One of the first questions leaders ask me is: how long will this take? It's a fair question from people who are used to timelines, milestones and results. My honest answer is that the client defines what meaningful change looks like. And the time it takes depends on two things.
1. The Size of the Ship
A small boat can change direction quickly. A cruise ship cannot. The same is true of leaders and organisations. Someone adjusting a single habit, like how they run their weekly leadership meeting, may see a shift within weeks. A founder rethinking how they lead an entire organisation, or how their work fits with their family life, is steering something much larger.
2. The Size of the Turn
A course correction of a few degrees is very different from a 180-degree turn. Incremental change, like sharpening a skill or refining a relationship with a stakeholder, is steady and visible. Transformational change, like a new identity as a leader or a new relationship with success itself, takes many rounds of the wheel at the helm.
What This Means for You
- Name the turn you want to make. Be honest about whether it's a course correction or a new heading.
- Expect momentum before visible change. The wheel turns long before the bow moves.
- Don't mistake the end of coaching for the end of change. Some of the biggest transformations I've seen happened years after our sessions finished.
If it's a huge ship that needs to change course 180 degrees, it will take more than one round of the steering wheel.
That's why I pay close attention to impatience, a struggle senior leaders rarely talk about. Wanting change to happen faster than the ship can turn is one of the most common ways good intentions stall.