American Pacific Mortgage launches ‘Scrappy Labs’

At American Pacific Mortgage we have experienced great success over the last 20 years, recently hitting $9.7 billion in 2016 production, while supporting our branch managers and loan officers with the culture and resources to provide a unique and great customer experience for our borrowers.

And we aren't stopping there.

APM lives up to its core values of Respect, Transparency and Scrappy in its relentless approach to serve its customers. The company plays to win by leveraging innovation to further enhance its growth in the mortgage industry.

With the launch of the new division Scrappy Labs, we are institutionalizing innovation and new ways of thinking throughout the organization. We intend to seek out problems in the mortgage industry and solve problems with original tools and resources for the benefit of our branch managers, loan officers and customers.

To do that, we take a unique approach.

Scrappy Labs utilizes each person’s predispositions for growth to allow for accelerated performance, commercialization and scale-up. We facilitate productive conversations and expand the scope of fresh ideas through an innovation framework advanced by human dynamics.

Operating without preconceptions of the “right way” to innovate, we’re able to deliver APM’s customers more value without limiting the possibilities of creation. One of the ways we “unlimit” innovation is by acknowledging that people innovate in different ways and that each of those methods adds value to the process.

Here is how each of these different innovation styles operates:

Controls innovate by thinking about the problem. They concentrate heavily on solutions to alleviate the challenges they’re experiencing, waiting for lightning to strike, illuminating the perfect idea.

Influences innovate by brainstorming. They get excited about the possibility of an innovation then throw a lot of ideas at the wall hoping that at least one of them will stick.

Powers innovate by working the problem. With heads down, deep in the problem, their innovation approach is to stumble upon a breakthrough while trudging through the muck.

Authorities innovate by listening and looking. They steep themselves in all the research and information about a topic to feel they are the experts, then look for patterns and deduce a solution.

Understanding these different approaches to innovation helps Scrappy Labs limit friction between teams and maximize the value of every person’s contribution to the overall process. And, when we link these contributions together in the proper order, our approach to innovation follows an ever-increasing path of prosperity.

Organizational breakthroughs occur when:

1)       Controls help to create intention and a shared vision;

2)       Influences socialize and organize resources;

3)       Powers get to work and establish a plan; and then

4)       Authorities reflect on quality and progress.

The goal of Scrappy Labs is to utilize people and their different styles to follow a process for leveraging each person's best ideas to innovate. This approach will help further APM's tireless effort to make its branch managers and originators look good, while helping create an extraordinary experience for our consumers.