How Loan Market set its ‘wildly important goal’

How do you get s#!& done in a post-royal commission world – the things that bind you to your business goals – when there’s so much happening in, and out of, your control?

This time last year, Loan Market executive chairman Sam White stepped into the company’s open-plan layout, holding aloft the book he’d had trouble putting down over the week. It was laden with ‘simple but game-changing’ business propositions and he encouraged everyone on the floor to read.

Multi-national icons including Coca-Cola, Marriott International and Lockheed Martin were familiar with the tactics of the Wall Street Journal Best-Seller, The 4 Disciplines of Execution (4DX). The global brands appreciated the nub of the book: making time amidst busy schedules and reactive operations for staff to execute business goals.

Mr White recognised the keys to execution were applicable to any type of business; it was just as relevant for a soft drink manufacturer with teams around the world to husband and wife businesses slugging it out in the suburbs.

Loan Market has made 4DX a central part of its culture of visibility and accountability. It’s transformed the way its network support teams think, allowing them to keep an eye on the overarching goal to make Loan Market the industry’s Trusted Adviser.

And, next month, Loan Market is bringing Chris McChesney, the author of The 4 Disciplines of Execution (4DX) to Sydney, to share the wisdom. Attendees at Get S#!& Done Summit - which is open to the wider mortgage broker industry - will walk away with a detailed strategy to realise what McChesney calls the ‘Wildly Important Goal’, or WIG.

McChesney, the Global Practice Leader at Franklin Covey, describes the WIG as a company’s ‘most important objective that won’t be achieved without special attention’.

WIG’s are a strategic aspiration that change business operations for the long-haul, which is able to be measured, designed by stakeholders, and acted on.

In the book, McChesney outlines how to:

• track progress in achieving the WIG;
• identify the ‘levers’ get there;
• engage staff to contribute to the path;
• make a commitment to accountability.

Even amidst the unrelenting backdrop of the Hayne Royal Commission, Loan Market made a commitment to execute its long-held business goal.

“Loan Market is determined to be a network of Trusted Advisers for our communities where we can empower customers to make better financial decisions across a whole range of finance products and services.

“There were plenty of other things to do last year but we knew we couldn’t let the noise from the Royal Commission sidetrack us from our goal to be the Trusted Adviser for customers.”

Mr White said the company’s adoption of the 4DX principles had transformed productivity and engagement.

“It’s changed our behaviour. Every team in the business has been able to determine the lead measurements they can influence to help us on our path to the end goal,” he said.

“We all come together for the weekly goal session, with everyone committing 20% of their week to the WIG. We have a dashboard which is the scorecard for the ‘winning game’. Everyone wants to win a game and visibility and accountability has changed our culture.”

Some of the best brokers in Australia have signed up to attend the two-day conference. Loan Market’s international number one broker, Josh Bartlett signed up immediately.

“Finally, a summit about creating a winnable game,” Bartlett said.

“So often we come up with great ideas, start doing them or - even worse - never get around to starting.

“I’m after a system for execution to take my business to the next level, and this is what The Summit offers - it’s a no-brainer for me to be there.”

Attendees to The Get $#!& Done summit fill out a pre-conference data card which covers their core metrics and other information which is pivotal to their operations. The data card is the first step for attendees wanting to execute change in their business and capture their goal.

“Everyone who attends the Get S#!& Summit will have their own lightbulb moment from where they can make their long-held business goals a reality,” said Mr White.

Chris McChesney will lead The Summit on March 27-28 at the Sheraton on the Park, Sydney.

To find out more and to attend this break-through industry event, head to: https://www.loanmarket.com.au/get-it-done

Written by Loan Market Group

Last Updated: 14 March 2022

Published: 26 February 2019