Outdoor Medicine is a Dutch foundation focused on expedition and wilderness medicine. For twelve years, the board, comprising six doctors, built the organization with great passion. But at the end of 2023, a new chapter began: it was time to pass the baton to a new generation. Only… how do you do that without losing the soul of your organization? How do you get all that knowledge out of people’s heads and onto paper? And how do you ensure that the new team can continue with the same energy? In this article, Anne Brants, one of the founders of Outdoor Medicine, and Simone Halink, management consultant at Summiteers, share how they found the balance between letting go and building further — and why it yielded more than expected.

From Passion to Impactful Handover

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Outdoor Medicine offers high-quality courses, conferences, customized continuing education, and medical support during expeditions. The organization has extensive experience in expedition and wilderness medicine. Anne explains: “Outdoor Medicine is an initiative by six doctors who share a passion for the outdoors and for practicing and promoting medicine in challenging environments. We founded the organization in 2011 as a nonprofit, with the goal of encouraging knowledge sharing and collaboration. Twelve years later, we felt it was time for the organization to take the next step, and for us as founders to step back.”

Letting Go of Your ‘Baby’ Is Harder Than You Think

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“Taking a step back sounds simple,” says Simone. “But everything was still in the founders’ heads — processes, decisions, insights. That makes it hard to transfer. And don’t forget, it was truly their ‘baby,’ built from the ground up. That makes letting go especially difficult.”

Sometimes You Need to Hear Twice That You Need Help

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Initially, the board of Outdoor Medicine thought they could manage the transition on their own. “We all had the feeling: we’ve been doing this for years, we can handle it ourselves,” says Anne. But one person within the organization thought differently. “One of our instructors was incredibly enthusiastic about Summiteers, especially because their approach aligned so well with our foundation. He had already mentioned it a year earlier, but only when he brought it up again in 2023 did I start the conversation — and I was immediately convinced. With sharp questions and practical tools, they helped us take more steps in a short time than we had managed before.”

From Saying Goodbye to Setting Conditions

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The initial request to Summiteers was: help us form an Advisory Board, because we want to hand over leadership. But that first session ended with a different realization. “You could see the old fire for the organization reignite,” recalls Simone. “We weren’t ready to say goodbye because we weren’t sure the essence of our work would survive our departure,” says Anne. That shifted the focus. It was no longer just about saying farewell but about creating the right conditions for a successful handover. Simone: “We asked: what do you need to hand this over with trust and peace of mind? What are the key conditions? And how can you as a team say a proper goodbye — to each other and to your roles?”

What Was in Our Heads Became Tangible

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That meant getting to work. “We had to extract things from our heads, say goodbye, and decide how we wanted to stay involved,” says Anne. “What really helps is writing down your vision and strategy. It was all in our heads, but by making explicit what the organization does — and especially what it doesn’t do — it became much more concrete.”

Simone adds: “Together, we created a handbook with everything about the organization, from vision and policy to practical matters like the Wi-Fi password. Once that started taking shape, the big decisions began to fall into place: who steps down when, who becomes the new board and when do they start, how do we stay involved as the Board of Directors. Things that seemed difficult before started happening organically.”

The Result: A Flying Start for the New Board

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The process ended with a kick-off session with both the old and new boards. “We wanted to give the new board a strong start, help them get oriented with their questions, and clarify their new roles,” says Simone. “I’ll never forget that session — it was so special. You work toward it for a year, talk about it endlessly, and then suddenly it’s happening. A young, new board is standing there, with the same energy the ‘old’ board had at the beginning.” It was also a special moment for Anne: “You could feel the energy of the group we were handing it over to, and the confidence that gives… It was a beautiful ending to the journey.” The contrast with the beginning of the process was stark. “Instead of the difficulty letting go that came up in the first session, we could now let go with peace. You know: I no longer need to be involved in this decision, but if someone wants to call me, they’re very welcome.”

Don’t Wait Too Long

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Anne shares one final thought: “If I can give one piece of advice to other organizations at the same point we were — don’t doubt whether it will help. We’d had the idea of seeking help for at least a year. If we’d started working with Summiteers at that very first moment, we would have reaped the benefits much sooner.”

The Fire Is Contagious

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Simone looks back on the process with great appreciation: “When I got to know the foundation, I thought: hey, what these people are doing aligns so beautifully with our own philosophy — helping people climb the mountain, being of service.” She continues: “You’re doctors who want to share something out of passion, a group that has built not only their work but their lives around that mission. It was valuable to contribute to that, but also incredibly inspiring. That fire you all still have — step back or not — is truly contagious.”

Need Help With Your Organization’s Transition?

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Is your organization in a similar situation? Do you want to professionalize or pass the torch to a new generation, but aren’t sure how? We can help you take the next step with confidence, structure, and energy. Contact us — we’d love to think along with you.

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