How NewDay USA Develops Its Leaders From Within

On the Built for This podcast, host Carly Pepin sat down with Chief Revenue Officer Franco Greco and Senior Vice President of Human Resources Jenn Harrold to talk through how that works: recruiting, training, mentoring, and a career path with clearly defined levels, along with the fail-learn mentality and the habit of repeating priorities that Greco and Harrold say hold it all together.

Watch the full episode on YouTube

The Path From Entry-Level Role to Vice President

Greco described the leadership path as having six stages:

1. Entry-level role
2. Mentor: Strong performers guide a colleague who is newer to the company and teach the basics of the business.
3. Captain: A captain manages two to five people and continues to mentor.
4. A training stage before Assistant Vice President (AVP): Future leaders learn how to recruit on top of the producer's job, and Greco said every NewDay USA manager has gone through this step. Recruiting requires leaders to sell the best parts of the job to candidates, and Greco said that process strengthens their own belief in the work.
5. AVP: An AVP runs a team that may include two or three managers and takes responsibility for a large portion of the pipeline.
6. Vice President

Over the past decade, NewDay USA leaders have defined what each level requires and the income opportunity at each level, so team members know from day one what it takes to reach the next step. Someone who wants to become a vice president in five to seven years can see the requirements and learn from the people who hold those roles now.

Harrold said a first promotion within six to nine months is realistic at NewDay USA, and top performers can earn two or even three promotions in their first year or year and a half.

What Leaders Look for Before Promoting Someone

Franco Greco said leaders have told people the same three things about earning a promotion since he started:

• Produce: NewDay USA is a production-based organization, and Greco describes meritocracy as the standard the company lives by.
• Help the person next to you: In the first six to 12 months, that may mean keeping a positive mindset while colleagues adjust to the job.
• Sphere of influence (SOI): NewDay USA pays employees a referral bonus when they refer high-achieving friends from their sphere of influence into the business.

Greco said leaders sort performance into thirds, and the standard across the business is to look to promote people from the top third. For account executives, the most obvious measure is loans closed, which Greco framed as how many Veterans a person can serve, and leaders also look at how each person performs at the start of the sales funnel.

Harrold added that leaders weigh more than individual results. They ask whether a person can do the job, whether that person can teach others to do it, and whether that person can inspire others to grow. "We want to build confidence," Harrold said. "We want to build skill sets and capabilities early, and then we look for the potential in their leadership capabilities."

Formal Leadership Training

Harrold said NewDay USA supports this career path with both informal and formal training. At the time of the interview, Harrold described one formal program, Lead Forward, for the operations side of the business. About 20 participants met a couple of times each month with the company's executive coach and worked through material based primarily on the Ken Blanchard leadership development program, along with other topics. NewDay USA paired each participant with a leadership buddy, and the pairs completed homework assignments between sessions and received feedback and coaching from Harrold, their own leaders, and the executive coach.

How NewDay USA Leaders Handle Mistakes

Greco pointed out that NewDay USA rarely hires experienced managers into its traditional entry-level path, so most people who move into management at the company are leading a team for the first time. Every new manager makes mistakes, and Greco said leaders focus on making sure people learn from them. The mistakes he described are the kind a leader can correct with a clear explanation of what went wrong and what to do next time.

Harrold said leaders at every level, starting with the executive team, practice what she calls a fail-learn mentality. Teams listen together to calls that went well and calls that did not, talk through what worked, and set expectations for the future. Leaders expect people to avoid repeating the same mistakes.

NewDay USA leaders use the same thinking with company initiatives. Harrold described a mantra, "start small and go tall," which means trying many ideas, keeping what works, and returning later to ideas that did not work the first time.

How Leaders Keep Teams Informed

Harrold said leaders talk informally throughout the week because they run into one another in person, and many leaders travel back and forth between the Florida and Maryland offices. Greco's sales organization holds an all-hands call every Monday to review wins and upcoming priorities, and he repeats the same three to five goals every week. "Be transparent, keep repeating it, and then once you've repeated it, repeat it again," he said.

NewDay USA shares wins through its social media channels, internal messaging, email, and meetings, and colleagues celebrate personal milestones such as weddings and new babies. Greco added that CEO Rob Posner and Executive Chairman Admiral Thomas Lynch attend many service events and graduations personally.

Where NewDay USA Is Growing

Greco said the mortgage industry moves through cycles, and he described NewDay USA as being in a growth period at the time of the interview, with hiring focused on expanding the team that handles purchase loans. He and Harrold also named two newer areas the company was building: NewDay Home, its purchase business for Veterans buying a home, and Veteran Strong, a benefits program for Veterans that the company was developing. Harrold said those areas call for different skill sets and more talent, and that much of the company's hiring supports them.

Campus Recruiting and the First Two Weeks

Greco was part of one of the first classes NewDay USA hired from local universities, and he is now Chief Revenue Officer and manages the company's sales team. He explained that NewDay USA started recruiting recent graduates for two reasons: company leaders wanted to teach new team members to do mortgage lending the right way after the 2008 financial crisis, and recent college graduates at the time faced a difficult job market and had a harder time finding strong roles. Harrold called the focus intentional, since NewDay USA leaders want to prepare new hires for responsibility and give them a career path they can carry with them for 20 or 30 years. When recruiters visit universities, they look for graduates who held real responsibility in college, such as playing on a sports team or holding a leadership role in a fraternity or another organization.

Harrold describes onboarding at NewDay USA as performance acceleration. During the first two to three weeks, new hires meet leaders across the organization and learn the daily work of their role. New sales team members learn the phone scripts in their first week and get on the phones within one to two weeks, while new operations team members start learning their responsibilities and shadowing colleagues in their first week or two. Because NewDay USA sometimes onboards 30 to 40 people at a time, NewDay USA keeps this period structured so that every new hire understands the expectations, how NewDay USA holds them accountable, and what good performance looks like.

Greco described the first two weeks, which he calls Jump Start. In his description, new hires go through Jump Start together as a cohort, and each new hire gets a mentor on day one: a colleague who started six to nine months earlier and is performing well. Greco said leaders always hold a fun event and bring in at least one speaker, who might be someone from the local community, a longtime member of the business, or a vendor. He explained that leaders start new hires as a cohort because recent graduates arrive nervous, and that new hires relax once they have a class of peers beside them and a mentor to go to with questions.

Giving Back Through the NewDay USA Foundation

Through the NewDay USA Foundation, the company funds the Allan B. Posner Foundation Scholarship, which Georgia Military College describes as assistance for Gold Star families and families with a parent or guardian who is 100% combat-disabled and has demonstrated financial need. Harrold said NewDay USA sponsors students at roughly eight to 10 military and prep schools across the country, and its largest partnership is with Georgia Military College in Milledgeville, Georgia.

Harrold said NewDay USA stays involved with the scholars beyond the funding: the team visits Georgia Military College and other schools multiple times a year, sends care packages and holiday cards, and often includes high school scholars in a two-week internship and immersion program at NewDay USA offices. Greco said two former scholars, whom he first met when they were 12 or 13 years old, now work at NewDay USA. Greco said he doesn't think there has ever been a volunteer shortage, and he gave the example of an event that might need 20 people, where NewDay USA would send 50 because everyone wants to help.

FAQs

Does NewDay USA promote from within?

Yes. Greco said NewDay USA has promoted from within since he started, and its leaders have defined what each level requires along with the income opportunity at each level. Harrold said a first promotion within six to nine months is realistic.

What does the leadership path at NewDay USA look like?

Greco described six stages: an entry-level role, mentor, captain, a training stage before assistant vice president in which future leaders learn to recruit, assistant vice president, and vice president.

Does NewDay USA offer leadership training?

Yes. NewDay USA has formal training programs, and at the time of the interview Harrold described one called Lead Forward, in which operations team members met with the company's executive coach, studied material based primarily on the Ken Blanchard leadership development program, and worked with a leadership buddy on assignments between sessions.

Does NewDay USA hire recent college graduates?

Yes. NewDay USA hires primarily recent college graduates into entry-level roles and recruits at universities. Recruiters look for graduates who held real responsibility in college, such as playing on a sports team or holding a leadership role in a campus organization.

What happens during onboarding at NewDay USA?

Greco described the first two weeks, which he calls Jump Start: new hires go through it as a cohort, get a mentor on day one, and attend a fun event and at least one speaker session. Harrold said new sales team members learn the phone scripts in their first week and get on the phones within one to two weeks.

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