NMP - April 2017 - 66
special focus on LEADERSHIP a special focus on LEADERSHIP To Lead or Not to Lead ... Personality traits and qualities of a successful loan servicing manager and leader in the mortgage marketplace By Vincent Spoto uccessful organizations have one thing in common: High caliber professionals capable of leading and managing human capital toward the achievement of stated goals and objectives. While not necessarily unique to the mortgage industry, today's challenges faced by senior loan servicing managers are indeed daunting and require only the strongest managers to face them "head-on." "Truly good managers are hard to find," says the senior chief operating officer of a residential mortgage loan servicing organization associated with a large West S Coast-based commercial bank. He goes on to say that: "Given the increased regulatory maze that mortgage loan servicers are faced with today, only the strongest managers are able to attract, motivate and inspire the very best people to navigate the rough terrain. Ever increasing regulations often times result in increased frustrations for many servicing professionals-so much so that 'throwing-in the towel' is often seen by many as the alternative of choice. Motivating and inspiring staff at all levels to collaborate with borrowers on developing creative ways of staying in their homes by avoiding foreclosure is a 'win-win' for everyone." Having very strong and capable leaders is one of the APRIL 2017 n National Mortgage Professional Magazine n NationalMortgageProfessional.com 66 REVERSE MOR TGAGGES IN A TIME OF CHANNGE N AT I O N A L R E V E R S E M O RT G A G E L E N D E R S A S S O C I AT I O N 2017 Western Regional M Meeting May 16-17 Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Huuntington Beach, CA Register today at nrm mlaonline.org only real ways to ensure servicers can attract and retain good staff, forge operational consistency and plow ahead to be successful and separate themselves from the pack. Servicing managers today must direct an organization that provides "high-touch" servicing and collaborates with borrowers to retain homeownership. Faced with an ever-changing landscape highlighted by new rules and regulations (whether those espoused by rating agencies, auditors, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, or other consumer protection agencies), ever increasing demands placed by senior management to control costs and do more with less, demands associated with managing a diverse group of staff, and the ongoing theme of driving continuous process improvement, today's servicing managers face a myriad of challenges they must tackle in order to be successful. Clearly, a key ingredient for success lies with people. Having the best managers who can attract (and retain) only the best staff is an obvious and seemingly simple solution. Sounds simple, right? Well for starters, senior leaders of any organization must hire only top managers that are capable of: l Recruiting only the best staff; l Fostering a culture of strong leadership; l Cultivating a disciplined set of standards; l Training and motivating staff to excel; and l Recognizing and rewarding top performing staff, while concurrently being able to deal directly with substandard performers (and make "tough" decisions accordingly). But hiring the very best requires investment; it necessitates spending money that many organizations are unwilling (or unable) to do. For this reason, failure rates for some organizations today continues to increase. As leaders, after recruiting the very best people, successful servicing managers must delegate tasks to the appropriate members of their respective teams, as well as place reliance on key cross- a special focus on functional constituencies. The ability to delegate and depend on others is essential to building trust. However, successful servicing managers must always keep in mind that "responsibility is assumed and not assigned;" as such, managers must be cognizant to provide staff with a clear roadmap of stated objectives, but not a step-by-step list of 'how-to' tasks by which to achieve them. If managers find it necessary to 'micro-manage' their staff and lay-out every detail, they most likely have not hired the right people for their servicing organization. Yes, strong leaders must hire the right professional staff ... but after hiring them and laying out objectives, it is critical to empower staff to take whatever actions are necessary to get to the "finish-line." Strong leaders must build a high level of rapport and trust that will quickly permeate the organization. On the back-end, strong leaders must develop a robust system of metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to ensure that performance of professional staff is in line with stated goals, objectives and expectations. In this regard, "inspect" (primarily through via the use of KPIs) vs. "expect" is critical. There are five core competencies that successful servicing managers must have. In addition to hiring the right people, they must have proven abilities to: l Foster a strong leadership culture; l Develop a set of disciplined standards and create a robust set of metrics to continuously monitor performance; l Delegate tasks and empower staff to build trust and inspire motivation; l Provide staff with the tools and training necessary to do the job; and l Recognize and reward superior performance, while simultaneously dealing directly sub-standard performers (as applicable). Delegating key tasks and establishing disciplined standards fosters a strong leadership culture within the organization. Additionally, a s