There’s a difference between acting in haste versus acting with urgency.

Haste – Moving quickly, but without control. Doing things in a frantic manner, almost to the point of panic. There is a sense of nervousness, anxiety, and stress. More mistakes will happen when working this way.

Urgency – Moving quickly, but with control. Doing things with a specific goal or objective in mind. There is no anxiety, instead, this is fueled by enthusiasm to get the job done. Think Tom Brady running a no-huddle offense, marching down the field for a game-winning drive.

Retail leaders should carefully look under the hood of their product creation and go to market processes. It’s not uncommon for deadlines to be routinely pushed out and for teams to scramble to meet them. This has a domino effect of products arriving late to market. And, there’s little time to focus on the high-value work.

Scrambling to meet deadlines does get the job done, fine, but, it’s a short-term win. Over the long term, continuous scrambling just wears everyone out.

The best brands know how to get their teams away from haste. They stick to deadlines, have great communication between teams and have clear accountabilities in their process.

Are your teams working in haste or working with urgency?