How do we prevent our weekly Level 10 Meeting from becoming completely derailed by unexpected, urgent requests from prospective buyers or due diligence advisors when we are in the middle of preparing the business for sale?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Preparing a business for a clean exit introduces a massive amount of external noise. Investment bankers, buyers, and diligence attorneys will pelt your leadership team with urgent requests that threaten to derail your daily operations. If you let these requests hijack your Level 10 Meeting™, your core business performance will suffer, which actually damages your valuation.

To protect your weekly meeting pulse, you must compartmentalize exit activities. Never allow due diligence requests to dominate the main Issues List of your operational Level 10 Meeting™.

Instead, create a dedicated section on your issues list specifically for exit-readiness, or run a separate, shorter meeting pulse for the deal team. Keep your core operational meeting focused strictly on running the business.

When an urgent transaction request arises, the facilitator must evaluate whether it requires the immediate attention of the entire leadership team. If it does, drop it to the Issues List and IDS® it. If it only affects one or two seats, assign a To-Do to those individuals to handle outside of the meeting.

Your buyers are looking for a business that runs smoothly without constant owner intervention. Maintaining a highly disciplined, uninterrupted Level 10 Meeting™ is the best way to prove that capability.