Beyond Compensation: An Attractive Culture

Appropriately compensating your LOs plays an important strategic role in growing your business. Regardless of how intrinsically motivated your people are too succeed, they have their own lives, dreams, and families in which they are investing. And they expect you to reward them for the results they produce.

But, how do you attract the best LOs away from the competition when the compensation differential you can offer is relatively small? What can you offer LOs that other lenders can't? Sometimes, you've got to look beyond monetary compensation.

You've got to ask yourself, "Is my organization a company for which people would want to work?" You can't buy loyalty with money. As your people improve their skills and become better at what they do, there will always be someone who can offer them more money. But no other company can offer the culture that yours does.

Are you investing in your culture? Are you creating an environment in which people can thrive—in which people don't want to leave? Monetary compensation is a great place to start but, if you want to attract and keep the best people, you've got to go deeper.

David Lykken is 40-year industry veteran who has been an owner operator of three mortgage banking companies and a software company. As co-founder and managing partner of Mortgage Banking Solutions, David consults on virtually all aspects of mortgage banking with special emphasis executive leadership development, corporate strategic direction and implementation, as well as mergers and acquisitions. A regular contributor on CNBC and Fox Business News, David also hosts a successful weekly radio program, “Lykken on Lending,” that is heard each Monday at noon (Central Standard Time) by thousands of mortgage professionals. Recently, he started producing one-minute videos called “Today’s Mortgage Minute” that appears on hundreds of television, radio and newspaper Web sites daily across America. He may be reached by phone at (512) 977-9900, ext. 10, or e-mail [email protected] or [email protected].