How is M&A Prep like decluttering?

I’m a fan of decluttering. It’s a joy I picked up years ago when I helped my mom move from her large suburban house in which she’d accumulated decades of corporate sponsored moves (the kind where they pack everything for you) into a Manhattan apartment about 20% the size of her old house. The process was liberating, exhausting and even a little embarrassing! The stuff we keep in our junk drawers and cram into the back of the closet can be, um, not really for the general public.

I’ve translated that habit to work. I generally spend a week towards the end of the year clearing out my inbox, updating LinkedIn and going through my M&A readiness check lists. Waste of time if I’m years away from looking for a job or preparing for a divestiture? Not at all!

Getting organized!

The typical M&A check list is a run-down of best practices and good business hygiene that makes sense to consider at any stage of your company’s life cycle. Are your compliance trainings current? Are your HR talent practices up to date? When did you last review your policies and do they reflect the most this year’s laws and guidance? If you’re cramming it all in 6 months ahead of a transaction, you’re going to be doing a haphazard job and it will show during due diligence, I promise. Just like trying to shove everything into a drawer before guests arrive, something embarrassing is going to be left out and potentially dragged into the light at the most inopportune moment! (Think your dog dragging out your dirty laundry you’ve shoved under your bed just as you're showing off your room!)

So as Q4 approaches Q1, pull out your list and make a plan for next year. Besides making you and your company “diligence ready”, you’ll be building out an impactful set of goals and setting yourself up for a fantastic year-end review even if a transaction is years away!

#GreenStarHCA