Insights Report
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Insights Report
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We’ve all experienced it — open any news site and be assailed by multiple pandemic stories from across the U.S. There is so much information, so many stories. It is difficult to know what to look at first, who to trust and which leader to follow.
Our lead article this month illustrates dramatic variations in leadership effectiveness, depending on how trusted a leader is during times of crisis. We cite examples from around the world of government leadership in action through this pandemic, and we apply these leadership attributes to a great leader from within our own industry — Mary Ann McGarry, CEO of Guild Mortgage. We are very fortunate to be able to include valuable insights from Mary Ann into her leadership decisions as she strategically guides Guild’s people and processes, ensuring Guild remains a vibrant, healthy entity through this crisis. My thanks to Mary Ann for allowing STRATMOR to recognize Guild Mortgage in our article, “Effective Leadership Through Crisis Times: A Lender’s Story.”
In our second article, MortgageSAT Director Mike Seminari examines e-closings and the borrower experience, two of the key elements in Guild’s strategy. Mike analyzes the impact e-closings are having on the borrower satisfaction scores, which may be a bit of a surprise. Be sure to read “E-Closings and the Borrower Experience.”
Thank you for joining us for the August 2020 issue of the Insights Report. We’d love to hear whether you enjoyed this month’s feature — if you’d like to share your thoughts, please send an email to our editorial team at stratmorinsights@stratmorgroup.com. We appreciate your feedback!
By Lisa Springer, Sr. Partner, CEO with Mary Ann McGarry, CEO, Guild Mortgage August 2020
These are challenging times. Times that bring out the best and worst in people, including leaders. In our July 2020 Insight Report, STRATMOR talked about balance. It’s hard to balance being an inspirational leader during times of crisis while also effectively leading a government or business through transformation. It takes real leadership to develop the level of deep-seated confidence, trust and respect in those being led to overcome such challenges.
As many of our readers are aware, STRATMOR is a data driven advisory firm and believes that the most successful mortgage bankers live by their numbers. We’ve observed this to be true for countries as well; in fact, in the face of the pandemic, the most successful world leaders have embraced change and created a culture of accountability and transparency. Watching these leaders thrive through the COVID-19 crisis created a clear picture in my mind of what works and what does not work when it comes to communication and managing risk. And, there is a direct correlation between how a country feels about its leader and the level of success that leader has had so far in navigating this world crisis.
The steps we see taken by effective world leaders through this pandemic are mirrored in the successful steps taken by our industry, particularly by lenders who have created cultures of accountability and transparency within their organizations. An exemplary case of this approach is Guild Mortgage, and in this article, we’ll look at Guild’s strategies for managing through the pandemic. We’ll also look at how nations around the world are dealing with the COVID-19 crisis.
What does the industry shift toward e-closings mean for borrower satisfaction? MortgageSAT Director Mike Seminari shares three things best-in-class lenders are doing to make sure e-closings go as smoothly as in-person closings.
STRATMOR Group offers a suite of data products and mortgage advisory service to power your performance–including industry-specific studies. Get the data driven advantage!
In this article, Sr. Partner Garth Graham teases out the specifics of “the mortgage mullet” concept that aptly describes aspects of the current digital transformation in the mortgage industry.
There’s no doubt that business is feeling the effects of the COVID-19 coronavirus. In this article, we examine what lenders are dealing with as the COVID-19 waves continue to swell.
Robotics Process Automation (RPA) is more than the latest technology trend. In mortgage, RPA is helping companies re-engineer processes and transform the customer experience.
