Richard Sweum : Resistance to Change, a Fact or Two About Stability.
Everyone has a different appetite and capacity for change and gravitation toward stability. Too much change all at once tends to put people in a defensive and reactive posture which ultimately makes them less productive. Viz… the Caveman doesn’t leave the cave if the dinos can’t be counted on to be asleep in the morning…if they are awake at random times (change) venturing out to collect berries and roots becomes a much more risk oriented affair. On the flip side, no change as a result of complete predictability makes the Caveman complacent and since the dinos only pose a threat to them at certain times, they feel no need to develop spears and snares to kill the dinos which makes the need for knives, rope, BBQ’s etc, important…hence they don’t progress in their development.
In the residential mortgage world, there has been a constant flow of change…new regulations, new certification requirements, new disclosure procedures as well as new disclosures. Companies to the left and right have failed or have been gobbled up by bigger entities, new leadership, etc. The last 4 years have been a wild and wacky ride…there is no arguing that fact. From top to bottom, side to side, I am not sure that there is another industry that has undergone so much change at such a rapid rate.
The impact on many mortgage industry professionals has been noticeable. Those originators who have adapted, albeit kicking and screaming, to the massive amounts of change have been incredibly successful against a financial metric compared to those who have failed to adapt. As we evaluate production platforms and systems that have become much more rigid in terms of compliance, completeness and accuracy of detail, the loan originators who have had the capacity to either learn the new dance OR hire support staff to dance in their place have been the most successful. Those who haven’t have either left the industry by now OR they are creating havoc in the systems that exist in.
We resist change because we fear the unknown, however, the unknown will come along with chance whether we resist it or not. So as long as change is coming, if we choose to embrace it, adapt to it, rather than resist it, we can be in a better posture to modify our activities and platform quickly to be able to benefit from it.
Hence the need to address it in our business plans for 2013. Ask the question… “What change am I resisting, and how is it limiting my ability to grow into the new business opportunities that are arising?”
Richard Sweum : Resistance to Change, a Fact or Two About Stability.
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