Management and Leadership guru Peter Drucker said “good leaders need to regard first of not their task, but of their time.” Ephesians 5: 16 and 17 states that wise leaders work to redeem the time they have. What can I do to help you manage your time at Alethes? How can I help you to redeem your time at Alethes?

Time is a serious part of our Performance evaluations and a crucial part of achieving good Results. The affects of Time were a key ingredient in selecting ProLender. TQM and TOC workflow and management processes are about making the most of TIME. Chas has been talking about how we need to increase our “number of fundings per staff employee.” TIME

Did you notice the QBQ questions in the opening paragraph?

Ok….My Persistence, along with being Purposeful, is kicking in here.

Thanks Gail for inquiring about the QBQ classes. Sharon will have the upcoming class schedule out soon. The classes will not be “open enrollment” but instead we’ll work through the supervisors to insure attendance. If you have not been through the training, you’ll be required to attend and participate.

Back to the last question…..If you didn’t notice it, then you are clueless and you need to get a grip. Ok…my bluntness is also kicking in.

I can tell who really attempts to practice QBQ (hence, Personal Accountability) and who doesn’t care. If you don’t care, please stop not caring. If you are not going to practice personal accountability, you are going to fail at Alethes. You are going to be miserable and I really don’t want you to be miserable. (I’m I offending anyone yet?) Making people miserable is not why this company was started, though we will offend some and that is part of who we are. We are not for everyone and those staying at Alethes must be willing to learn. Are you going to fail at QBQ? ABSOLUTELY. Do I fail at it? YOU BET. That is why it is called “Practice.” We are not perfect. God only made One perfect man and we are not Him. But, You have to be willing to grow. If you aren’t willing to learn to be personally accountable for your actions, your words, and what happens to YOU – please just leave. I say leave, because my demand that everyone is personally accountable is going to drive you nuts and this is not a good company fit for you.

Read Persistence.

You should know by now that just doing a good job is not enough and is not what makes a good Alethes employee. Do you want to learn? Do you want to be the best (insert you job title) in the business? If yes, and yes, then as long as God allows Alethes to continue, this is the place for you, because through the good, the bad, the pretty, and the ugly, you’ll grow at Alethes.

John Glenn keeps saying, “Alethes is about Truth and Possibility.” This encumbers a vast field of stuff, but in the heart of it is included personal accountability. No “buts”, no “blame games”, no “theys”, no “I can’ts”, no “yets”, not “whys”, no “whens,” Just plain personal accountability: whats, hows, I’s, and actions.

Almost daily I ask myself; what problems do I have, what could I have done differently in the past to have prevented them, and what am I going to do in the future to see they don’t happen again?”

I’m not talking in circles and this is meant in a heartfelt and positive way. If you aren’t getting it….well, you just don’t get it.

TIME, it’s precious. David asked God to help him number the days (Ps 39: 4 and 5).

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ProLender/WebLender We’ll have a better idea after WebLender gets the kinks worked out.
4/10 – ProLender has a custom report writer that works in conjunction with Excel. Anyone that can move around well in Excel will be able to customize their own reports. Roy and Scot spent about an hour a developed one report Roy needed for MIP Payments. Every department will be responsible for writing their own reports. Please start thinking outside the restricted DT box we’ve been in the past few years. Every department has numerous reports you are going to need as we move more Purposefully towards Profitability and Performance.
4/10 – Scott and John made good progress yesterday. WebLender should be taking seamless uploads and the calls should have decreased drastically
4/11 – Notes from John Bentham: We received an update from LSSI Wednesday that corrected some of the fees that were not showing up on closing docs. Isabel tested it this morning and it seems to be fixed.
I also sat with Isabel through a Closing doc set and identified a few more fees that were in PL, but did not show up in LSSI. I made screen shots of all applicable areas and sent it to both LSSI and PL for resolution. I intend to do this a few more times today with different loan/program types and identify any other areas that need attention.
There is an issue with the Per Diem Interest rate calculation on the LSSI side that is being worked on right now.
We attempted a resolution of the WebLender "pipeline" issue Wednesday night, but backed it out after Jason identified some unforeseen affects (namely too many cancelled loans). We're reworking the logic on this one today for a fix either tonight or tomorrow. Meanwhile, we made a small adjustment to the WebLender application and it should work, albeit slower, until we get a permanent fix
4/11 – more progress was made and we’ll give updates in the 1006 meetings. The report writer in ProLender is proving to be a great tool. To learn more about the tool and how to write your own reports, go to the Help menu and search for Report Writer; you will also need to go to the Print menu, select reports, select “Data Dictionary.” If I have any of this wrong, Scott and/or others will provide corrections.
Please pay attention to needed rules and proper permissions.
It is extremely important that you have the proper permissions. If you have access to something you feel you do not want the responsibility for, or should have and don’t, see your supervisor. Everyone needs to be evaluating 360 degrees to insure the proper permission levels.
RULES – if you see something that can be fixed with a “rule,” bring it to your supervisor’s attention. If you don’t understand rules, bring it up in the 1006 meetings. See clarity.
Our locked pipeline
What does it look like? What are the Real loans? 4/09 -
4/09 - We took 268 GMAC locks last week (Jason and Curtis - Thanks for your Persistence)
We expect to fund 50-75% of these loans
Curtis was able to finish the input to ProLender on Tuesday and we’ll start running reports to validate our pipeline
4/11 – we’ll run reports again today to see how the Datatrac to ProLender clean up is coming. This is hampering our ability to pull an accurate pipeline.
4/11 – PLEASE NOTE – we have loans that are being locked AUS that are not AUS Approved – please pay attention to insure the system matches the file – this is part a whole new emphasis on DATA INTEGRITY. If you see something not correct, ask questions – bring it to your supervisor’s attention.
File Flow Process / Robust evaluation and correction of changes we made last week
How are the changes we made last week working? 4/09 - there are some bumps and grinds but it appears to be working well. Some of us are exchanging emails and clarifying and testing how this is working. The periodic announcements you see via email is also helping to communicate the changes and to remind us all of new habits we need to develop
o We are holding the loan officer and processor’s feet to the fire for good submissions. Approximately 30% of are being rejected for underwriting and the LO/processor is being told to complete the processing and resubmit a complete file. Those rejected go into the shred bin. (now that’s a change!)
4/10 – please read the emails I sent out yesterday with “Changes -……..” in the subject line. Whether you think they apply to you or not – READ THOSE EMAILS. And, pass them on to your departments for review. PLEASE be Purposeful in getting feedback from your People (we are not as good as all of us!).
4/11 – new changes were started yesterday. I hesitate being too transparent because it can be construed by some to be unfair, but, I’ll try to be clear and specific…here goes:
we have a really good pipeline of manual uw loans that needs to close out asap
we have AUS files stuck in the workflow.
these AUS files are generally considered to be better processed (some exceptions)
we have clients that consistently send us business, good business, and they are in the fight with us, month end and month out
again, these AUS and these clients are being hampered by the poorly processed and/or manual underwrite files
AND, looking FORWARD….it is these AUS files, and these clients, we are depending upon after the manual uw’s are gone (in 30 days)
SO?.... beginning now,
A. AUS approved submissions move to the front on “that day’s submissions”
B. Conditions for AUS approved files move to the front of ALL conditions
C. The procedures and details have been worked out with Gabe, James, Jessica, and the underwriters.
D. We’ll continually be evaluating and correcting this process.
What next? More changes.
NOTE: please do not make a big deal about these changes. I would sincerely like “our ACTIONS to speak so loudly that what we say they can not hear.”
Warehouse line turn-over ratio
Are we getting files shipped as fast as possible? 4/09 - I’ll be talking to Kandy and Mary today about any additional help they need; chasing packages, stacking, etc. 4/10 Awesome job by Kandy and Crew these past few weeks. They are keeping up. Mary and I discussed the possibility of needing someone to help with chasing the funded loan packages from Title companies. She’ll let us know if that is needed. Also, give Maggie a high 5 for a great job she is doing in the shipping department. Mary is so proud of her she’s going to burst.
Are the recent quick purchases at trend? 4/09 - No good answer yet. Keep praying - we hope so. Something like 14 loans bought on Tuesday and 21 on Wednesday. This keeps up we’ll be doing great on warehouse lines this month.
Review of the Corporate Branch/Processing Center’s processes (Mark and I are meeting Friday morning)
Position Contracts
Work flows
Loan Officer performance
Notification to existing loan officers of change we are making with whom we will be working with in the future
Release of memo about what level loan officers we are now working with (this will happen after the meeting today)
Training and Equipping
21 Minutes class today is on the Law of Respect. This covers the 5 levels of leadership. 4/09 - Great class – we discussed this week Deborah and the Law of Respect. Did I mention Persistence? Amazing how the lessons from this class keeps coming up during the week.
Note: please review these levels. What level are you on? 360 degrees? 4/09 - How are you influencing across?
The Call: a discussion group will begin Tuesday night – 6 to 7pm – to discuss the book “The Call,” by Os Guiness
What does it mean to “be Called and not driven?” We had a group of 8 that met. Hopefully they’ll all come back next week.
I will send out a separate email asking for your list of meetings you attend on a regular basis
Note: this is one important area in which we have improved during this “crisis” time. 4/09 - Thanks to those I’ve received back. I’ll be posting a list of meetings so you can all see who is meeting and when to help with planning 4/10 – really good emails yesterday. Did I mention that I wanted everyone to review? We’ll put the changes into P&P after we’ve done some good REC to see if they stick.
AUS strategy scenarios. 4/09 - Though we’ve slowed down the emphasis for a few days, this is not on the back burner. I’m very concerned that we Persist through our existing pipeline for a few more days until we are sure what we have and don’t have. 4/10 – if you are a sailor, you know what “tacking” means. I’m looking for the right time to start tacking. 4/11 – we started tacking yesterday afternoon. See the file flow process notes above.
Training Sunne is ready with to test her training materials. Once we are ready, we’ll have training schedule within 2 or 3 days. Much of it can be done on-line. 4/11 – Mark and the Corporate Branch team went to FNMA/DU training yesterday. I’ll get a report today and pass it on. One thing I did learn from Natalie is that the training they had yesterday is available on-line also.
Reports Paul has determined what reports we’ll use to track the AUS 4/11 – Monday, we’ll begin a robust evaluation of our AUS pull-through. The AEs are calling all of their clients and tracking the AUS files. NOTE: this is the backbone of our AUS agenda. (?!?!?!)
DU or LP not sure yet, but we are leaning towards DU except on certain file types (self-employed – LP)
Pull-Throughs 4/11 – Monday, we’ll begin a robust evaluation of our AUS pull-through. The AEs are calling all of their clients and tracking the AUS files. NOTE: this is the backbone of our AUS agenda. (?!?!?!)
Approved: submitted vs approved we are currently looking at a 75% benchmark, though it will likely start out at 50. 75% though by July 1.
Funded: approved vs funded 85% pull-through
Overall and by AE see above

Rock and Roll, God Bless and Lord, help me to redeem my time today,

danny