Integration Management Office (IMO): How to Set One Up

Follow these steps in this sequence to mobilize your Integration Management Office:

1. Name the Integration Manager. This leader is the single accountable owner for integration execution. Build a small core team around them — an Integration Coordinator and a lead from the acquired company.
2. Hold the Steering Committee kickoff. Align the senior executive team on deal rationale, integration priorities, and governance before workstream planning begins. Document the output and share it with every workstream lead.
3. Appoint workstream leads. For HR, Finance, IT, Sales, Legal, and Communications, plus other functions and business units as the deal requires.
4. Establish clean room protocols. The Legal team briefs all integration team members on the rules and obtains their written acknowledgment.
5. Document decision rights. Not an org chart — an explicit statement of what resolves at the workstream level, what comes to the IMO, what goes to the Steering Committee, and what requires the board's input.
6. Conduct the IMO kickoff. Every workstream lead attends an orientation meeting that covers value drivers, guiding principles, governance, timeline, tools, and rules of engagement. State the non-negotiables out loud — one owner per task, plans due weekly, blockers escalated rather than absorbed, the Risk Register always current, and gate reviews that don't move.
7. Set the operating cadence. Weekly workstream 1-on-1s and leads meeting, plans due Thursday, Executive Dashboard published Friday, Steering Committee biweekly, board report monthly.

The Pre-Close Integration Management Office Plan and the IMO kickoff presentations in this section help you execute these steps.