The Two Things Your Team Needs More of During Change
Great outcomes take time. Leaders who understand that build something that lasts.
There is no shortage of conversations about AI right now. Every week brings new tools, new capabilities, and new expectations about how quickly teams should adapt. Leaders are being asked to integrate new ways of working faster than ever before, and the pressure to keep up is real. But change, even necessary and exciting change, requires leadership. Knowing something is coming does not mean your team is ready to execute it.
Think about the people we most admire for their skill and mastery. The elite athlete who makes the game look effortless. The writer whose words flow like they cost nothing. The actor who disappears into a role completely. Almost without exception, when you hear them tell their story, it is the same. It took years. It took repetition. It took practice, failure, and then adjustment and trying again. Mastery is always a journey.
Leadership in a changing environment is no different. When we introduce new ideas, new tools, and new ways of working, we cannot expect our teams to execute with confidence on day one. There are two things most leaders underestimate when change arrives: patience and practice.
Patience
Patience is about coaching, explaining, training, and modeling. It means stepping back, observing, and providing feedback before jumping to conclusions about someone's ability to adapt. Patience is a mindset of understanding.
When we introduce change, we as leaders have usually had time to absorb it ourselves. We have wrestled with what it means, thought through the implications, and come to some level of acceptance before we ever communicate it to our teams. At the point we share it, they are just starting that same process. Patience means giving them the space to work through it.
That said, patience is not unlimited. Timelines still exist. Expectations still need to be met. The difference is that consistent feedback along the way ensures no one is left guessing where they stand. People can handle accountability. What they struggle with is uncertainty.
Practice
Proficiency does not come from understanding something once. It comes from doing it repeatedly, getting feedback, adjusting, and doing it again. In the early stages of any new process or tool, not knowing exactly what to do is uncomfortable. That discomfort is normal, and it is temporary. Over time, repetition builds familiarity, and familiarity builds confidence.
The feedback leaders provide during that process makes all the difference. Practice without feedback has a ceiling. If someone is not sure whether what they are doing is correct, they cannot focus their effort on the areas that actually need work. That is where your role as coach becomes critical. Whether you are a Store Manager, District Manager, or Regional Leader, developing the people around you is your top priority. That means watching how your team works through change, not just whether they get to the outcome, and giving them the guidance to close the gap.
Even the most elite performers have coaches. Retail is no different.
There is one more thing worth addressing directly. Patience and practice are not excuses for slow movement or lack of urgency. The pressure to show results is real. Executives, boards, and shareholders want to see outcomes, and they want to see them quickly. That pressure does not go away, nor should it.
But urgency and speed are not the same thing. The most important work in any significant change is understanding what truly needs to happen and why it matters. The how and the when matter too, but not before the what and the why are clear. Organizations that skip that step in the name of speed often find themselves moving fast in the wrong direction.
Apple rarely leads the market on new technology. They were not first with MP3 players, smartphones, or tablets in their final form. And by most accounts, they have moved more slowly on AI than the competitive environment might seem to demand. They have even made promises they have not yet delivered on, which is unusual for them. But Apple tends to enter when they believe they can change the game, not just participate in it. Whether that plays out with AI remains to be seen, but the instinct behind it is sound. Doing something right, with intention and confidence, almost always produces better outcomes than doing it fast.
Patience and practice may sound simple, even obvious. But they are difficult to execute consistently, and that is exactly what makes them so critical. We all want things to happen quickly, and we want others to do their jobs perfectly. But coaching with patience and giving time for practice? That takes…patience and practice! It might feel like a loop, but I think that’s the idea. We always need patience, and we always need to practice. We can all get better, learn from our experiences, and make sure we give ourselves the time and understanding to learn and apply new things. Trust the process. Trust your team. Great outcomes take time, and leaders who understand that are the ones who build something that lasts.
How will you incorporate patience and practice into your leadership style?
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