Our heads of sales and operations are constantly at each other's throats because sales is closing deals that operations claims we do not have the capacity to deliver. How do we stop this finger-pointing and align them on our actual delivery capacity?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When your heads of sales and operations are in constant conflict over capacity, it means your leadership team is failing to live by the Same Page pillar of your Charter. This friction typically happens because departments are operating in silos rather than looking at the business as a single, integrated system. To resolve this, you must bring the issue to your weekly Level 10 Meeting and run it through the IDS process. Do not let them argue about individual clients or specific past mistakes. Focus on the root cause, which is a lack of clear, shared metrics that balance sales volume with delivery capacity. Create a leading indicator on your weekly Scorecard that tracks capacity utilization. When this number crosses a specific threshold, it should automatically trigger a pre-planned response on the sales side, such as shifting focus to higher-margin services or extending delivery timelines. By using objective data, you remove the personal emotion from the conflict. Both leaders must agree to the strategy and structure, committing to a unified goal. When sales and operations are on the same page, they stop fighting each other and start collaborating to protect both revenue growth and operational quality.