Emerging Leaders Update

The year 2020 is emerging as a litmus test to discover leadership. No leader in our industry has experienced times such as these; there is no manual or guide book, no number of prescribed years of experience that could prepare us for 2020. In times of uncertainty and chaos, leaders emerge. Look around, are there individuals in your bank who have stepped up to the challenges of today? Those who have gracefully endured today’s tests and trials? Those who have professionally transformed to a whole new level over the course of this year? These are your leaders!

Work environments changed overnight! A new “work/home” dynamic has materialized with schools closing, businesses closing, and employees working remotely, learning to navigate through ever-changing regulatory guidance. Disaster recovery plans are being tested and many will fail, but with these deviations from the norm being thrown at us we learn and we grow. In order to succeed we must change. You may have started 2020 in a leadership role, but there is no surviving 2020 a good leader without being completely transformed and humbled. The good news is good leaders know how to pivot, they know when to ask for help, they know when to admit failure, they know when to “reset” with a new plan while keeping the overall vision on track, they know how to adapt and think outside the norm in order to excel.

So, how do you think leadership has changed during 2020? Or has it? Has the definition of effective, good leadership changed? Have the same fundamentals and characteristics of a good leader remained with 2020 making your stars shine a little brighter? Have you watched new leaders emerge?

One initiative the Emerging Leaders Council set forth this year is to assist Arkansas’s bankers in identifying the emerging leaders in their banks. We are often asked, “Who should attend the Emerging Leaders Conference? Who serves on the Emerging Leaders Council? Is there an age requirement? Is there a title requirement? What kind of job duties does an emerging leader perform?” Bottom line, an emerging leader can be anyone. To better help you identify these individuals in your bank, we have created “Emerging Leaders Campaign” posts on the Arkansas Bankers Association social media platforms. These posts give you a quick snapshot of each of our council members. The diversity in these leadership profiles is glaring. There is no age requirement or responsibility level. Who is your go-to person when you need a project completed or when you simply need to brain storm ideas? Who are the individuals you want to keep secretly “hidden” so your competition doesn’t try to hire them out from under you? Who are the morale boosters and the influencers? Whose faces do you see in your mindful succession plan? Who do you see stepping forward in your contingency plan? Who just popped into your mind? Ding, Ding, Ding… These are your “emerging” leaders!

Here’s the deal though… Emerging leaders are those leaders who have not yet reached their full potential. The year 2020 is a great window of opportunity for established leaders to invest their time in mining tomorrow’s leaders. There are lessons to be learned and relations to be built. This is a time to grow future leaders through mentoring programs and fostering relationships with staff members eager to learn. If you were to ask any proven leader to recall what made them a good leader, each one would likely point back to a person of influence they had encountered along the way. Each one would most likely begin to recite words of wisdom and stories shared that they carry through the ages in their own personal “bag of tricks.” This “bag of tricks” is nothing more than the collective advice of mentors, peers, and service personnel that all good leaders gather over time and then positively distribute amongst their co-workers, customers, and communities they serve. As a leader of today, how are you investing in the leaders of tomorrow?

As part of our campaign the Emerging Leaders Council members were asked the following questions:

• What is the most important leadership lesson that you’ve learned? • What’s your biggest leadership struggle? • What is the most effective daily habit you possess? • What is the greatest advice you have ever been given? • What does effective leadership look like to you? • How has leadership changed in 2020?

One of the most common themes in the responses was effective leaders lead by example and by action. They are willing to do everything they expect their team to do. They earn the respect of their team by clearly communicating and practicing what they preach. If asked, how would you respond to the above questions? How would your management team respond? How would your staff respond? Please take the time to engage your team. You may discover a new leader or learn something new about your leadership style. I invite you to Partners Bank is excited to welcome Credit Officer. Micah, a 20-year resident

jump on over to the ABA Facebook page to read our council members responses.

Every bank in this state has emerging leaders. Invest in them, empower them, send them to the Emerging Leaders Virtual Conference on October 22nd and get them engaged with the ABA! (Stay tuned for more details about the conference.)

If your emerging leaders are not obvious to you at this point, I challenge you to assess your staff, develop an internal mentorship program, or hire a leadership consultant to help you identify opportunities. Use some time to reflect on your career and any changes you can envision to unleash the emerging leaders around you. In the words of John Maxwell, “Leaders become great not because of their power but, because of their ability to empower others.” Empower others… and those you

Micah Thompson Northwest Arkansas Regional President and Chief Credit Officer Micah Thompson to our team as Northwest Arkansas Regional President and Chief empower will emerge to lead.

of Northwest Arkansas, brings a depth of experience, knowledge and innovative thinking to Partners Bank’s expansion to the area.

Contact Micah at 479-301-9926 or by email at mthompson@partnersbnk.com to discuss any of your banking needs.

Helena / West Helena / Marvell / Wynne / Marion

partnersbnk.com 870-338-6451

In honor of former Arkansas Bankers Association President Bill Holmes (1949-2018), the Association proudly presents the second annual Bill Holmes Leadership Award. This prestigious distinction will recognize outstanding leadership among the emerging leaders in Arkansas banking. Please consider nominating rising stars in your institution who contribute to team success, industry success, and make an impact on their community.

One statewide award and scholarship will be presented during the 2020 Virtual Emerging Leaders Leadership Conference. Nominations will be accepted from any member source. Nominees must be a current banker and member of the Arkansas Bankers Association. Nominees should have the equivalency of the rank of vice president or below and should not be a current member of the Emerging Leaders Council.

the COVID-19 pandemic has turbo-charged banks’ drive to embrace digital mortgage technology, and customers aren’t just along for the ride. Their attitudes toward technology use are evolving, too.

As the effects of the pandemic have reverberated across the U.S. economy since March, banks—by necessity—have shifted increasingly toward electronic delivery of a wide range of services, including mortgages. The same, of course, goes for borrowers. The shift toward digital mortgages coincides with an 11-year-high in purchase applications. The pandemic has not cooled the pent-up demand for purchase mortgages, and record-low long-term interest rates have fueled that demand while also triggering a surge in refinancing activity.

Amid this mortgage boom and the concurrent shift toward greater use of mortgage technology, bankers have been able to demonstrate clearly to borrowers digital lending doesn’t equal low-touch or diminished quality of service.

On the contrary, our analysis shows borrowers in the COVID-19 environment are more likely to lean on a loan officer during the application process, even in the vast majority of cases where applications were being completed electronically. Digital delivery works best when a loan officer can work hand-inhand with a borrower, educating and guiding them through the process.

Our analysis of representative banks found before COVID-19 struck, about one in four borrowers came into the bank to sit down with a loan officer to initiate the digital application, while the rest got started at home. Not surprisingly, COVID-19 reduced that ratio to about one in seven, and for borrowers working with our client banks, there was no loss in service quality. In fact, loan delivery as measured by days from application to closing actually sped up by four days.

The picture emerging from our experience and observations is that borrowers are finding it easier to complete an application online than on paper—especially when a knowledgeable loan officer is available to copilot the application process digitally, guiding them through the steps.

In the wake of COVID-19, banks that were once agnostic about which delivery channels to use are now willing to push to digital processes, having seen improvement in efficiency, customer satisfaction and ease and speed of delivery. And, electronic delivery, including digital compliance documents, can greatly reduce the mountains of paper that once defined the mortgage experience.

A cutting-edge virtual experience helps to break down fear by simplifying what can be a very daunting process. A mortgage, after all, is the largest financial transaction most people undertake. There’s a tendency to think older customers require more hand-holding, but interestingly, that is typically not the case. Most older borrowers have been through at least one mortgage application. Ironically, younger borrowers can require more attention to get them to stick with the loan application to completion. They are the most comfortable with technology but the least familiar with the mortgage process. The questions that pop up on an online mortgage application can feel excessive and intrusive to these customers, who tend to have high levels of discomfort surrendering private financial information. They are protective of their financial privacy and, without a clear understanding of the mortgage process, want to know why they are being asked for every jot of information.

A well-designed customer experience addresses this challenge through crisp, clear design showing exactly why information is being requested, without overloading the borrower with extraneous detail.

An intuitive and appealing customer-facing dashboard is a critical feature of any digital lending platform. Bankers and their customers have a clear preference for a streamlined product that makes it easy to register and sign in, showing borrowers where they are in the process every step of the way. Banks should not underestimate the role language plays at each stage in the application. Banks see the benefit of a dashboard using confident, friendly and reassuring language to help borrowers understand how their personal financial information will be used to build the loan file needed to reach a mortgage decision.

And, as customers are asked to upload information, they should find it as simple as possible to do so, ideally using a one-button design to click and send a document. Customers should be reassured the information they securely submit goes straight to their loan officer and their lending team.

With challenges to in-person interactions magnified by COVID-19, the ability to transact digital mortgage services has become even-more critical to success. But borrower behavior during COVID-19 has demonstrated that while borrowers want—and indeed require—a digital experience, they don’t want to surrender loan officer guidance and support. Banks adopting digital lending platforms should prioritize solutions that empower customers, giving them control of how much— or little—they want to interact with a loan officer.

Dean McCall is managing director and Laura Mays is manager, data insights, for Promontory MortgagePath, which is endorsed by ABA for residential mortgage loan fulfillment.

This article originally appeared in the ABA Banking Journal and is reprinted here with permission.