Rethink Process Improvement Before You Automate
Mary Kay Scully is director of customer education at Enact, where she trains over 35,000 mortgage professionals annually on topics including tax return review, fraud detection, process improvements, and compliance. With more than 30 years of industry experience, she has held multiple leadership roles at Enact (formerly GE/Genworth) and began her career as a loan officer. Mary Kay holds an MBA from Fairfield University, a Six Sigma Functional Black Belt and is a certified DiSC Behavioral Profiling Trainer. She’s former Chair of the MBA of New Jersey Women’s Committee. The statements in this article are solely her own opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of Enact or its management.
In 1995, General Electric CEO Jack Welch made Six Sigma a company-wide initiative, famously describing it as “a quality program that, when all is said and done, improves your customer’s life while at the same time lowering your costs.” That decision helped transform Six Sigma from a quality improvement methodology into one of the most influential management strategies in business.
However, the 90’s are behind us and process improvement today does not have to feel as intimidating as some of those early Six Sigma initiatives. While the terminology and methodologies can be intense, the underlying principles remain remarkably practical. Lean Six Sigma tools such as process mapping, root cause analysis, and Voice of the Customer (VOC) are just structured ways to understand how work gets done and where it can be improved.
Most process improvement efforts begin with the best of intentions but quickly become overly technical or disconnected from the people actually performing the work every day. The result is often a collection of flowcharts and documentation that never really changes how an organization operates.
That is especially relevant in today’s mortgage environment. Leaders are under constant pressure to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and deliver a better borrower experience, often all at the same time. It’s no surprise that automation has become a priority for many organizations.
Something Six Sigma got absolutely right is that before any process is automated, it deserves a closer look. True process improvement starts with understanding how work actually flows through the organization and identifying where friction, delays, and inconsistencies originate. Technology can accelerate a strong process, but it rarely fixes a weak one.
You Cannot Improve What You Haven’t Mapped
One of the most common mistakes organizations make is rushing into automation before they fully understand their existing workflows. If the current process is inefficient, automation often allows those inefficiencies to happen faster rather than eliminating them.
Instead, leaders should begin by asking a few practical questions. Where are files slowing down? Which steps create the most rework? Where are employees relying on manual workarounds to complete tasks? When a problem surfaces, what is the true root cause rather than merely a symptom?
When asking those questions, it’s important to evaluate your process from two perspectives. Operationally, does the process support efficiency, quality, and consistency? From the borrower’s perspective, does the experience feel seamless, transparent and responsive?
The two viewpoints are closely connected. Inconsistent internal processes almost always produce inconsistent borrower experiences. Automation should strengthen well-designed processes, not hide flawed ones.
Consistency Doesn’t Happen by Accident
Many mortgage processes were never intentionally designed; they evolved over time. Different branches, departments and individual employees naturally developed their own ways of completing the same task based on previous experiences, departmental habits, staffing pressures, legacy workflows, or their own personal preferences. While some of that flexibility can help teams adapt to changing situations, too much variation can make the work unnecessarily complicated.
Different processes mean borrowers at the same lender can have very different experiences, or employees spend more time correcting errors and answering questions. Training gets more difficult because there are multiple “right” ways to do the same task. Scaling operations also can get increasingly challenging.
Rather than allowing processes to evolve organically, mortgage leaders should step back and intentionally define what they want the future state to look like. Start with the customer. What type of borrower experience are you trying to create? Where is consistency most important? Which activities truly add value for borrowers, employees, and business partners?
Then ask the harder questions. Which workflows exist simply because “that’s how we’ve always done it”? Which steps could be eliminated entirely? As staffing, technology and market conditions inevitably change, will the process continue to perform consistently?
Only after answering those questions should leaders determine which portions of the workflow are good candidates for automation.
Build Measurement and Accountability into the Process
Designing a better process is only the beginning. Making that improvement stick requires ongoing measurement and accountability. Even well-designed workflows can start to drift over time. Teams get busy. Loan volume spikes during a refinance boom. Key employees go on vacation. New staff members are hired. Under pressure, people often revert to old habits and familiar ways of working.
Without consistent reinforcement, organizations can unintentionally undo the progress they worked so hard to achieve. That is why process improvement cannot end with implementation and employee training. Leaders need practical ways to monitor whether new or improved processes are consistently being followed.
Lenders already have access to many valuable performance indicators. Underwriting turn time, overall loan cycle time, defect rates, condition counts, rework rates, and pull-through rates all give insight into how effectively processes are performing.
These metrics should not be viewed as tools for micromanaging employees, but should serve as early warning indicators that help leaders identify where processes may be drifting before small inconsistencies develop into bigger operational challenges.
When measurement becomes part of everyday operations, organizations are far better positioned to adjust and sustain long-term improvements.
Sustainable Improvement Is Both Strategic and Cultural
Effective process improvement is about much more than reducing costs or implementing new technology. The lenders that achieve lasting operational improvements are those that combine clear visibility into their processes, meaningful employee engagement, thoughtful use of automation, and ongoing accountability.
Most importantly, they create cultures where continuous improvement becomes part of everyday work rather than a temporary initiative. Before investing in the next automation project, take the time to understand the process you’re asking technology to support.
Only then can automation deliver on its promise of creating more efficient operations while improving the experience for both employees and borrowers.
(Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect policies of the Mortgage Bankers Association, nor do they connote an MBA endorsement of a specific company, product or service. MBA NewsLink welcomes submissions from member firms. Inquiries can be sent to Editor Michael Tucker or Editorial Manager Anneliese Mahoney.)
