Time planning is increasingly gaining importance in today’s finance industry–and it’s touching every area, from HR and business strategy to marketing and sales.
By Sheryl Nance-Nash

EXCERPT: Map out a plan When it comes to business strategy, it’s about being realistic. “Strategy is the elimination of options,” says Bill Marquard of Marble Leadership Partners, a Chicago, Ill. firm that helps national and global corporations set competitive strategies. “Most companies have many more ideas than they have the time and resources to pursue. Therefore, one must set and define priorities. Leadership must ask, ‘Where will we put the most effort?’ and ‘What are the five things we will get right this year?” Focus on a handful of strategies, and once those are complete you can move other priorities into the queue,” says Marquard.

Furthermore, he adds, “We’ve found that when we sit down with a leadership team, the most effective strategic plan is one that enables them to say no to an idea by testing the idea against the strategic plan. How does it fit in?”

Often, companies make the mistake of having a strategy that is too broad. “You have to negotiate, to assess what are the strengths and weaknesses of what’s being proposed,” he says. But everyone must have the same detailed fact-based information to make decisions, “We want people working from more than just opinion.”

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