Are You Working For A Landscaping Company That’s Being Acquired?
Here’s my advice for what you should do.
As difficult as it may seem, I encourage you to stay focused on your work and deliver the results for the goals you committed to delivering. Remember Rudyard Kipling’s poem* If? That starts off:
“If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, …”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46473/if- (Entire poem linked here)
While everyone else is trying to figure out what is happening, who is going to do what, etc., you can be the wise and calm leader of your team. You will keep your projects on time, on budget and keep your customers happy. Your employees and peers will appreciate your focus on the company’s goals as a touch point of sanity. Unless and until anything becomes a reality, all gossip and rumors are wasting time that should be applied to the work at hand. You will be the person who keeps everyone focused on their customers, projects, and employees and demonstrate your maturity and professionalism while others are distractions.
It’s important for employees in the landscaping business to know that these deals are not being done with the idea of cutting employees to save costs. In fact, most of them are based on the buyers being able to generate growth for the new entity. It’s often the case that the new entity has more opportunities for career growth and education.
The buying company (including Private Equity buyers) are paying for market and customer relationships as well as an organization capable of growing. They want people to focus on building and maintaining customer-facing relationships that will create more value for the new entity. Additionally, talented, and creative people are needed in areas including technology, human resources, and finance. The most valuable employees are those that know how to identify, analyze, and solve problems, manage complicated projects, take initiative, and make effective decisions.
The high level of mergers and acquisitions activity we’ve seen in the past years is not going to disappear. Competition causes companies to continue to grow either organically, via new services and markets, or via acquisitions. The smartest employees will consider their options in terms of upgrading their skills to match their career goals so that they are able to make career decisions based on their preferences, not because they happened into a job. The smartest employers will support their organization’s human resources by investing in their employees’ future via training, career goals, education, and opportunities for growth.
Would you like to discuss your company’s readiness for sale? What would a buyer like to see in your people plan? Thinking about how your company can maximize its value? We’d be happy to have a confidential complimentary conversation with you about these or any other exit/sales/buying issues.
You can reach me via email: [email protected] or on my cell phone a: 224-688-8838.
We’re here to help you Harvest Your Potential!
