Every record in the CRM has exactly one owner. Other people can be added alongside. And separately from all that, your role decides whose records you can see at all. Those are three different things and it is worth keeping them apart.
The owner
One named person who is responsible for this record. Not a team, not a queue — a person.
- Open the lead.
- Find the Owner field.
- Pick somebody from the list of your team.
- Save.
To change the owner on many leads at once, tick them in the list and use the bulk action at the top. That is the usual way to hand over a territory when somebody joins or leaves.
Assignees and watchers
Sometimes more than one person is involved. Two extra lists exist for that.
- Assignees — other people actively working the record. A junior doing the follow-ups while a senior owns the relationship.
- Watchers — people who want to see it but are not working it. A manager keeping an eye on a big one.
Both are added on the record itself. Neither replaces the owner.
Who can see whose records
This is set by the person’s role, not on the record. There are three settings.
| Setting | They can see | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Own records | Only records they own or are assigned to. | A field salesperson. |
| Their team’s | Their own, plus everybody below them in the org chart. | An area manager. |
| Everything | Every record in the workspace. | An owner or director. |
Everybody starts on Own records. That is the safe default — a new joiner cannot export your whole customer list on their first afternoon.
The widest permission wins. If somebody is in two roles, they get the wider of the two. This is what lets you give one manager the whole desk without changing anything for the six people who share their role.
Sharing rules, for the exceptions
There is always an exception. Sharing rules cover it: you can give a particular role or group read access — or read and write — to records they would not otherwise see. Accounts being able to read every deal but change none is the usual example.
These are set in Settings → Roles → Data sharing.
Everything is recorded
Every change of owner is written to the record’s history with who did it and when. Nobody can quietly move a lead onto themselves.
Where to go next
Something missing or wrong here? Tell us. A question that needed asking usually means a page that needed writing.