is available in the Vice President’s handbook in the “Brothers Only” section of www.phisigmapi.org. It is suggested that you hold on to all planning and evaluation sheets for one full year following the term that they were written. After a year, toss those sheets out unless they contain valuable information about a large-scale event. Also make sure that the list of ongoing ideas is updated before throwing away any evaluation sheets. That way, a committee chair/officer can keep track of events done in the past and maybe do them in the future.

Please note, that this page is a work in progress and will be completed in the coming days.