Diversity: An essential component for business growth in lending
Certainty Home Lending is growing by leaps and bounds. And we’re doing it by bringing and empowering the very best people. That includes a commitment to diversity as we recruit, and to empowering our team members.
Successful business managers have long recognized the inherent value of incorporating diversity into their hiring practices.
Their understanding of this key business component goes far beyond some arbitrary requirement for diversity and instead banks on the fundamental truth that a diverse staff strengthens every aspect of the business.
Never was this truer than for the mortgage lending industry. A lender’s customer base is and always will be diverse in every way imaginable, including race, ethnicity, culture, gender, age and perspective. Matching that complexity with an equally diverse staff offers a whole host of business-expanding possibilities.
Here are a few to contemplate.
Focus on the customer
Each customer you serve is going to have unique circumstances, needs and approaches to the borrowing process. Having a diverse staff opens up floodgates of information and perspective that can provide management with deep insight into specific segments of the population for the purpose of marketing, product creation and service delivery.
Staff development
Bringing diverse viewpoints to the table when training staff can help loan officers become better listeners for their customers, but also help them to more effectively understand what it means to “walk a mile in their shoes.” This develops greater empathy in the loan officers as they work to position their customers in the loan product that is going to work best for their current situation as well as for the long term.
More effective decision making
A study by Cloverpop, developers of the Decision Intelligence Platform, determined that diverse teams make better business decisions, make those decisions faster and more efficiently, and deliver more effective results. Diversity has shown to breed greater levels of innovation, collaboration and problem-solving.
Workplace culture
If you haven’t noticed, men and women often approach problem-solving from different perspectives – both admirable and necessary – but different. Gender diversity all the way up the ladder to the highest positions has been a proven recipe for success for decades and has shown to improve workplace culture overall.
This has long been a focus at Certainty Home Lending, where we have consistently hired and promoted women such as Area Manager Christine Valdes and Branch Managers Amy Robarge, Julia Hardy, Michelle Noble, Pam Radloff, Pamela Caldwell, Ricki Whittle, Rona Lewis, Sally Cash, Vanya Griffith-Mayes and Marina Blyakhman who also holds the title of VP of Mortgage Lending.
In addition, we have women in a wide range of other significant positions within the company including Producing Regional Manager Lori Harris, Producing Sales Manager Carley Smith, Regional Operations Manager Selena Townsend, Sales Manager Gale Thurman, SVP Producing Area Manager Krista Ellis and SVP Producing Area Manager Christina Dattilio.
And finally, having a diverse staff has made it easier for managers at Certainty to recruit the most talented, innovative and forward-thinking individuals over the past few years because highly qualified candidates see the possibilities for their future in a culture that encourages and champions a broad range of ideas and perspectives.
At Certainty Home Lending, we celebrate the diversity of our staff as well as the diversity of our client base. We believe this philosophy has dramatically contributed to our growth and will continue to advance our business mission and purpose far into the future. Contact us today to learn more!