Our head of sales and head of operations constantly spar over delivery timelines and broken promises, pulling their departments into a toxic turf war. How do we resolve executive peer conflict without acting as a referee between grown leaders?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Executive peer conflict thrives when the owner or Integrator acts as a private mediator. When leaders complain to you behind closed doors, you accidentally enable political triangulation and relieve them of the duty to resolve their own friction.

Put an immediate end to private hallway debriefs. When one executive comes to complain about the other, cut them off and ask if they have addressed the issue directly with their peer. If not, direct them to do so immediately. If the issue remains unresolved, mandate that it be brought to the Issues List of your Level 10 Meeting for open discussion during IDS.

Inside the Level 10 Meeting, force the conversation to remain focused on the enterprise rather than personal grievances. Root-cause problem solving means dissecting the process handover between sales and operations on the Accountability Chart. Usually, this conflict stems from vague handoff criteria, unrealistic quoting standards, or broken operational capacity planning. Frame the issue around what is best for the greater good of the business, not who wins the argument.

If the conflict persists after fixing the process, the problem is no longer operational. It is behavioral. Run both leaders through the People Analyzer against your Core Values. If one or both leaders prioritize their personal ego, departmental empire, or stubborn pride above enterprise health, they are cutting against the team. Give them one quarter to demonstrate collaborative, professional behavior. If the hostility continues, remove the leader who refuses to be a healthy team player.