Ready to lead with the rolling start readiness score

Why transition planning is not “measuring the drapes”

In brief

• The strongest transition teams arrive with “the boat moving:” with clear initial decisions already staged for execution.
• Entering the governing window at speed, aligned and ready to “pull together” are hallmarks of successful transition teams.
• Pre-election work creates stability, control, analysis and options; policy choices and appointments come after election night.

The first governing decision is made before the votes are counted. Anyone who has watched a crew race knows the violence of the standing start. A crew already in motion has an advantage: the rowers are matched, the rhythm is established and momentum already exists.

Why good campaigns arrive flat-footed

The hesitation is understandable. Campaigns are consumed by the immediate demands of winning an election. Candidates do not want to look entitled. Staff worry that naming a transition lead or designing an appointments process will be read as “measuring the drapes.” Preparing to govern can feel like a distraction from the work required to win.

The complexities of today (global conflicts, technology advancements, AI, tariffs, pandemics, etc.) demand using every minute post-election as wisely as possible. This requires a disciplined approach to determining what you can decide now, what you can design now and what needs to be deferred intentionally.

A preemptive approach requires the following discipline: decide only what creates control, design what will remove delay and defer what properly belongs to the governor-elect after the election.

A transition is an operating system, not a binder

Most transition plans look impressive from a distance. They contain workstreams, timelines and lengthy lists of questions. The test is what happens on a difficult morning: Who can make the call? Which facts are trusted? What must be escalated? What can wait? Who owns the handoff?

The strongest transitions reduce ambiguity before pressure arrives. They establish clear decision rights, a common operating cadence, and shared ways of working across the various workstreams (personnel, policy, budget, communications and agency review, etc.). When Election Day arrives, the transition team shouldn’t be deciding how to work together. It needs to already be working together, enabling smooth engagement with the outgoing administration, and career state employees.

From concepts to evidence: the rolling start readiness score

When evaluating transition readiness, a team shouldn’t ask whether a campaign has discussed transition planning. It should ask whether evidence exists on who is accountable and how the process will function under pressure.

The rolling start readiness scorecard allows campaign and transition teams to take an evidence-based, objective review of current state readiness and what needs to change immediately. The assessment is organized along eight key dimensions that span organization and personnel, to budget and legal.

As campaigns evaluate their readiness using the scorecard, we recommend the following rules to help ensure they are being honest about the final score.

• No evidence, no credit. A meeting, a promise or a person’s confidence is not proof of readiness. Count artifacts and tested mechanisms.
• Averages can hide a critical vulnerability. A high total does not offset a zero in legal and ethics, budget, organization or continuity. Any zero in a dimension triggers immediate action.

Discover more and learn your rolling start readiness score here.

Jon Hughes, Ernst & Young LLP; and Nita Bhat, Ernst & Young LLP contributed to this article.