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The past decade has been tough on the mortgage industry. Boom turned to bust followed by a long period during which routine refinancing was practically the only game left in town. Today, purchase originations are hot again and mortgage professionals and processors who can build customer relationships are in high demand.
Getting new people up to speed quickly and keeping experienced staff sharp has never been more important.
What’s more, many lenders are infusing their workforces with talent from outside the mortgage industry and casting them in their own culture and model rather than hiring seasoned people who have to unlearn legacy practices.
This trend has led to new energy and urgency by many lenders to re-evaluate how they can enhance their approach to training.
Attracting top talent and keeping them engaged and motivated is key to the success of any organization. Employees coming up the ranks are looking for new ways to learn and advance.
Some, especially Millennials, want training tools that they can access on or off the job so they can own their own learning and development opportunities.
And across all generations there is a consistent need to “cross skill” or broaden their expertise so they can slip into and out of specialized roles on their way up.
While demand for training has increased, the way we train is also changing. As business leaders, we have to think differently about the learning that we are providing based on the needs of the audience that is consuming it.
Training needs to be easy to digest in smaller segments so that time constrained talent can easily weave it into their daily priorities.
In addition, it is time consuming and expensive to create in-house training programs that offer quality learning to busy mortgage professionals.
While education and training are not Radian’s core business, we saw the need for a flexible, cost-effective and off-the-shelf training program that could be adapted and implemented based on the needs of each institution or individual learner.
Today, we offer our customers a suite of five training curricula called “Foundations On-Demand” — a series of videos and workbooks that can flex to provide essential industry knowledge to the rookie or the highly seasoned pro.
We’re also taking advantage of advances in digital channels, video content, and a mobile-first mindset to help deliver high-quality training in a more accessible manner, regardless of organization size or budget.
Smaller lenders are now able to take advantage of training opportunities previously only afforded through trainee programs at larger institutions. And larger institutions can supplement their robust training programs with smaller specialty modules now available digitally.
However, just because online courses can now deliver knowledge directly to employees who need it doesn’t mean they’ll take advantage of it.
A Microsoft study in 2015 showed that the average attention span of an adult has decreased in the last decade from about 12 seconds to just eight. That means training materials have to be interesting, informative and short or they will be a wasted effort.
Foundations On-Demand was designed with smartphone-era attention spans in mind.
We use “active learning” techniques that combine short video lessons – most five minutes or less – followed by exercises that allow participants to follow along or immediately apply what they just learned in the video.
Active learning is an effective strategy because it breaks instruction into bite-sized chunks and then imprints them on the mind through relevant and practical activity. This makes the information stick.
Investing in people development is critical to the success of any organization, especially during these transformative times.
But what about the downside? A common concern among employers goes something like this: “What happens if we train them and they leave?”
But the real concern should be, “What if we don’t and they stay?”
