What to Expect: Independent Banker

With educational sessions on hot topics, inspiring speakers and beneficial networking opportunities, ICBA LIVE is the largest community banking event in the country. Here’s a sneak peek of what you can expect from the event, which was held this year from March 12-16 in Honolulu.

3 ways ICBA LIVE will support your community bank’s plans for 2023

Each year, ICBA LIVE offers a wide range of networking and education opportunities for community banks. But in today’s environment, these benefits are amplified.

“If you look at the education areas of LIVE, they really focus on what continue to emerge as the hottest topics for our bankers,” says Lindsay LaNore, group executive vice president and director of learning and experience at ICBA. “Everyone leaves the event with new information in hand to put into action at their bank.”

Taking place in Honolulu from March 12-16, 2023, ICBA LIVE brings concrete benefits to community banks in three important ways:

1. New connections.

Attendees consistently point to the advantage of meeting with their counterparts from across the U.S. Through receptions, banker roundtables, and hallway conversations, new relationships develop and lead to product recommendations, program best practices, and new ideas. .

“Where else to meet other bankers than at the largest community banking event in the country?” says LaNore. “Once you make that connection, it fosters even deeper networks with other banks across the country.”

2. Personal and personal knowledge.

Tailored to the top priorities of community bankers, educational programming on LIVE talks about pressing topics like workforce development, regulation and risk, and digital transformation and innovation. With more than 70 sessions scheduled, community bankers will have the opportunity to delve into detailed topics in 50-minute slots. For those who want to integrate more, new this year are quick 25-minute briefings with the information they need to know. furthermore, the ThinkTECH All-Star Showcase (sidebar below) and Expo will introduce bankers to the newest technology solutions supporting community banks.

“You can expect to hear from the bankers themselves,” LaNore says. “We’re going to tell the stories of your peers dealing with these current issues and different issues in the industry.”

3. Final benefits.

Investing in training opportunities like LIVE has been shown to have positive effects on finances. In fact, a survey by the Association for Talent Development found that organizations that offer comprehensive training programs have 218% higher revenue per employee than companies that do not and 24% higher profit margins than those They spend less on training.

“The more we engage with the trends ahead, the more poised we will be for higher productivity, higher return on investment, and higher profit margins,” says LaNore. “I think you see that by actively investing in your participation and your attendance at ICBA LIVE.”

With these benefits in mind, what should community bankers do to get the most out of their LIVE experience? According to LaNore, it’s about staying carefully engaged and applying the lessons learned in new ways.

“One of my biggest pieces of advice is to be present,” she says. “Spend that time taking your notes, digesting the information, and making a plan to transfer that knowledge to your bank.”

2023 speakers

jessica kriegel

jessica kriegel

For Jessica Kriegel, when it comes to employee retention, compliance always trumps commitment.

“Engagement isn’t just about liking your job, it’s about productivity, whether employees can focus on the task at hand,” says Kriegel, chief scientist for workplace culture for consultancy Culture Partners. “But an obsession with productivity leads to burnout, which leads to burnout, which we’ve all seen has led to the Great Quit.”

According to Kriegel, the term “employee engagement” was invented in the 1990s to extend the traditional measurement of job satisfaction, but it often left meaning and purpose out of the equation.

A more effective and sustainable way to manage employee sentiment, he says, is to focus on employee satisfaction. Are employees fully capable of developing character and skills within their careers in the organization? Is your purpose aligned with the purpose of the organization? How can leaders overcome barriers to compliance, such as power dynamics and misplaced competition?

In his role, Kriegel uses this approach to help national and global organizations in the finance, technology, real estate, and healthcare industries create intentional cultures that accelerate performance. In a banking space, you can take advantage of this to build real motivation on all levels.

“The more meaning and purpose employees find in their jobs, the more fulfilled they feel,” he says.

Jessica Kriegel will discuss her “Cultural Equation,” a proven model in which strategy and culture combine to deliver consistent results for employees, during the general session on Wednesday, March 15.

alex shine

alex shine

Alex Sheen wants to inspire others to be better at following through on the commitments they make.

“It seems like a lot of people don’t keep their promises anymore,” says Sheen, founder of the nonprofit organization Because I Said I Would. “It used to be that a handshake meant something. And think about the promises that we even make to ourselves, about our health, family or work, which are often not fulfilled”.

The goal of Because I Said I Would is to help people build resilience skills and build character to keep their promises. The nonprofit organization runs programs at correctional facilities, including juvenile detention centers, and also runs after-school chapter programs at high schools.

Each school chapter holds monthly workshops that focus on character development as well as social and emotional skills. In addition, chapter members address the needs of their local communities through initiatives such as youth literacy, community beautification, social connection, food insecurity, and caring for cancer patients undergoing cancer treatments. chemotherapy.

Because I Said I Would also recently acquired property for a summer camp for youth who have been abused, are experiencing suicidal ideation or are grieving. The nonprofit organization is working with school counselors to identify potential scholarship recipients.

Catch Alex Sheen during the general session on Wednesday, March 15.

Colin Coggins and Garrett Brown

Colin Coggins and Garrett Brown

“The best salespeople on the planet aren’t the ones people think of when they think of the word ‘sales,’” says Colin Coggins. “Actually, these people are not too gregarious, but they are self-aware. If something they’re telling a potential customer isn’t working, they can course correct.”

Coggins, who co-founded Agency18 with Garrett Brown to help mission-driven organizations improve the leadership and sales skills of their employees, points out that sales skills are important even in a leadership role that has nothing to do with it. with actual sales. He says that a flexible and authentic approach like the one he describes above differentiates truly great leaders from those who pretend to be someone they’re not, even if it’s unintentional.

“They’re trying to be whatever version of themselves they think is going to be successful,” says Coggins. “They don’t think they can be authentic to get the job done, but it’s actually quite the opposite.”

Brown agrees that the average leader focuses strictly on the mechanics of their job: building rapport, exceeding targets, asking for closure, and even being an active listener. While those essentials are important, the most successful leaders focus more on being authentic.

“If you focus on the mindset and not just block and address how to sell [or persuade], you feel different,” says Brown. “You’re actually someone who is interested in the person, he cares about him and he really wants to help him.”

Colin Coggins and Garrett Brown will discuss their innovative approach to leadership during the general session on Tuesday, March 14. his book, The unsold mindsetit’s out now.

—Katie Kuehner-Hebert