Beware the behavior you are rewarding.

Most leaders in mortgage servicing have heard some version of: “People do what you reward.”

After years leading servicing operations, I can tell you—it’s absolutely true… and sometimes painfully so. Early in my career, running a customer service call center, we introduced an incentive for Pay-by-Phone transactions. On paper, it made perfect sense. But it didn’t take long for QC to uncover a problem:

Some agents were taking payments on nearly every call—only to cancel them later before funds were withdrawn. Why? Because the behavior—not the outcome—was what got rewarded.

That experience stuck with me. Because it highlights a leadership truth we don’t talk about enough:

Every incentive system is shaping culture—whether you intend it to or not. The good news?

When you reward the right behaviors, you can intentionally build the kind of culture every servicing organization needs right now—collaborative, accountable, and human.

In today’s environment, one of the most undervalued (and high-impact) behaviors you can reinforce is helpfulness across teams.

Not competition. Not silos. But people actively making each other better.

Here are a few simple ways to start shifting that dynamic:

• Build recognition for helpfulness into your team huddles. Make it visible. Make it specific.

 • Create a quarterly “Recognize the Helpers” moment—peer-to-peer, not just top-down.

 • Encourage handwritten or public thank-you notes that celebrate internal support.

These aren’t just “nice-to-haves.” They are culture-building mechanisms that drive performance, retention, and trust. Because when your teams are focused on helping each other succeed, everything improves—customer outcomes, compliance, and yes… your bottom line.

And it doesn’t start with a program. It starts with leadership.

If you’re rethinking how your incentives, culture, and leadership behaviors are shaping your servicing organization, that’s exactly the work I do with leaders every day. Let’s connect.