Better first, faster second

In our technologically driven world, business moves fast. It can be tempting to focus too heavily on speed. We see all of our competitors adopting new systems that help them get more done faster, and we want to have that advantage for ourselves. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that, but there is a risk in focusing too much on speed.

On the May 2 episode of my Lykken on Lending podcast, one of my cohosts, Andy Schell, quoted the slogan of a lawn mower manufacturer: "It's not how fast you mow; it's how well you mow fast." Applied to the mortgage industry, we can think of how easy it can be to fall into the trap of just trying to get things down as quickly as possible. The problem, of course, is that quality sometimes suffers with speed.

The right process is to focus on improving your processes first. Get things right, and then you can think about doing them faster. Be better first, and then faster second. It doesn't matter how efficient you are if you are efficiently wrong. So, take a step back and make sure your processes are sound. It may seem like everyone else is outpacing you, but don't worry about that. It's better to take your time getting to success than to rush to failure.