5 Leadership Lessons from Digging Holes at the Beach

We recently had a family beach day. The sun was shining, the waves were calm, and every generation was having a blast.

One of the young cousins running around came up to me with a shovel.

“Let's dig a big hole in the sand!” she said. So I got to work!

But as fast as I dug, she kept filling it back in. I picked up the pace. So did she.

We were both fully committed, working hard in opposite directions and getting absolutely nowhere.

I couldn't help but think about the business lesson in this situation. This is exactly what happens inside organizations every day.

We all talk about “high-performing teams,” but even the most talented, well-meaning people can unintentionally work against each other.

Everyone is busy. Meetings are stacked. Projects are moving. But it feels like nothing is moving forward.

As I thought about it more, the metaphor grew. Here are 5 lessons I settled on that we can apply to leadership roles.

Shared Goals Beat Mere Activity

I thought I was helping. She thought we were playing a game.

No one was wrong. We just had different goals.

In business, the same thing happens. Teams show up, work hard, and stay busy, but their efforts cancel each other out if they’re not aligned on why.

Communication Can’t Be Optional

We never stopped to talk about what we were doing.

I assumed she wanted a deep hole. She assumed we were playing “fill it up.”

The lesson? Assumptions are dangerous. Communication isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s the foundation of effective teamwork.

Role Clarity Avoids Working at Cross-Purposes

We didn’t define roles. No lead digger. No sand architect. No game plan.

That might be fine for a beach day, but in the workplace, it leads to duplicated work, dropped balls, and unnecessary friction.

Energy and Motivation Need Focus

My cousin was all-in, joyfully undoing every bit of my effort.

It reminded me: Energy alone doesn’t guarantee impact.

Even the most enthusiastic, talented team needs direction. Otherwise, their drive can spin in place, or worse, work against itself.

Make Space for Iteration, But Learn from It

Truth is, she was learning. She was exploring.

That’s a good thing. Great teams experiment. But what separates good from great is the ability to learn from those experiments and evolve.

High-functioning doesn’t mean frantic.

It means focused. It means synchronized.

It means every person understands the why, communicates the how, and contributes meaningfully to the what.

Without that, even the most driven teams will find themselves filling in the very holes they just worked so hard to dig.