Fast Tracking Mission-wide Staff Transition Lessons from USAID Ukraine Strategic Transition Planning

USAID/Ukraine navigated significant staff transitions since Russian aggression increase in 2022. Over the past two years, the Mission partnered with its Ukraine Monitoring and Learning Support Activity (UMLS) to apply a CLA approach to two interconnected elements: a Mission-wide approach to staff transition process and the strategic transition planning workshop design and delivery. 

The intentional CLA approach to a mission-wide staff transition focused on retaining institutional memory and building relationships and networks, both crucial to a successful transition. One key strategy was a 4-day, hybrid Strategic Transition Planning workshop to bring together arriving, exiting, and remaining staff. This workshop focused on Office- and Mission-level aspects of transition and created numerous opportunities for interaction within and across teams to increase organizational effectiveness. 

CLA was also used in the workshop design and delivery, including multiple design iterations based on in-puts, feedback, and collaboration with key stakeholders during planning. Workshop evaluations and survey after the 2023 delivery showed workshops contributed to successful staff transitions. Reflecting on the workshop results, Mission leadership remarked, “We definitely observed enhanced efficiency and speed of operations,” and emphasized the workshop’s impact on morale among both new and existing staff. Ultimately, the workshop facilitated a smoother mission-wide transition process that contributed to more agile, adaptive continuity of USAID’s critical development work. 

A Workshop Learning Brief and a 2-page Guide for Mission-wide Transition document lessons, processes, and tools to support other Missions undergoing transitions and are available on the Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning (KMOL) Intranet.