Turn into theocrats with little lead time (2,5,6)
I believe the answer is:
at short notice
'lead time' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether it can be defined by this definition.
'turn into theocrats with little' is the wordplay.
'turn' indicates anagramming the letters.
'with' becomes 'w' (short for with).
'little' means to remove the last letter (the word is not quite complete).
'into'+'theocrats'+'w'='intotheocratsw'
'intotheocratsw' with its last letter removed is 'intotheocrats'.
'intotheocrats' with letters rearranged gives 'AT SHORT NOTICE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for at short notice that I've seen before include "With little time for preparation" , "With little advance warning" .)