You have every reason NOT to plan right now. Reacting can be a full time job, as it has been the last three years. The unwinding of an entire industry with the reactionary implementation of a delayed 30 years of state and federal regulation is frankly mind numbing. A part of every plan has some assumptions involved. There are some constants that you simply expect to be there, such as the sun coming up in the morning, plentiful oxygen in the air, food to eat, Fannie and Freddie dominating and healthy, Government lending programs open and flexible, Wall Street an open market eager and creative, a sleepy underfunded government 10 years behind any changes, etc.
Well it is very hard to plan when your constants become variables and your variables are being manipulated by the hands of the few, especially the government. Rates are unpredictable because the number one buyer is the government and therefore a truly rigged bid process. As a principal you have to be focused on how you and your people are going to retain their simple right to play in the game with their licensing issues. You and your team are thinking how to be able to pass tests with no history other than rumor and horror stories attached. Most of the tests are written by self-aggrandizing bureaucrats that want to see if you know when their department was founded or the number of days a state audit can be (and what coffee you should have available).
The on-line testing that comes with the multiple pre-tests seems to be the winning formula, as you need to begin to think like them to pass it. That fact is a shame. There are so many more realistic questions that could be added to these tests that really go into how to budget and counsel, as well as detect fraud. But there are better things to discuss than trying to stop the fast moving glacier of politically motivated, self-righteous government regulation. (We could have been self-regulated like FINRA but have asked for the paddle instead.)
But WHERE do you go in 2010 as an entity? Whether a producer or a principal? How do you make a game plan when they keep changing the rules to the game??? Well you adjust, like a professional does. You can’t become catatonic bitching about the bad ref’s the field conditions, the injuries to your team, etc The real pro’s are ready for all changes because they plan for worst case scenarios; they figure on how to build a Swiss-Army knife of an organization that can react to and maximize all that is thrown at them.
James Murphy, an ex-F15 fighter pilot turned business consultant, covered the necessary ritualistic protocol of a fighter squadron in Flawless Execution. Assuming you have a clear Value system and stated Purpose by leadership, The Flawless Execution Engine used to win each battle is Plan-Brief-Execute-Debrief. As an industry we tend to lay out specifics and when the plan varies we trash the whole plan and goo back to reacting. These past few years have been chock full of different excuses to keep us from even making a plan less getting together to brief on one.
But the biggest gap in mortgage banking to executing The Flawless Execution Engine is the lack of Debriefing. One of the great joys in this industry is that we are always carried forward by the tide of rates and purchase trends – now accompanied by investor and regulatory change. We don’t sell one jet engine a year but deal with thousands of potential customers who are all looking forward. After we lose one deal or drop a ball on a closing, we simply have to answer the next email or call to be back on the forward path again. Because of that we rarely ever stop and Debrief on what transpired to see what worked and didn’t work. We don’t match up our execution to our plan (if we had a plan), so we don’t know how to react when faced with a similar situation. Therefore we are doomed to make the same mistakes and our industry has proven that over and over again.
When you are at War, it is exactly the time to be more disciplined while pandemonium and mayhem rules. To keep your cool as bullets and bombs fly by, you must go back to your practiced structure of a clear Leader stated Value and Purpose supported by a Plan-Brief-Execution-Debrief model. If your Field Generals are empowered and confident to be able to react to whatever challenge is thrown their way it will be, because you have been clear in your vision and anticipated as opposed to retreating to central-control bunker mentality reacting and panicking to the crazy world around you.
If you do make this commitment to plan now for 2010 and assess all that is coming, I guarantee you will have a better quality of life and be able to make the right personal and career decisions and not have them made for you.
If you are at a crossroads and need a second opinion on your plan, drop me a line. My view from all sides of the business can be a valuable voice when you are an island out there.
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