Once Upon a Sandcastle: A metaphor for organizational resurgence

Imagine for a moment, it is a warm summery day, the sun is shining, waves are rolling in, you're with your friends on the beach building a massive sandcastle just at the end of the water. You have multiple structures going, you're using sticks to poke holes for windows and doors. You have a substantial trench going for the moat, and continue working on it as the waves wash in and take some of the moat away. Just moments later the tide begins to rise and the foundation is being washed away with the waves. You're well aware that the conclusion is that the entire sandcastle will eventually be washed away unless you keep working hard to rebuild, build, build and rebuild.

Just a short distance away is another group watching this all go down, so they think for a moment, we want to build a beautiful sandcastle we can post to instagram or our snap story while on vacation, but we don't want the same occurence to happen to them. So, they decide to build above the water line in a clearly defined area that doesn't get the tide too often. They start to build a similar structure, but this time they use rocks at the base, and build a more complex moat to mitigate the tide rushing in, but also get the effect of a water-filled moat. They have already witnessed the first group have their sandcastle wash away.

Another distance from there is another group that sees a storm rolling in. Surely the storm is going to wash away their sandcastle with the storm and rising tides. They decide to build even further up. Sure the work is immensely greater by hauling sand to and from the newest and perceivably safer location away from the possible tide and water line, but also seek to make it storm-proof. They utilize rocks at the base and sticks to hold up the walls, tree bark to build tiers and brace it with additional sticks.

Lessons from the Sandcastle

There are a couple of lessons from this sandcastle metaphor. Let's use some assumptions from this story.

First Hand Evidence

We assume that Group 2 and Group 3 watched Group 1 build the easy model near the edge of the water line because it was easier, less work to carry sand and build near the water where the best sand is located. When we're looking at change management in any organization in an attempt to create some resurgence, everyone in the organization isn't privvy to seeing the groups before them and learn from their mistakes. This is where leadership must come into play. Leadership must have first hand experience in learning from the mistakes of those that came before.

Create Buy In

Leadership must be able to tell the compelling story that incites buy-in from members of the organization. They must be able to tell about the wonderful sandcastle that once existed, but also speak to the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and external threats Group 1 didn't consider.

Additionally, they must also be able to articulate the approach of Group 2 and how they build upon the previous model with short-term results in mind without considering the long-term effects.

Thus, having the ability to generate short-term results while also building for tomorrow.

By now, you likely realize this isn't about sandcastles but about building sustainable and healthy organizations.

Mistakes Lead to Innovations

Group 3 had the privilege of learning from the mistakes of the previous groups, and watching Group 2 integrate some innovations to strengthen their structure, they also had to consider what would make their sandcastle withstand the tide, but also withstand the weather.

Shiny Object Syndrome

An organizational bugaboo is shiny object syndrome. Leadership sits in an breakout session at a conference and comes home to change up the mission and vision to launch into a new direction. Sound familiar?

This is usually rooted in an organizations lack of planning or lack of physical plan. You end up in the limbo between order and chaos. Too much order and the organization becomes boring, robotic and provides almost zero growth. Too much choas and you run your team into the ground chasing down every new trend you hear about the latest conference.

The highest performing organizations focus on a few simple things; the core of your business. These few simple things are typically very structured with some chaos.

I like to think about the concept of music. If there is too much order, the music is boring. If there is too much chaos, then it isn't music. When you create a mix of order and chaos, you have melodic tones, harmonizing vocals, and all of the wonderful elements that make up great music.

Organizations that perform at a high level are just like this. Governmental agencies have too much order, therefore extremely boring. Entrepreneurship typically comes with too much chaos. Small to medium sized businesses have found the magical concoction of order and chaos.

If you consider the sandcastle formula, Groups 1, 2 and 3 could have gone in entirely different directions with their sandcastles. However, they chose to build off of the previous model but evolve for both growth and sustainability.

Conclusion

The sandcastle story is a metaphor, obviously, but also a lesson in innovating and change management.

As the sands wash away, your team becomes deflated as they can see the writing on the wall. As leaders in our organizations, we should constantly be looking to create some form of periodic resurgence to weather the storm. That storm can be a pandemic, product recalls, governmental shutdown, new market innovation you simply cannot compete with, or some other external factors you failed to plan for.

I realize this isn't marketing related, but I had a great conversation with a colleague this evening that inspired this article. We spoke about organizations that are struggling to stay afloat, constantly pivoting with the latest trends versus strategically planning their next quarter, next year, and next 5 years. This brought me to the story of the sandcastles which are found in the book by Ken Blanchard, Mission Possible. I modified the story to drill down on the point. Organizational resurgence is something that a lot of companies lack in their strategic plan.