Leaders who consistently win understand one simple truth: performance is never evenly distributed across the day, week or year. Some moments matter more than others, and what a team does in those windows separates average operations from extraordinary ones.
What is ‘prime time’ in leadership? 
In operations-heavy environments, prime time is the predictable window when customer traffic peaks and the opportunity for sales, service and loyalty is at its highest. Weekday prime time typically runs from 3-7 p.m. and weekend prime time from 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
Prime time is any recurring period when demand, visibility and impact spike – a shift change at a hospital, the lunch rush in a restaurant or the last two weeks of a quarter in a sales organization.
Leaders who identify and name these moments give their teams a powerful mental model: “When it’s prime time, we behave differently.”
Mindset – every moment is not equal
High-impact leaders reject the myth of uniform effort; they plan for disproportionate effort at disproportionate moments. Under pressure to meet labor or budget targets, they sharpen their understanding of when customers are at peak and align resources accordingly.
This mindset has three implications. Leaders stop managing to average and start managing to peaks, aligning staffing to when customers actually show up, not when it is convenient on a spreadsheet.
Teams stop being surprised by predictable rushes because those are now treated as scheduled, strategic events rather than interruptions. Success during these windows becomes a non‑negotiable standard, not just nice to have.
I’ll never forget having to learn this lesson from a former colleague of mine, Tyler Price, when talking about the after-church rush on Sundays. He said, “We’ve been having church for over 2,000 years – how are we surprised that we’re busy after church?”
Clarity – making prime time mean something
A central principle behind prime time is clarity of message: everyone must know what prime time is and what it means in practice. Clarity means that people can explain, in their own words, what changes when they hear that it’s prime time.
Clarity is operational and behavioral. Operationally, teams know to be ready ahead of time to ensure in‑stock conditions or service readiness instead of scrambling during the rush.
Behaviorally, front-line staff and leaders know they must have enough coverage to take care of the wave that’s about to hit and shift gears to prime-time speed when that window opens.
When leaders repeat and model that message, prime time becomes part of the team’s language and culture, not just a note in a meeting.
This may sound crazy, but when I was a store director, my district manager, Jimmy Carder, always told me to pay attention to the amount of shopping carts that were in the front of the store. When they were low, get ready for a rush within 30 minutes. Similarly, we have to anticipate those kind of rushes.
Preparation – success starts night before
One of the most powerful insights is that the key to successful prime time happens the night before.
Leaders often try to fix prime time in real time, running and reacting as the rush hits, but by then much of the outcome is already decided. We’ve always had this mantra, “Nothing like a good close for a good open.”
Preparation for prime time is about front-loading the work that cannot be handled at speed when customers are lined up and demand is high. That includes having shelves and cases fully stocked, minimizing back‑room tasks during peak hours and ensuring the closing shift leaves the next day in a position of strength instead of starting behind.
When teams are still filling shelves or handling routine tasks during prime time, the real problem is not what is happening in the moment but a lack of planning ahead.
Great leaders treat the close of one day as the first move of the next day’s prime time.
Shifting gears – speed and urgency
If prime time is identified and prepared for, the next leadership responsibility is to shift gears. Metrics such as rings per minute or throughput should rise significantly during prime time because the team is intentionally increasing speed and focus when demand spikes.
Those who’ve completed my masterclass or read my book “The 5 Rules,” know under Rule No. 1 – “Do Your Job” – I talk about how it’s OK to hurry, and this is critical to this lesson as well.
Shifting gears is visible and contagious. Leaders are expected to be physically present on the floor during prime time, with a faster pace and a new level of urgency. Everything that feels important but is not mission‑critical to the customer should stop so that 100 percent of attention is focused on serving customers well.
Over time, this presence and energy create a culture where the team can feel the difference in tempo when prime time hits and they begin to anticipate and initiate that shift on their own.
Calling audibles – adaptive leadership in real time
Even with strong planning, real life intervenes. Operations often get into a bind when one or more people call in sick or do not show up, especially when schedules are tight. Under those conditions, “winging it” is not leadership; it is abdication.
Instead, leaders must be ready to call an audible – and fast. That might mean staying late to cover a shift, readjusting the closing schedule or moving people from lower‑impact tasks into prime time‑critical roles.
The standard is customer-centric. Customers do not care that someone called in sick; they care about getting what they came for and getting home to their families. Leaders who internalize this principle stop explaining away poor performance with internal reasons and start solving for external expectations.
Influence – leadership that changes outcomes
The heart of the lesson is captured in one line: “Leadership means nothing if we don’t influence the outcome of getting better.”
Titles, reports and motivational messages are irrelevant if they do not change the quality of service, operational excellence or financial performance.
In the context of prime time, influence shows up in measurable ways: higher peak-hour productivity, improved same-unit performance over time and stronger momentum period after period.
When leaders align their teams around prime time, prepare in advance, shift gears visibly and adapt quickly, the organization does not just work harder, it performs better where it counts most.
Putting the lesson to work
Any leader can apply this prime time and shifting gears framework by asking a few core questions drawn from these principles:
- When is prime time in this business, team or function – specifically by hour, day or season? (Use the POS systems’ hourly report to track this – by day and department.)
- What must be true before prime time begins so we are ready, not scrambling?
- What changes – visibly and measurably – when prime time starts?
- How will leaders show up on the floor during prime time to set pace and focus?
- What audibles are we prepared to call when something goes wrong so the customer never feels our internal chaos?
When a team can answer these questions with clarity and consistency, prime time becomes more than a buzzword; it becomes a shared operating system that elevates performance.
Leaders who embrace this lesson do more than manage schedules, they design moments. They recognize that influence is proven not in quiet hours but in the surge – when customers are watching, demand is high and the opportunity to be great is right in front of them.
The real leadership question here is this: Are the best team members walking out of the store before prime time even starts?
Steve Black is CEO and founder of abrighterday.life, a business and leadership coaching organization devoted to helping people and companies with personal growth and implementing simple leadership principles. A 47-year-veteran of the retail grocery arena, Black is the author of “The 5 Rules” and offers an online Masterclass.