Our Head of Marketing and Head of Sales are constantly arguing over who owns the Lead Generation seat on our Accountability Chart, leading to dropped handoffs and missed sales targets. How can I use Keith Cunningham's Thinking Time framework to resolve this structural turf war objectively?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When two department heads fight over who owns a seat like Lead Generation, it is a classic sign of structural ambiguity. To resolve this, step away from the daily noise and schedule a dedicated Thinking Time session. Use Keith Cunningham's framework by preparing a high-value, solvable question.

Sit with a blank notepad for forty-five minutes without interruption and focus on this prompt: How might we structure our lead generation roles so that marketing is solely accountable for top-of-funnel lead volume, and sales is solely accountable for lead conversion, without any overlapping authority?

During this session, you will realize that lead generation is not a single seat, but a process with two distinct handoff points. Use this clarity to adjust your Accountability Chart. Assign the Marketing seat the role of generating Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) and hold them accountable to a specific weekly MQL metric on your Scorecard.

Assign the Sales seat the role of converting those leads into Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs) and closed deals. The moment a lead is generated, the accountability cleanly hands off from Marketing to Sales. Bring this structured solution to your next leadership Level 10 Meeting™ and use the IDS® process to finalize the boundaries, ending the turf war forever.