Background
A large Australian bank underwent major structural reform beginning in 2009, following significant exposure during the Global Financial Crisis. Part of this was the reform of the Mortgage Lending Services group, who needed to move from a process-driven organisation to a customer-focused solutions-based business.
Although each part of the lending process had its own SLA, there was no end-to-end process, meaning that customers where unable to know at which point in the process their application stood. The process failed to meet customer expectations on time, quality and speediness of response.
The leader was committed to changing the culture of the lending organisation and improving the quality of the results of an external Broker Satisfaction Survey. This involved a change in leadership style, an understanding of how to lead a service-based organisation and a willingness to shift culturally from ‘the way we have always done it’ to an end-to-end solution based proposition.
Tools & Approach
Poor ratings on the Broker Satisfaction Survey, (rating the lender 9th out of 11 in 2008) was a key indicator for the need for reform was The criteria for rating included turnaround times, support by staff, broker information support, technology, competitive pricing of product, product range, and overall service to brokers. Facet 5 was used as part of a process to transition staff and business units from a siloed approach to an end-to-end service offering, to better meet the needs of external customers and improve the overall reputation of the lender in the market.
Facet5 was used 4 times during an 18-month transformation process, to explain and describe the individual characteristics of each leader and their leadership style. Specifically Facet5 was used to bring 3 leadership teams together in a way that helped them to understand each others’ strengths and leadership style, how to lead a transformation process, and a commitment by staff to lead and maintain a culture of continuous improvement.
Results
The LT delivered a sustainable cultural change initiative, resulting in end-to-end ownership of the lending process. This resulted in the organisation winning the award for Major Lender of the Year in 2012 and 2013 (from being rated 9th out of 11 in 2008), as a result of the independent Broker Satisfaction Survey.