“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” – Steve Jobs

For the past 5 months, I’ve written a lot about the suite of services we offer within our Investor Services Team at Grid151, and how those services intersect with many of the biggest issues you may face as you navigate the secondary mortgage market.  I hope you came away from my series of blogs not only with a very high confidence level in our ability to identify the right questions, but also a real sense that we have built out a deep group of complimentary processes that provide all of the right answers to those questions.

Of course the right answer is often never that simple.  Doing things the right way isn’t just about WHAT you are able to do – it is also about HOW you go about doing it.

One of the biggest variables in our industry is how the demand for services in the secondary mortgage market ebbs and flows within the wider and more complex fabric of the housing market as a whole – the rise and fall of interest rates, the supply and demand of houses, and the faith of investors in the strength of those assets as a result of those ebbs and flows.  Capital Markets activity is a function of confidence and opportunity.  Things that are often problematic in one regard – an increase in interest rates leading to a higher rate of foreclosure activity – can actually drive higher volume on the Secondary Market.  The inverse is also true – the health of the wider industry can actually tamp down the demand for assets.  All of this is to say that the right answer is very much a function of context.  The only constant is change.  What you are able to do stays somewhat static, but the way you go about doing it also has to change.

So I want to spend each of the next couple of months talking about our management philosophy here within Investor Services at Grid151.  I don’t want to talk solely about the answers we offer you.  I want to talk about HOW we make those answers work the best way we possibly can, despite the way our industry continues to change.  How do we manage our team effectively within a business that ebbs and flows so much?  Or to put it another way – how do we ensure our processes intersect with our management philosophy in a way that is consistent and effective despite any challenges we may face?  How do we LIVE our values, especially in a business where needs are constantly changing?

One of the things I spend the most time thinking about as a leader is how to manage a team in a continuously changing environment.  How do I respond to needs that may not be consistent, in an environment where demand scales and changes, and where the choices you make about how to apply your resources may be the difference between success and failure?  I believe in a few core principles that govern my approach here:

1. We focus on being a team that is malleable, both in terms of our knowledge across our processes and our flexibility within our work streams. Every single team I have ever managed has people with various strengths and opportunities.  It’s easy to fall into the trap of letting the members of the team focus only on what they are really good at doing.  But the best teams prioritize cross-training, and the culture is such that everyone can do everything based on the changing needs of the business.  This also means that the team needs to be willing to put in extra time when needed – to learn new things, to re-learn them when timing dictates they do so, and to shift the focus when a project requires an “all hands on deck” approach.  If you do all of this well, the rest is simply a matter of deployment against priorities.  Which leads me to the next area I want to talk about:
2. Priority queues are often defined by a business, and then have a tendency to remain somewhat static. You define what is important, and those definitions tend to stay the same over time.  But priorities need to be constantly re-examined against volumes.  This means leaders and their teams need to constantly be looking at work queues, and discussing what is important based on the overall make-up of the work within the business.  Less volume doesn’t mean you spend less time on priority items – you need to identify what deserves extra attention when you have more time to concentrate on different areas.  Alternatively, higher volumes mean you have to be absolutely laser-focused on what is most important to complete first, second, etc.  None of this happens without a culture of ongoing communication and judgment.  Which takes me to the third area I want to discuss:
3. Businesses are often supported by partners who rely on their leaders to properly define and set expectations for them. This often gets lost in the shuffle as demand scales down – there are lots of discussions taking place when volumes spike and support is most needed, and much less discussion taking place in lean times.  But leaders and good teams need to constantly discuss their ability to scale based on changing circumstances.  It is the difference between reacting to a problem versus heading off a problem before it turns into a fire drill.  We focus on having partners who can scale up and scale down, we proactively communicate with our partners about their ability to make these changes, and we constantly discuss how to be better in this area.  Which brings me to the last area I want to make note of:
4. Processes and technology often define your means of scaling up or scaling down. Are your processes well defined, are they clearly delineated, and are they repeatable over large variances in volume?  Do you have technology that supports your efficiency?  Do you listen to your team members when they tell you where you need to be better defined and more efficient?  I like to think we have a top-down structure in terms of our operations in Investor Services, but I also think we have a bottom-up approach to communicating areas of need.  Your people know better than anyone what tools they need to do their jobs effectively.  When you have robust discussions where the leaders listen, you open up a wide area of opportunity for servicing your clients.

It is often said that the devil is in the details.  This implies that most of what goes wrong in business, and even in life, happens because the finer points often get missed.  But this also means the design is in the details as well.  When you pay attention not just to WHAT you do, but HOW you do it, the details (AND the design) become the fulcrum point of everything you do well.  Contact us and see how our Investor Services Team can make the details work better for you too.