Making the Most of Your Underwriting Meetings
Singularly led meetings can be a challenge at best. Thinking out of the box and outside of doing it all yourself is an answer that can work when you need help the most.
This industry forces us to make the most of our time and meetings (like it or not) are one place we can make the biggest and quickest impact for all. Even though attendees can be scattered, thinking about the files they need to complete, calls to answer and conditions to reply to. There’s also senior management to contend with, as well, equating time with pure production. Whether the message is spoken or not, we all hear it - back to the work of answering our emails and follow up with Borrowers! It’s difficult, especially in busy times to deliver value, yet that’s exactly what needs to be a accomplished.
One of the biggest challenges for any company is effective communication. Effective and useful communication makes you and your staff current, competent and more productive. The departmental meeting is an opportunity to give quick and relevant feedback, as well as fulfill many agency and regulatory training requirements.
There is a great deal that can be accomplished and a department meeting is the best way to accomplish it. Here are many of the items that can be covered in a departmental meeting:
Regular and ongoing training to meet FinCen/AML requirements
Regulatory updates and interpretations
Investor updates, covering procedures and overlay updates
Quality control results and regularly found issues
Post-closing issues, specific to product and agency
Internal procedural updates
So how do we do that? Well here are some ways to bring value and have the engagement you need in your meetings:
Light two candles with one flame
(If you haven’t heard of this phrase, it’s much nicer than killing two birds with one stone)
Try something new....Instead of trying to create the itinerary, content and training each week, allow your staff to participate and meet training requirements at the same time. I love the following ideas, which are opposite of “lone wolf” and non-delegating/sharing mentality:
Have one person look up recent FinCen fraud reports to read at the meeting. This makes for a great narrative example, while meeting FinCen training requirements.
Make sure to file a copy in your training schedule.
Make sure to discuss how such as an example could be spotted by staff and how to report it too!
Have one person or group recite and go over recent notable Agency updates. You’ll want to have these submitted for your review in advance, of course.
Discuss any new business rules that were implemented in your loan operating system.
As always make sure to collect and maintain all items discussed in one document, using keywords for ease of search. Remember this material will be used as proof of training requirements, but as well a useful tool for new and tenured staff to refer to.
Test understanding by having small polls or contests
Host a quick quiz or use a service allowing people to text in their answers for immediate results (https://swift.excitem.com/ - a free service)
Address and discuss the findings in real time
Present prizes for participation and simple fun making
Promote prizes and skill shown in company newsletters
Collect data on prizes won to use in performance reviews
Discuss performance expectations with the entire group
Keeping gossip to a minimum by speaking what’s on everyone’s mind and making them a part of the discussion is important to high morale and accountability. Maintain integrity and keep the conversation going and open with your staff by discussing what’s working well and what could be improved. Of course, the discussion needs to include the challenges for management and those variables that influence decisions. The staff shouldn't be in the dark about what pressures the company faces when making choices. Profitability is something most can understand and empathize with.
Changes in how effectively information is shared can make a significant difference in morale. By involving your staff, your meeting becomes a joint effort for everyone to own and benefit from.
Thanks so much for reading our newsletters. We're not always going to be perfect, but because we always do our best and try not to overpromise, we hope that we're always going to be trustworthy. Your calls and e-mails are very helpful - please keep contributing.
**These are our opinions. We're not authorized, or willing, to express those of others.**