Reflecting on 10 Years at UWM, Here are the Lessons I’ve Learned Along the Way

This past October, I celebrated ten years at UWM. A lot has changed over the years, but the trajectory we followed has always been centered around growth. From our scrappy days when I led a team of 37 underwriters to the nearly 7,000 on my team today, here are some things I’ve learned along the way:

Stay positive

Life’s unpredictability is one of its greatest treasures. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the negative aspects of life’s ‘what ifs’, but the challenge is to truly appreciate and anticipate the positive ones. While it is important to be prepared for all possible outcomes, most of the time, our wildest fears and worries will never come to fruition. Don’t let fear affect your decision-making abilities. Stay positive.?

Great client service requires consistency

As you grow your business, you need to maintain consistency for your customers. Consistency is everything. One way to help ensure consistency is to put every process in writing. That not only allows you to hold people accountable to follow your play for great service or for any process, but also ensures anyone new to the team understands why and how something is done.

Develop your brand

At UWM, providing the best service, speed and technology is what we do best. It’s the UWM way, and it’s what our clients have come to expect. Are you a niche lender who holds the hands of first-time borrowers? Do you focus on new construction? Do you sell fast closings? You have to figure out what your brand is and make sure you’re doing whatever is necessary to develop it and that your processes are aligned with that brand.

Break things into parts

There are aspects of your business that take less skill than others. Break them into parts and divide the work accordingly. If your business can afford it, try to employ both junior and senior team members. ?Not only can the workload be divided up to ensure that your senior talent focuses on more complex issues, but you can also have your senior team members help train the juniors. That way, if your senior person is unavailable or needs help, you have someone who knows the job well enough to step in.

Ask your team, “What’s the dumbest thing you do in a day?”

The question may surprise them, but this is a great opportunity to find inefficiencies. I remember at one point our underwriters were entering over 30 different fields between several screens in the appraisal process. It was a tedious task. As a solution, we found a technology to remove the manual data entry where it wasn’t needed so the team could focus on just the parts that need their attention. Talk to your teams often and ask them detailed questions. It’s important that your entire team feels comfortable voicing their opinions, ideas and concerns. You’ll find great ways to improve your business.

Don’t waste time complaining

In 2013, the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure Rule, typically known as TRID, was passed. It required lenders to provide borrowers with a Closing Disclosure at least three days before their closing. This also required a major process change and many in the industry feared it would significantly slow down the process. We responded by asking ourselves, “How do we make this impact our clients the least?” As a result, we created UClose and our closing times got even faster. If you’re forced with a change, don’t waste time complaining. Figure out how to change your own process so that you can continue delivering unparalleled service to your borrowers.

Embrace change

I’ll never forget when our President and CEO, Mat Ishbia, asked me to have underwriters start taking calls from clients. Being on the more risk-adverse side, I was immediately concerned about what could go wrong. What if they are in the middle of a loan? What if they lose their train of thought and don’t put a deduction in the income calculator? For years, I let my negative expectation of what I thought would happen get in front of one of the greatest client-service plays we’ve ever made. Now, it’s one of our partners’ favorite offerings – and our loan quality actually got better, too.?

Be a thumb pointer

I truly believe that people are well-intentioned. When something goes wrong, and your processes aren’t being followed, look at your actions first and ask, “What could I have done better? Did I put it in writing? Did I take the time to make sure the team understood the new play?”

Spend Your Time Wisely

We all have the same 24 hours in the day to make an impact. You have to say no to things that aren’t aligned with your goals or your brand, and don’t waste time on things that drain your time. Always look at the time commitment required and truly assess the input vs. the value.

Put things in perspective

For many, balancing their work and home life can be challenging and stressful. Every day, I ask myself what will make me the best mom, wife, and leader – and I use that to make decisions on what gets prioritized. I consciously put things in perspective and compartmentalize the things that I can and cannot control. It’s important to take what comes at you in stride and feel confident that you are strong enough to get through whatever comes at you.