Our sales head and operations head are constantly pointing fingers at each other for our plateauing growth, and their friction is paralyzing the departments below them. How do we force these two leaders to resolve their functional turf wars and take shared responsibility for our overall business execution?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When your sales and operations heads point fingers, they are protecting their silos instead of owning the business. This friction stalls your execution and creates a toxic culture. To break this impasse, you must force them to solve the issue at the root using the IDS process (Identify, Discuss, Solve).

Bring both leaders into a room. Your job as the owner is to stop refereeing. Instead, point them to the V/TO (Vision/Traction Organizer) and your company-wide Rocks. Force them to look at the issue through the lens of what is best for the organization, not what is best for their individual departments.

Use these steps to resolve the conflict:
- Clearly identify the root cause of the friction on the Accountability Chart.
- Discuss the impact of their behavior on the team's ability to hit quarterly goals.
- Force them to agree on a joint solution with clear, measurable action steps.

If they cannot agree on a solution, it means one or both of them do not live your core values or lack the capacity to work collaboratively. A healthy leadership team must function as a cohesive unit. If the finger-pointing continues after you have clearly run them through the IDS process, you have a people issue that you must resolve quickly to protect your company's health.