P5 (short for Continuous Improvement “Pillar 5”) Blitz was an organizational training competition between business lanes throughout mortgage lender United Shore (for example, Sales vs. Underwriting). Each area of the company was challenged by United Shore CEO Mat Ishbia (a former 2001 NCAA Basketball Tournament champion) to double the amount of Continuous Improvement training team members received in their areas over a 60-day period (this 60-day period occurred during the “slower” holiday months of the lending industry: December, January, and February).
Program Details
The P5 Training Event was set up as a tournament-style competition with teams competing against each other to complete more training to progress to the next “bracket” of the tournament. Teams advanced in the P5 Blitz (tournament) by having training hours authenticated (entered into United Shore’s Training Tracker by the Training team, team coaches/trainers, and leaders) for advancement.
Although the Operations Team won the tournament (individual team members also won prizes and participation/key contributor coins) by attending and completing the most continuous improvement training and P5 Guest Speaker/Training events, the entire organization won because it brought it closer to accomplishing the company’s goal of 100K Continuous Improvement hours.
Results
During the period of the P5 Training Blitz/Tournament, there was a 176 percent increase in the amount of Continuous Improvement training hours completed by team members over the previous year. This focus to train instead of relax during the 60-day slow period also resulted in the company starting off 2018 with the best first quarter in company history: Service scores and loan submissions all increased by 24 percent compared to the same time period in 2017 as a result of training.
The P5 Blitz/Tournament was such as success that United Shore plans to conduct the Tournament/Event every year moving forward (the event took place again from December 3, 2018, to March 1, 2019).
