(Copied from IGDA Chapter/SIG Election Information)

Exit Materials

Having an exit process with outgoing board/steering committee members is a great way to gain insights into where strengths and weaknesses in your leadership may lay. Not only do they have direct experience with how the leadership team works, because they are leaving the team, they no longer feel the pressure to “do” and/or “fix” and may be more forthcoming with feedback.

It is also a perfect opportunity to thank your departing members for their time and expertise and recognize any individual accomplishments they had so they leave the team on a positive note and feel like they made a contribution.

In addition to maintaining knowledge and thanking members for their service, one of the goals of the exit process is to learn how the Board can improve.

Exit interviews should be done by the current Chair of the Board or Steering Committee; if it is the Chair that is departing, have the incoming Chair or Vice-Chair handle. In some cases, it may work better to have someone from the leadership team who worked very closely with the outgoing member do the exit interview.

Provided are questions or prompts but to be most effective, the conversation with your outgoing member should flow naturally based on their responses so it doesn’t feel too formal or “interview” like. Not every question or prompt needs to be used. Because of this, in-person (or video) conversations are the most impactful.

Prompts

• Use of Talents
  • How effectively did we use your talents?
• Meeting agendas
  • Did the leadership team spend its time on the right things? (Generative discussion, strategic thinking and planning, finance, etc.)
• Meeting effectiveness
  • How effective were the leadership (and other meetings if applicable) meetings?
• Future involvement
  • How would you like to stay involved with the chapter/SIG?

Questions:

• How would you describe your experience on the Leadership team?
  • What did you like about being on the Leadership team?
  • What things about the Leadership team could be improved?
• Were board meetings (or any committee/task related meetings) productive?
  • Was your time used effectively?
  • If you were Chair, what would you do differently?
• Did you feel like your contributions to the Leadership team were fully appreciated?
  • Did you feel listened to and respected during meetings?
• Did any long-term planning take place while you were on the Leadership team?
  • What did you think of it?
• Did you feel prepared for your leadership responsibility?
  • Were leadership expectations made clear?
  • Were you surprised by anything?
• What do you think about how decisions were made by the leadership team?
  • Any suggestions for improvement?
• What are some things that you feel would be important to candidates about being on the Leadership team?