The Fight of the Century, Sales Team vs. Operations Team

If you ask more than five people on the operations team of your security guard company how they feel about the sales team, at least three of them will say that the sales team makes unrealistic promises to potential customers.  On the flip side, if you ask your sales team about operations, they’ll say that operations needs to “Up their game”.  Some companies may attempt to keep their operations and sales teams apart because of this adversarial relationship.  If you are one of those companies, I  suggest that you stop now!  There is a lot to gain from letting these two departments “mix it up”.

Often times having conflict between these two departments is considered a taboo.  But security guard company owners and managers need to begin distinguishing between productive ideological conflicts and counterproductive infighting that is based on internal politics or personal grudges.   Ideological conflict is limited to concepts and ideas, and avoids personality focused, mean-spirited attacks.  Sometimes, based on the level of passion and emotion that may result from these team’s conversations, you may confuse ideological conflict with unproductive bickering.  But as a manager, it is important to distinguish between the two and remember that however uncomfortable these conflicts may become, they tend to keep people on top of their games.

Dealing with conflict between your operations and sales teams

If you are uncomfortable with the conflict between your operations team and your sales team, here are three methods to help reduce you level of discomfort.

  1. Don’t confuse what things feel like with what they are. Contrary to popular belief, teams that exist in harmony without conflict are likely to be fairly dysfunctional.  High performing teams are naturally subject to conflict because of their competitive natures.
  2. Remember that differences in opinion are inevitable.  The conflicts that result from these differences in opinion will eventually reveal what is correct and eliminate any incorrect assumptions and/or inaccuracies.
  3. Be creative in the way that you deal with conflict. Take the example of Army Colonel Stas Preczewski.  At one point Colonel Preczewski was in charge of a very dysfunctional and conflict-ridden rowing team at West Point. Figuring that the root of the conflict was lack of trust between team members, he had his rowers line up and wrestle each other in pairs. The exercise made the team realize just how strong and competitive they all were. At their next big race, the team performed far better than they ever had in practice.

As a rule, your sales team is in front of prospective clients constantly so they typically understand what needs to happen to win new business.  At the same time, your operations team typically knows what your organization is currently capable of.  By allowing these two teams to find a natural balance, with sales pushing operations and operations pushing sales, your entire organization will benefit in the end.  For more information on dealing with conflict between your operations team and sales team, check out this article by Paul Glover on why team conflict is a good thing.

As a manager are you more likely to avoid conflict between your operations team and sales team or try manage it?  How have you dealt with this conflict in your organization?  Please feel free to leave your comments below, we would love to hear from you.

 

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By Courtney Sparkman

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