Effective Staff Meetings

How often do you conduct staff meetings? Are they long, drawn out affairs with an overload of information and endless dialog? For the most part, most participants go back to their desks and continue with their day. While the meeting is going on, they'll look at their watch, tune out, check their blackberry,etc. Why not try something new and fresh? One suggestion could be to hold a 15 to 30-minute meeting per week with helpful, useful information and engage conversation with others (getting their input) during the meeting. Another suggestion, appoint one staff member each week to contribute to the meeting or better yet, let them run the meeting. I find it very exciting how the younger generation is so energized, have new out of the box ideas and suggestions and love to share; let one of them run a meeting.

To start out differently, try opening up a discussion about the relevance of meetings and how others would like to see something different in the formats or discussions. Be open and willing to listen to suggestions and if you find a new idea, use it or if someone suggests something that won't work, let them know that as well but gently or constructively. Once you get some consistency around the time frame and focus, they could become fun and productive. What do you have to lose?

Managing from the bottom up vs. top down

I have been reading a lot of material lately on how successful companies can be if they use the approach of managing from the bottom up vs. the traditional way of top down. What does this mean? It simply means to be able to effectively manage people and open up better lines of communication, you need to engage everyone, involving them in interacting with each other and with senior leaders. One example to start this process would be for the employees to begin a leadership discovery journey.  By learning about the qualities of a good leader, having conversations with leaders on how they became successful and who they are as people starts this journey.  Companies would benefit by having leadership development meetings - talk about the culture, what defines success, how can we make communication more transparent and open, what is bad behavior and what has to change. How do we make everyone accountable to grounds rules and what are the ground rules?

What comes out of this style of management is a group of colleagues who will enjoy thinking outside the box, who enjoy discussing work-related situations and who will create a more cohesive working environment. Future leaders will be developed as well as opportunities will show up for people to move into other areas of the company .  There are unlimited possibilities with this style of leading such as creating work teams focusing on a particular part of the culture such as performance management, quality of work, reward and recognition. These teams would work with the leadership team to help implement new ideas and transformation. Each team would be responsible for setting goals, creating accountability in their process.

Just imagine what this could look like from where it is now.

Leadership - Generational Differences

When we began this study the intent was to find an answer to our question “Would we have the problems today if women had more prominent leadership roles in the mortgage industry?” This initial impetus for the series of articles that were subsequently developed was a question of leadership in a crisis situation and the potential impact of male versus female leadership. After much research into leadership styles, gender traits and generational issues, we determined that while there are leadership differences between male and female leaders they are more similar than different and as a result, the outcome we see today would most likely have been the same.  However one thing that did become much clearer is that the most noticeable differences in leadership are not gender but generational.

Findings

Our research into the “war of the sexes” found that this issue was limited to the baby boomer generation.  Differences do exist between the men and women who are leading the industry today, primarily due to their life experiences and expectations.  Because all these individuals were born and raised in the “baby boomer” generation, their underlying value systems are the same and as a result they both lead from nearly identical perspectives. 

While these differences originally distinguished male and female leaders, we have seen a merging of these styles into a blend of the best. Many of the traits that were once considered reflective of male leaders are starting to be expressed in a uniquely female approach. Likewise, traits that were once considered strictly female are often seen now in their male counterparts.  A good example of this was Edmund Muskie’s presidential primary campaign which was derailed when vicious articles about his family brought him to tears and ended his opportunity to be elected.  Yet recently the new House Majority Leader openly wept on national TV when discussing some of his most passionate issues with only a few minor repercussions. Today it is not unusual to find male leadership in the industry described as “humble” and focused on strengthening their listening and communication skills as well as visibly supporting staff members.  Women are also learning how to rely on their own strengths and, while continuing to listen to all discussions, asking “what’s your point” or “what’s the bottom line”.  As more women move into the “C” level positions and men grasp the value of many female leadership traits, they are collectively coming closer together in what it means to lead from a baby boomer perspective.

Generational Differences

The generation of managers that are just beginning to emerge as leaders have a very different view of what it means to lead a company.The Gen X members have a very different understanding and expectation of even the most fundamental issues of leadership.

Gen X leaders come from the global perspective of wanting to make lives better, find solutions and opportunities that make society better while also benefitting the organization. They have no bias as to gender and accept leaders whether male or female; leadership is based on the expressed “passion to lead” rather than on expectations or the justification of having earned it.  The legitimacy of their leadership approach is based more on actions that have been taken and the results that have been achieved.  They tend to see the hierarchy of the baby boomer command and control as a hindrance and will minimize corporate formalities including offices and titles.  Internally they tend to focus on their career path yet their leadership is focused on finding solutions that have a broader benefit to society while being beneficial to the company. 

Since this is the first generation that “grew-up” with technology they embrace it as one of the primary solutions to problems and opportunities, as well as the primary means of communication.  The emotions associated with leadership are often expressed through the numerous acronyms and abbreviations used in their technology communications.

While members of the Gen Y generation are already displaying traits that will set them even further apart from the baby boomers and separate them from Gen X leaders this population is still too young to provide a comprehensive understanding of their leadership traits.  Their overall focus appears to be on what they can expect to get out of a corporate position and will demand “meaningful” work no matter what position they hold.  Leadership in their view is not given; it must be purposeful and earned and those that have emerged as leaders are passionate about ensuring a tolerance for diversity in any organization they are part of. 

These individuals have been labeled stimulus “junkies” because of the multiple technological programs that have always been part of their lives.  They also tend to be blunt and expressive in their emotions and communication styles, whether the communication is done verbally or through technical means.

Validating this analysis

Research, while providing concepts and ideas, can be misleading if not validated in the environment in which it was originated.  In order to determine if these findings truly reflected what is going on in the workplace, we questioned members of the industry to see if what we had found was reflected in the workplace. 

Almost unanimously those we spoke to emphasize those differentiators between men and women that were once commonly found are disappearing.  Whether due to mentoring, experience or other factors, male and female leaders are addressing issues in a similar fashion.  There was also a consensus that gaining experience and understanding the organization and the industry were critical to leadership; a trait that is consistent with the baby boomer generation.  Kathleen Wood, an experienced mortgage professional and a manager at Radian Mortgage Insurance stated that “baby boomers bring experience and tenure.  When faced with a problem we want to know the root cause before we try to fix it.  It’s important to know what was wrong with how it was done before.”  Terri Merlino, a seasoned mortgage professional and management professional at PHH Mortgage echoed these sentiments.  “We [baby boomers] want to dig in; to understand the problems, “she stated.  Others we talked to had similar comments and emphasized how both male and female leaders listen to staff and coworkers ideas, and frequently bring them into discussions about identifying problems and solutions.

 

Equally validating was the response we received regarding Gen X traits and leadership styles.  Nooshy Mobasher, an experienced sales management professional in the industry stated “she loves the passion the Gen X and Y have for the environment and their drive to be socially responsible.”  This sentiment was also expressed by Marianne Boylan, a mortgage broker who added that Gen X and Gen Y also have “parents who instilled work ethics in them; the ideal of doing it right.”  She also stated that their use of technology as a communication tool is as important to them as working in a team environment. 

We also looked at web sites from companies that were led by baby boomers and Gen X members.  These sites reflected the leadership values seen in their respective generations.  The mission, as stated by the baby boomer lead company was focused on making the company better so that it could help make society better.  This, they stated, would be accomplished through a strong work ethic, daily improvement and self-discipline.  On the other site, that of the company lead by Gen X members,mission statements focused on making lives better, maintaining profitability and having fun.  Both of these sites clearly include what is expected of everyone on a daily and on-going basis.  Both are successful companies.  However, the focus from which they make their statement is vastly different.   So what does all of this tell us about how a crisis would be handled? 

Comparison of crisis management

            How would each of these groups of leaders have handled the recent crisis surrounding the robo-signing of documents necessary to complete foreclosures?  To answer this question a comparison between these groups was conducted based on the traits and expectations identified in these articles.

1.      The male baby boomer- This individual would be informed of the problem by a member of the executive management team and would solicit ideas from the team, probably individually.  Through these discussions and his own experience he would formulate a response because he believes the decision is his responsibility. Although the decision may be validated from a legal and financial perspective, the responsibility for the decision is primarily his. Communication to the staff is focused on what needs to be done as a result of the decision he made. 

2.      The female baby boomer- After hearing about the problem from the section manager, the female baby boomer leader would bring the impacted staff together for an analysis of the problem, identification of the root cause and solicitation of ideas for solving the problem.  She understands that this is a decision that she is responsible for. While willing to listen to comments and suggestions, ultimately she makes the decision on what the response will be and communicates this decision to her staff.

3.      The Gen X leader- This individual views this as “the company has a problem” and the decision of how it is to be resolved is to be a joint decision.  This leader will pull the staff together to reach a joint decision on how to handle the problems.  Collectively the ideas will be given and discussed, prioritized and a conclusion reached as to what is the best possible response. 

While all of these responses may result in a resolution to the problem, the difference in leadership style is evident.  While we began this review with the assumption that a female approach to this type of crisis would be very different (and better) what we found instead was that they would have been nearly identical.  To find a totally different response we had to go to the Gen X leadership. 

Working together

Although the data reviewed indicates that the male and female baby boomers are becoming much more consistent in their leadership approach, how does their leadership style fit with the more open Gen X approach?  We asked the members of our group to give us their impression of Gen Xers.  The results were mixed.  These individuals stated that overall they found Gen Xmore open to new ideas, valued the use of technology and see their responsibility to advance the greater good. On the down side our members thought that Gen X are not concerned with “paying their dues” nor do they see the value in maintaining loyalty to any particular company. Because they use technology as the primary means of communication, their ability to form and retain relationships is questionable which most considered a significant problem in our industry where building relationships is critical to success. Overall they approach leadership as not a making the right decisions, but more of what’s the best solution. 

So how then can the industry meet the challenges facing us today when these two leadership styles appear to clash more often than merge?  In order to take advantage of the best of all leadership styles there must be a conscious effort to tackle the issues that keep us apart.  One of the most critical things we need to do is open the lines of communication between both generations and listen to what each is saying.  More importantly we need to do so with an understanding that we are coming at the issues from a very different view point, than of our generation.  This has to come from both groups as baby boomers cannot expect the Gen X leaders to revert to their styles and the Gen X group has to demonstrate that they understand the value of baby boomers experiences. 

And speaking of communication, baby boomers need to appreciate and learn how technology can reshape the way we do business, not see it just as a tool to support existing processes.  Gen Xers need to learn how to develop relationships and understand the value of personal connections.  

Baby boomers and Gen Xers need to understand how to manage and motivate people that are not of their generation since for the first time in history four different generations will be working in the same workplace. 

Conclusion

Progress in lending requires strong leadership.  It is not an easy task to change decades-long programs, policies and processes.  If these diverse groups are to work together to lead us into a new lending environment in the coming years, they must learn how to overcome these differences.  While the belief that we began this study to validate has shown that it is no longer true, there is still a long way to go in embracing and building the acceptance of multiple leadership styles that are a critical part of moving our industry forward. 

About the Authors (next page)

Barbara Perino, CPCC, ACC   Now an executive coach, is a 21-year veteran of the residential mortgage industry in national sales management capacity for property valuation and residential mortgage service providers. bjperino@coachbjp.com

Rebecca Walzak, CQM  Now a consultant in the area of operational risk management she is a 30-year veteran of the residential mortgage industry in risk management, operations and servicing environments.  Becky@rjbwalzak.com.