Featured above: Ted Garnett leads the class in an exercise focusing on the teamwork cycle: forming, storming, norming and performing.

The 2022 KBA Bank Leaders of Kansas (BLOK) Class reconvened their training with a successful third session in Wichita on July 13-15. The 21-member class kicked off their time together with an interactive discussion with 2010 KBA Chairman Jeannette Richardson (Vice Chairman, Prairie Bank of Kansas, Hutchinson). She shared insights on leadership in her bank and community, what led her to serve on the KBA Board of Directors and she graciously took questions from the class looking to tap into her experience as a Kansas banker. That evening, the class members were treated to a hospitality reception, sponsored by UMB Bank, offering the chance to reconnect since their second session in April.

The following day was filled with an engaging leadership training session facilitated by Ted Garnett, President of PS
Culture Matters. Garnett encouraged participants to evaluate their respective bank’s mission statement and core values. He stressed that all banks should value their customers and that each bank needs to identify and communicate what really differentiates them in the marketplace. Garnett also gave compelling, personal examples of the power of setting lofty goals. To gain practical experience, he challenged BLOK class members to establish a personal vision, or leadership brand, for which to be known. The key is to ask others about the reality of what he or she is known for and then close the gap between reality and the desired outcome through the execution of the leadership principles that Garnett stressed. Garnett also taught participants conceptual tools to improve their leadership skills within their bank teams to get results. Hands-on group exercises had the class learning that the number one leadership skill is listening, and the number one group skill is consensus.

The class was assigned a book report project based on Leadership and Self-Deception written by The Arbinger Institute. After reading the book, each individual implemented a tool taught in the reading and reported back the lesson learned and the effect on his or her personal and professional relationships. Many impactful stories were shared!

Goodwill Industries of Kansas was the host of Friday morning’s training, which began with a Workforce Development panel discussion featuring Clark Bastian (Chairman of Fidelity Bank, Wichita), Dr. Larisa Genin (Dean of W. Frank Barton
School of Business and Professor of Marketing at Wichita State University), Julie Huber (Executive Vice President/
Strategic Initiatives for Equity Bank, Wichita), and Shawn Lancelot (Market President for Bank of America, Wichita).
The distinguished panelists discussed their strategies for identifying new bank talent and retaining great employees. The
class was also able to pick their brains on issues such as offering maternity/paternity leave and managing remote workers. The session concluded with an eye-opening tour and overview of Goodwill, whose mission is to provide opportunities to people with disabilities and barriers to employment seeking independent and productive lives.

The BLOK Class will reconvene at their fourth and final session in Washington DC in September, where they will join
KBA Federal Affairs Committee members for a March on Capitol Hill.

Members of the 2022 BLOK class are: Brandi Archer, First National Bank and Trust, Phillipsburg; Jennifer Caughron,
Bankers’ Bank of Kansas, Wichita; Nick Gideon, Silver Lake Bank, Lawrence; Alex Greig, Kansas Bankers Association,
Topeka; James Hagedorn, United Bank & Trust, Seneca; Sam Jackson, First State Bank, Plainville; Jordan Lauer,
Farmers State Bank, Westmoreland; Kyle Murrow, Denison State Bank, Holton; Deron O’Connor, Astra Bank, Hays;
Francis Scheuerman, UMB Bank, N.A., Kansas City; Garrett Sharp, Community National Bank & Trust, Chanute; Clint
Shoemaker, Guaranty State Bank and Trust Co., Beloit; Lindsey Snider, Central National Bank, Junction City; Brock
Stuhlsatz, Citizens Bank of Kansas, Derby; Greg Thiessen, First Bank of Beloit, Beloit; Cole Thompson, BOK Financial,
Overland Park; Kimberly Wallace, Equity Bank, Wichita; Lewis Walton, Kansas Bankers Association, Topeka; Trae
Watson, Heartland Tri-State Bank, Elkhart; Evan Whetzal, First Heritage Bank, Seneca; and Joe White, INTRUST Bank®, N.A., Wichita.