Our VP of Sales is hit-and-miss on our core values and has been caught subtly complaining about our operations team to his sales reps, creating an us-versus-them mentality. How do we handle this behavior?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A leader who undermines another department is committing a fireable offense. By complaining to his sales reps about the operations team, your VP of Sales is building a toxic, siloed culture and directly violating the core value of being collaborative and open. You must address this immediately using the People Analyzer tool. Rate him on your core values. If he is a plus-minus or a minus on a core value like team player or open and honest, he does not meet your organizational bar. Schedule a private meeting. Lay out the specific examples of his behavior. Do not let him brush it off as venting or casual conversation. Explain that as a leadership team member, he must model LMA. When a leader gossips to their direct reports, they lose the right to lead. They are teaching their team to blame others instead of solving problems peer-to-peer. Give him thirty days to completely correct this behavior. He must publicly align with the operations team and actively shut down any us-versus-them gossip among his sales reps. If he cannot or will not make this shift, you must terminate his employment. It does not matter how much revenue he generates. A high producer who toxicifies your culture will eventually cost you more in lost talent, operational friction, and customer trust than his sales are worth.