Pub. 9 2020 Issue 4

Pub. 9 2020 Issue 4 7 accelerated this in many ways as we find that our customers’ behavior and desire for less contact has been changed. It will be important for community bankers to offer a balance of products and a conduit for our customer base to reach us in an effective and timely manner. We will continue to struggle to retain and grow our deposit base and will have to look to non- traditional sources for funding needs. What have been some of the major challenges in creating a balance in customer branch and digital-based transactions? Banks have to offer digital services, especially with the reality of COVID-19, but people still want to see people. In banking, you must be nimble. Some aspects of banking need less of a human touch than others. You have to position yourself as well as you can and cultivate a “cup half full” attitude. What is the secret to creating a culture within a banking organization where customer satisfaction is paramount? As a leader, think about the people as a team consisting of chess pieces, not checker pieces. Everyone achieves more when they work together, yet you have to figure out where each persons’ talents and interests are and give them assignments to match. The biggest driver for making everything work is communication and empowerment of staff at all levels. Delegation with authority is imperative for the success of the team. Forward momentum is key and facilitated through our team’s mission statement. Our team is diverse, so getting everyone to buy into the culture is challenging. As a leader, one needs to be flexible and work to unify team members. We strive to create a free- flowing team with authority delegated to the frontline staff level. An important part of leadership is to leave things better than we find them. Core values matter. Our core values drive our culture, which redefines profit. The P stands for people — people are our greatest asset (employees, customers, community members), R — Respect — treat everyone with respect, O — Opportunity — provide opportunity through our culture for everyone to excel, F — Family — family comes first in all that we do, I — Integrity — integrity is all we have — it is priceless and drives every decision that we make, and T — Truth — truth is the basis for trust. Our team members, customers and community must be able to trust our bank. This is what PROFIT means in our culture. As part of our leader team building process, I ask leaders within the bank to read four leadership books every year. It’s a book club, essentially. So far, the books for 2019/2020 are: 1. Extreme Ownership by JockoWillink and Leif Babin 2. KnowWhat You’re FOR by Jeff Henderson and John C. Maxwell 3. Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson and Kenneth Blanchard 4. Good to Great , by JimCollins Getting people to read helps everyone get outside the box when it comes to the way they’ve been thinking. For example, “KnowWhat You’re FOR” offers great lessons because identifying what you’re for changes what you do. Young people, in particular, need to identify not just what they want to do, but why they want to do it. Knowing “what” helps you know “why.” continued on page 9 Offering a prayer