My wife and I recently spent two weeks traveling around Vancouver Island, including several days in Tofino, a remote community on the island’s rugged west coast.

Tofino is known for its expansive surfing beaches, old-growth forests and laid-back atmosphere—it was like no place I had ever visited.

We had a thrilling time. We helped deliver mail by seaplane to a nearby First Nations community on a neighboring island.

We also went boating, whale watching and swimming in steaming natural hot springs. The beaches were ideal for early-morning walks, and, as usual, we explored the area by e-bike.

Our hotel, the “Zed”, was a retro, 1970s-style surfer hotel, complete with a disco, sauna and massage services.

What struck us most about Tofino was the highly diverse mix of people who live and work there: surfers, fishermen, boaters, seaplane pilots, international hospitality workers and, of course, the local Indigenous First Nations communities.

They live alongside one another, but they have very different priorities and definitions of success.

Surfers want the freedom to surf. Hospitality workers and pilots depend on tourism, while fishermen rely on healthy waters for their livelihood.

The local First Nations bring an even longer-term perspective. Their roots in the region go back thousands of years, and success includes preserving their rights, land, culture and communities for future generations.

These interests overlap, but they can also conflict.

It made me think about our own companies, where owners, employees, managers and customers are all part of the same community—but each has a different vision of winning.

We all know that to survive and thrive, a company must make a profit and provide a return on the owner’s investment.

Don’t Assume Everyone Wants What the Owner Wants

Owners often communicate a bold growth or profit goal and assume the entire team will be excited.

The owner sees opportunity. Employees may see more work, while customers simply want to be well cared for.

Each group defines success differently:

• Customers want quality, responsiveness and personal attention.
• Employees want fair pay, stability, respect, accurate work orders, reasonable hours, good tools and equipment—and, for some, opportunities to advance.
• Managers want realistic schedules, better hiring and training, stronger systems and clearer accountability.
• Salespeople want more leads, fewer obstacles and competitive compensation.

The leader’s job is not to give everyone everything they want. That is impossible.

Your job is to actively listen, understand their different personal scorecards, make the necessary tradeoffs and create buy-in around company goals that provide meaningful benefits to everyone involved.

Your Challenge: Bring Balance to Your Scorecard

Just as in Tofino, your company contains many different personalities and interests that must coexist and work together.

So here is the reality check:

• When you share your next company goal(s), explain how they will affect and benefit specific stakeholders—employees, managers and customers.
• Show what success will mean personally for each of them, as well as for the greater good of the company.

Great leadership is not about convincing everyone to agree with your every opinion. It is about creating an environment where different groups can work and succeed together.

As you review your next company goal, ask yourself:

If we achieve it, how will everyone else know they have won, too?

Regards,
Jeffrey

Loading the seaplane with packages, headed for the First Nations outpost.

View from the plane, low hung clouds over the mountainous islands

View from the plane, low hung clouds over the mountainous islands

Hiking in the Pacific North West is awe inspiring. Felt like a (dry) rain forest of tall trees. We did see Sequoias and other specimens

Surfers, Kite Surfers, Paddle Boarders & Seals….fun in the sun.

It’s not too late to register for our Summit, and enjoy the “Early” Bird Discount.