TheMReport — News and strategies for the evolving mortgage marketplace.
Issue link: http://digital.themreport.com/i/113472
FEATURE s e c on da r y m a r k e t a na ly t ic s Se r v ic i ng Or ig i nat ion SERVICING plates. Change takes time, can slow down processes or create bottlenecks, and requires people to learn to do things in a different way—without skipping a beat. It's a lot of pressure even in the best of circumstances. required for a change initiative, but also takes into consideration the employee acceptance/ engagement issues across the organization and plans to address them. manager/business analyst. The team also interfaces with other stakeholders that include human resources, finance, legal, risk, compliance, sales, and marketing professionals. The Executive Victory over Change Branch Managing Human Behavior T O here is a way to help companies triumph over change and make necessary operational changes more efficiently, with less disruption and better overall outcomes. Through the implementation of a well-designed change management framework, companies can standardize the process for making changes across their organization; better coordinate communication with all stakeholders and third parties; quantify the value of any change before spending money on implementation; and ensure that implementations are successful. Sound too good to be true? In fact, many companies that have implemented a standardized, structured approach to change management have experienced remarkable results. There is a clear, shared vision of what needs to happen; realistic goals are established; a well-defined action plan for change is created; stakeholder involvement and support is built into the process; and there is clear accountability for results. Of course, this doesn't happen without strong leadership and a high-impact change management approach. As a starting point, it's important that the entire organization understand the difference between project management—which is more linear and task-focused—and change management, which encompasses the complexities of human behavior. While both disciplines support each other, change management is a flexible, non-linear model used throughout a change process. It operates not only to identify the qualitative/technical solutions 66 | The M Report R egardless of the size of an organization, dedicated, centralized resources are very advantageous to any change management initiative. Members of a professional change team are selected and trained based on the critical skills they need to ne of the most important issues in managing change today is the acceptance and adoption rate of the workforce. In today's average organization, there can be as many as four or more generations of workers, all of whom may respond to Measuring Performance A long with its other many functions, a key role for the CMO is to conduct a performance analysis on completed projects. This enables the company to compare results against projected performance, provide feedback to project teams or operations personnel, and evaluate processes or procedures that can be improved upon. This step is also important to help ensure that compliance requirements are met and that the original objectives are achieved and benefits realized. Lasting Impact A establish and drive change management disciplines. This group is responsible for coordinating communication; quantifying project values and costs; establishing project priorities; and helping to ensure implementations are completed as planned. Typically, the company's executive committee or CEO appoints a change management officer (CMO) who is then responsible for engaging all stakeholders in the change process. In fact, in many cases the CMO will include professionals from areas such as vendor management, product management, project management, and a change change differently. Change can be especially difficult for employees who don't understand the need for change or for those who are concerned about their ability to learn new systems or processes. The CMO can ensure that appropriate strategies for engaging employees are implemented so companies can gain employee buy-in and leverage their roles to assist with implementation. With proper planning and a strong employee outreach strategy, employees will feel more engaged and informed and are more likely to take ownership for their part in the change process. ny organization undergoing significant change wants to ensure that re-engineered processes, procedures, and new or upgraded technology are utilized as intended to achieve its business goals or other operational benefits. Ongoing monitoring and analysis of change initiatives can help companies ensure they are functioning properly, as well as identify areas underperforming and in need of attention. However, beyond monitoring, company leaders are themselves powerful catalysts for making change last by remaining visible in their endorsement of change initiatives and by asking employees to continue to support the CMO and the entire change management team in their efforts. Change is one of the few constants in the mortgage industry and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. But change doesn't have to be chaotic or ineffective. Financial institutions are growing in change management proficiency and stepping up to these challenges every day. With a solid change management infrastructure in place, these organizations—and the industry—will continue to make the important progress they are striving for.