Our head of sales and head of operations have stopped communicating effectively, creating severe friction between deal closing and service delivery. How do we force a structural repair between two vital executives who cannot get along?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

The historical war between sales and operations is the most predictable dysfunction in growing companies, but when it escalates into personal hostility, it threatens client retention and destroys enterprise value. You cannot let this fester or attempt to mediate their disputes on an ad-hoc basis.

You must address the root structural friction using three non-negotiable steps:

- Force a private alignment session: Put both leaders in a room with the Integrator. Strip away personal attacks and address the operational handoff. Clarify the exact definition of a qualified sale, contract closing criteria, and the operational onboarding standard. Document the exact handoff process on your company Core Processes so there is zero ambiguity about where sales ends and operations begins.
- Tie measurables together: If sales is incentivized purely on booked revenue while operations is evaluated on fulfillment margins, you have engineered a structural conflict. Restructure their Scorecard measurables. Hold sales accountable for gross margin at delivery and accurate scoping. Hold operations accountable for onboarding velocity and client satisfaction scores within the first ninety days.
- Require peer-to-peer resolution: Stop acting as a sounding board for individual grievances. The next time either executive comes to you to complain about the other, cut them off immediately. Walk them over to their counterpart and force them to enter IDS directly.

Make it clear that collaboration is not optional. Both seats are vital, but protecting the health and cohesion of the leadership team is paramount. If one of them refuses to operate collaboratively after structural boundaries are established, that leader must be replaced.