Quantify, Maximize, and de-risk the people side of the deal
Eliminate misalignment and the leadership issues that inhibit growth.
We partner with management teams, boards, and healthcare-focused investors to enable rapid scale, mitigate risk, and increase value.
Growth-focused strategies for the pace of private capital.
Private Equity and Venture Capital investors face several unique human capital challenges when identifying and growing investments, from assessing senior leaders to building the alignment and skill required to execute on strategy. FMG Leading has a proven track record of partnering with investors to identify the human capital strategies most critical to driving growth and achieving their investment thesis.
Process. Performance. Profitability.
In our experience, most PE investors have well-honed instincts around assessing people. And yet the majority would also say that their most time-consuming challenges are people-related. With decades of experience working with Private Equity firms and their portfolio companies, FMG Leading brings measurement tools and processes to help institutionalize some of this instinct, helping clients become truly competitive around talent. By aligning human capital strategy with business strategy, we help accelerate performance, maximize shareholder value, and position portfolio companies for a strong exit.
Mitigate the human capital risks within each investment.
Today’s uncertainty makes it more important than ever for private equity investors – and senior executives – to maintain a sharp focus on their investment theses. Our team of advisors helps investors and leaders get ahead of their portfolio-level human capital challenges – issues that distract from value creation efforts and become even more pronounced in difficult economic environments.
We partner with PE firms to de-risk investments in talent, provide added deal clarity, and crucially give our clients time back by removing the frustrations and firefighting often associated with the people side of the business. Further, we help align and strengthen people, culture and strategy so that when market outlooks improve, organizations are ready to fully capitalize on opportunities at an optimized, accelerated pace.
During the early stages of the investment lifecycle we add value and accelerate growth through:
Pre-transaction human capital due diligence: We help determine the value and capability of an organization’s human capital by assessing against the 6 primary drivers of human capital performance.
SMARTER Assessments of executives and senior teams: We help investors determine current levels of leader quality, alignment, and effectiveness - and offer actionable insights to support executive success.
Accelerated portco onboarding AND STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT: We help executives and investors clarify responsibilities, align on strategy, and build the relationships that enable teams to rapidly execute on the investment thesis.
We add value to Private Equity across three key phases of the investment lifecycle:
Diligence
During the pre-acquisition phase, we help investors uncover deal-relevant issues and opportunities around:
Leader quality
Human capital strategy
Leader Quality
Our leader quality work in the diligence phase creates meaningful interactions that de-risk instincts and lead to more data-driven conclusions. We focus on founders, CEOs, and other critical roles, helping investors ensure they put together the optimal structure for the deal and for the organization post-transaction.
Our solutions include:
Individual C-Level and Executive Team Assessments
Providing more than a letter grade or “% likeliness of success”, our executive and team assessments provide investors with deep, context-driven insights, and a roadmap to help investors manage and accelerate growth.
Leadership team observation and insights:
Founder, CEO & other critical leaders
Facilitated conversations to clarify existing strengths and opportunities
Pre-close executive assessments
Human Capital Strategy
During the diligence phase, we partner either with the deal team or directly or with the target acquisition to understand the human capital consideration and constraints – opportunities, capabilities, and issues. We act in an advisory role, bringing a deep level of insight to human capital challenges and opportunities that could influence the deal. Challenges and opportunities such as the impact of existing talent and human resource infrastructure.
Our solutions include:
Interviews, observation and assessment of talent/human resources leaders and systems
Data analysis – as an outsourced member of the deal team, we evaluate and organize extracted data on the people side of the organization
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Onboarding
We help new portfolio companies gain immediate traction and improve their ability to scale by building:
Strategic alignment
Leader quality
Culture and identity
Strategic Alignment
Different and distinct from a market analysis or traditional strategy formulation, our goal in the onboarding phase is to build alignment in the top 3 layers of organizational leadership. Our ‘strategy workout’ process drills down on existing strategy to ensure it is clear, actionable and cascaded through organization so that employees at all levels can see how they contribute to success. We also assist organizations to create a strategic narrative that can be cascaded throughout the organization at all levels.
Our solutions include:
Strategy workout
A resource-based strategic planning tool, our “Strategy Workout” focuses on capabilities, identifying the building blocks and how they come together to deliver results. Includes an organizational structure overview and audit, recommended modification and simplification, and ongoing advisory.
Clarification of UVP, target market/customer, and required capabilities to deliver
Executive team advisory and strategic alignment
Leader Quality
Our leadership quality work during the onboarding phase begins by establishing a customized ‘denominator’ from which organizations can define and build the leaders they need to create success in their unique environment. We then partner with portfolio companies to improve leader quality, capacity and skill.
Our solutions include:
Strategic advising with CEO
Our CEO advisory work focuses on building the skills needed to effectively navigate the relationship with the investor and the board. We help set communication expectations, and help CEOs guide their organizations through the realities and cultural implications of rapid growth.
Executive assessment, coaching and development plans to ensure leaders can operate in an environment of changed and increased expectations. We help ensure the investor and the management team establish rapport, trust and a protocol to ensure a healthy working relationship over time.
Pre-hire CEO assessments
We build a success profile and evaluate candidates against the specific needs of the portfolio company.
Executive team alignment and development
We help senior leaders build trust, candor, role clarity, communication norms, and management processes. We help the executive team focus on what matters most and ensure they are functioning at their very best.
Culture and Identity
Our work during the onboarding phase helps organizations assess and evaluate their culture and identity to uncover strategic misalignment that could inhibit growth. We help executives understand how culture impacts performance, and partner with organizations to refresh their culture to support their current business strategy.
Our solutions include:
Culture audits and assessments, to determine the level of alignment between culture and strategy
Culture insights workshop, to help executives understand the role of culture in shaping performance
Leadership and annual meeting design and consultation, to ensure these events act as cultural lynchpins and have the maximum impact
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Growth
During the hold period, we ensure sustainable growth and enhance exit readiness by maintaining a focus on:
Execution
Change Agility
talent & Engagement
Execution
During the growth phase, our work focuses on building senior leadership alignment that enables quick decision-making and effective execution. We help teams gain a sense of purpose, trust and determination that allows them to deliver rapid results and execute strategy.
Our solutions include:
Education around the impact on others when creating an enhanced culture of execution. How people adapt adopt and adjust to a culture of heightened expectations.
Leadership fundamentals training and development. Helping leaders identify and focus on the things that drive value creation and matter most to growth.
Integrated design approaches. We help organizations see how their investments in human capital performance connect to create exponential results.
Change Agility
Our change agility work during the growth phase improves the speed and accuracy by which an organization can adapt, change direction, and implement new initiatives and strategic priorities. We provide education and training focused on the skills needed to lead change, and understanding what people need during times of change.
Our solutions include:
Individual change leadership, connecting change to a story while considering absorption rates, staging and levering and prioritization. We help leaders understand how the pieces fit together, enabling them to shift from functional initiatives to enterprise initiatives.
Change planning advisory. We help our clients design a custom roadmap and with quarterly reviews to ensure momentum and progress. Often this support is rolled-into an ongoing executive team advisory relationship in which we are continuously aligning strategy and human capital, and ensuring the change effort is effectively supported.
Talent & Engagement
During the growth phase, we help organizations maintain momentum by defining and enhancing the way leaders interact and inspire employees at all levels and job functions. Our engagement work unlocks incremental effort and enhances employee loyalty, reducing turnover, improving efficiency, and contributing directly to the bottom line. We understand the impact and evolution of engagement efforts. We help organizations interpret their surveys, cascade the results, and train their leaders to build action plans that create change, pull through and accountability.
Our solutions include:
Annual baseline engagement assessments and surveys
Engagement survey advisory and consultation
Leadership and annual meeting design and advisory, to ensure these events act as cultural lynchpins that drive engagement, commitment and results.
Read Less
Leadership Quality
Our leader quality work in the diligence phase creates meaningful interactions that de-risk instincts and lead to more data-driven conclusions. We focus on founders, CEOs, and other critical roles, helping investors ensure they put together the optimal structure for the deal and for the organization post-transaction.
Our solutions include:
Individual C-Level Leader and Executive Team Assessments
Providing more than a letter grade or “% likeliness of success”, our executive and team assessments provide investors with deep, context-driven insights, and a roadmap to help investors manage and accelerate growth.
Leadership team observation and insights:
Founder, CEO & other critical leaders
Facilitated conversations to clarify existing strengths and opportunities
Pre-close executive assessments
Human Capital Strategy
During the diligence phase, we partner either with the deal team or directly or with the target acquisition to understand the human capital consideration and constraints – opportunities, capabilities, and issues. We act in an advisory role, bringing a deep level of insight to human capital challenges and opportunities that could influence the deal. Challenges and opportunities such as the impact of existing talent and human resource infrastructure.
Our solutions include:
Interviews, observation and assessment of talent/human resources leaders and systems
Data analysis – as an outsourced member of the deal team, we evaluate and organize extracted data on the people side of the organization
Read Less
Strategic Alignment
Different and distinct from a market analysis or traditional strategy formulation, our goal in the onboarding phase is to build alignment in the top 3 layers of organizational leadership. Our ‘strategy workout’ process drills down on existing strategy to ensure it is clear, actionable and cascaded through organization so that employees at all levels can see how they contribute to success. We also assist organizations to create a strategic narrative that can be shared throughout the organization at all levels.
Our solutions include:
Strategy workout
A resource-based strategic planning tool, our “Strategy Workout” focuses on capabilities, identifying the building blocks and how they come together to deliver results. Includes an organizational structure overview and audit, recommended modification and simplification, and ongoing advisory.
Clarification of UVP, target market/customer, and required capabilities to deliver
Executive team advisory and strategic alignment
Leadership Quality
Our leadership quality work during the onboarding phase begins by establishing a customized ‘denominator’ from which organizations can define and build the leaders they need to create success in their unique environment. We then partner with portfolio companies to improve leader quality, capacity and skill.
Our solutions include:
Strategic advising with CEO
Our CEO advisory work focuses on building the skills needed to effectively navigate the relationship with the investor and the board. We help set communication expectations, and help CEOs guide their organizations through the realities and cultural implications of rapid growth.
Executive assessment, coaching and development plans to ensure leaders can operate in an environment of changed and increased expectations. We help ensure the investor and the management team establish rapport, trust and a protocol to ensure a healthy working relationship over time.
Pre-hire CEO assessments
We build a success profile and evaluate candidates against the specific needs of the portfolio company.
Executive team alignment and development
We help senior leaders build trust, candor, role clarity, communication norms, and management processes. We help the executive team focus on what matters most and ensure they are functioning at their very best.
Culture and Identity
Our work during the onboarding phase helps organizations assess and evaluate their culture and identity to uncover strategic misalignment that could inhibit growth. We help executives understand how culture impacts performance, and partner with organizations to refresh their culture to support their current business strategy.
Our solutions include:
Culture audits and assessments, to determine the level of alignment between culture and strategy
Culture insights workshop, to help executives understand the role of culture in shaping performance
Leadership and annual meeting design and consultation, to ensure these events act as cultural lynchpins and have the maximum impact
Read Less
Execution
During the growth phase, our work focuses on building senior leadership alignment that enables quick decision-making and effective execution. We help teams gain a sense of purpose, trust and determination that allows them to deliver rapid results and execute strategy.
Our solutions include:
Education around the impact on others when creating an enhanced culture of execution. How people adapt, adopt, and adjust to a culture of heightened expectations.
Leadership fundamentals training and development. Helping leaders identify and focus on the things that drive value creation and matter most to growth.
Integrated design approaches. We help organizations see how their investments in human capital performance connect to create exponential results.
Change Agility
Our change agility work during the growth phase improves the speed and accuracy by which an organization can adapt, change direction, and implement new initiatives and strategic priorities. We provide education and training focused on the skills needed to lead change, and understanding what people need during times of change.
Our solutions include:
Individual change leadership, connecting change to a story while considering absorption rates, staging and levering and prioritization. We help leaders understand how the pieces fit together, enabling them to shift from functional initiatives to enterprise initiatives.
Change planning advisory. We help our clients design a custom roadmap and with quarterly reviews to ensure momentum and progress. Often this support is rolled-into an ongoing executive team advisory relationship in which we are continuously aligning strategy and human capital, and ensuring the change effort is effectively supported.
Engagement
During the growth phase, we help organizations maintain momentum by defining and enhancing the way leaders interact and inspire employees at all levels and job functions. Our engagement work unlocks incremental effort and enhances employee loyalty, reducing turnover, improving efficiency, and contributing directly to the bottom line. We understand the impact and evolution of engagement efforts. We help organizations interpret their surveys, cascade the results, and train their leaders to build action plans that create change, pull through and accountability.
Our solutions include:
Annual baseline engagement assessments and surveys
Engagement survey advisory and consultation
Leadership and annual meeting design and advisory, to ensure these events act as cultural lynchpins that drive engagement, commitment and results.
Read Less
A better assessment of the terrain that lies ahead
FMG Leading’s executive and team assessments answer the question that is most important to investors and boards: “how do we accelerate returns and mitigate leadership risks?”
Typical executive assessments are incomplete, offering investors a low-value, static prediction of a candidate’s likelihood of success in the role based on an existing dataset or benchmarks.
Two problems arise
Every organization is unique. The operating environment’s context, culture, and strategy determines how executives must operate in order to thrive.
A prediction of a “86% likelihood of success in the role” or a “letter grade” offers no insight about how to maximize the executive investment and support success.
A Smarter Approach
FMG Leading’s assessment expertise complements our advisory work by providing clients tactical insights into human capital performance potential. We offer investors, boards, and executives across a range of industries a more strategic approach to selecting and managing C-suite talent and senior teams.
Beyond just a letter grade or percentage score, our assessment solutions provide context-driven predictions of value creation accelerators and barriers. And we also include a detailed ‘user guide’ with business-specific recommendations to support executives and teams tasked with leading rapid change, driving growth strategy, and delivering world-class results.
Webinar: Human Capital Due Diligence: The Missing Ingredient in Pre-Transaction Playbooks
In this webinar, moderated by FMG Leading CEO Dr. Matt Brubaker, you'll learn how top PE firms (including Frazier Healthcare Partners, WindRose Health Investors, & LightBay Capital) are incorporating human capital due diligence into their pre-transaction playbooks to create a strategic advantage.
Our Private Equity Team
Contact the Practice Leader
Chris "Mitch" Mitchell
As the leader of FMG Leading’s Private Equity practice, Mitch focuses on optimizing human capital performance to accelerate value creation. His broad capabilities include building organizational and financial structures, strategy formulation and valuation assessment, and growing equity value in preparation for successful exit. Mitch brings strategic focus and clarity to investors and their portfolios, establishing clear roadmaps for success and enabling the strategic alignment required to maximize velocity and drive sustainable results.
