Our marketing and sales heads are constantly engaged in silent, passive-aggressive warfare, withholding critical lead data from each other and blaming the other for low conversion rates. How do we resolve this peer conflict without becoming their personal referee?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When peer conflict occurs on the leadership team, cracks at this level appear as canyons to the rest of the organization. If your marketing and sales heads are withholding data and pointing fingers, their teams are doing the exact same thing, destroying alignment and damaging your bottom line. You must stop playing referee immediately. The next time this conflict surfaces, bring both leaders into your Level 10 Meeting and put the issue on the IDS board. Force them to define the issue clearly. Is it a process issue, a scorecard issue, or a people issue? Often, peer conflict is driven by misaligned incentives or poorly defined seats on the Accountability Chart. Review the exact roles of each seat. If marketing is responsible for delivering marketing qualified leads and sales is responsible for converting them, there must be an agreed upon hand-off process. Have them jointly draft this process as a Rock. If they cannot resolve the issue collaboratively, use the GWC tool to evaluate both leaders. A true leader puts the greater good of the company first. If one or both of them refuse to collaborate and continue to protect their own silos, they are violating your core values and do not belong on your leadership team.