Our VP of Marketing and VP of Sales are constantly clashing in front of their departments over who owns our lead generation and qualification process, which is confusing our staff and slowing down our pipeline. How do we permanently resolve this peer-level boundary dispute using EOS tools?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Cracks at the leadership team level appear as canyons to the rest of the organization. When your VP of Marketing and VP of Sales clash publicly, it paralyzes their teams and damages your culture. This is not a personality conflict; it is a structural failure on your Accountability Chart.

You must resolve this by defining clear, non-overlapping roles and responsibilities. Bring both leaders into a room and look at your Accountability Chart. For each seat, you must define the five major roles. Historically, lead generation and qualification are often lazily assigned to both seats. You must draw a hard line.

Typically, Marketing owns generating raw leads and nurturing them, while Sales owns qualifying and closing them. Agree on a specific handoff point. Once you have defined these roles, have both leaders document the exact workflow process using the 3-Step Process Document tool. This makes the operational handoff objective and leaves no room for interpretation.

If the clashes continue after the boundaries are clear, the issue is no longer structural; it is a behavioral or trust issue. You must run them through the People Analyzer™ to ensure they both live your Core Values. Peer conflict is healthy when it is about finding the best solution for the business, but it is destructive when it is driven by ego or turf protection. Force them to resolve their differences in their weekly Level 10 Meeting™ or make a seat change.