We need to hire an M&A attorney and an investment banker, but we do not want them disrupting our leadership team's focus on our quarterly Rocks. How do we structure their involvement using the Accountability Chart so we keep running the business while they run the deal?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Preparing for an exit is a full-time job that can easily distract your leadership team, causing your operational performance to slide just as buyers are looking at your numbers. To prevent this, you must treat the transaction process as a distinct business unit on your Accountability Chart.

Create a temporary transaction seat on your chart. This seat should ideally be occupied by you or a designated executive, with the explicit responsibility of managing the external advisory team, including the banker, accountant, and attorney. This person acts as the single point of contact and filter.

The rest of your leadership team must remain focused on their core seats and their quarterly Rocks. Do not let advisors bypass the filter and ping your operations director or sales VP for ad-hoc data requests. Use your weekly Level 10 Meeting™ to capture and process transaction-related issues, keeping the distraction completely out of daily operations. This structured buffer ensures your business continues to hit its targets, giving the buyer no excuse to renegotiate the deal due to a sudden drop in performance.