Cayla Keyes is willing to attend any event that she can learn from, so she jumped at the chance to go to a global, leadership development program titled Leadercast. Several other INB employees were there as well.
“I love that Leadercast chooses some of the best speakers that really inspire and help develop leaders around the world,” said Cayla, INB’s S. 6th Street branch manager. “Events like Leadercast have definitely given me inspiration and ideas that I can put into practice with my team; I always bring back the information and share it with them.”
Pam Cain, Cayla Keyes and Dee Anderson attended the IWIL symposium last fall.
At INB, we know that learning never stops.
And for us to consistently offer superior service to our customers and stay on the cutting edge of banking and technology, our entire staff engages in professional development year-round.
We believe employees find motivation and job satisfaction when recognizing their work’s purpose, and increased knowledge can often be a pivotal point to finding that purpose, especially as employees move to new positions within the bank.
How We Choose the Right Training
If someone discovers a conference or training that would benefit their career, they are encouraged to pursue it. We also brainstorm personal and professional short-term and long-term goals with employees during annual performance reviews. This often results in exploring educational opportunities to help meet these goals and in which our employees want to participate.
“At INB we encourage professional development through conferences, webinars and community board presence,” said Kelley Himmelberg, director of human resources. “Since INB has now grown into the surrounding areas of Bloomington, Peoria and Champaign, we encourage our staff there to get involved, too; they are part of their communities and seldom is an opportunity for someone to participate turned away. Each department actually has a line item in the budget for training, and we encourage everyone to take advantage of this.”
Ongoing education is geared toward the goals of management and the needs of the individual employee or department. Subject-matter experts both inside and outside of the bank provide training and education. Themes range from use of software, operational or regulatory processes, or leadership development.
Whether it’s face-to-face or via webinar, our executive management engages external resources whose focus is on leadership. Our leaders have even organized retreats where participants meet outside the office for team and project-oriented sessions.
We Create Training with the Help of Outside Experts
Earlier this year for example, Mark Donovan, senior vice president, commercial lending at INB, organized Tech Talks in conjunction with Innovate Springfield, which provided attendees from the local business and technology community and INB with the opportunity to hear global speakers discuss topics of alternative payments, payment processing, Blockchain technology and the confluence of how these topics affect companies.
“Collaboration and the exchange of ideas is the catalyst for innovation, and through events like Tech Talks, INB continues to keep the lines open for thought-provoking conversation in central Illinois,” Mark said.
Pursuing education or other experiences outside of day-to-day tasks is no doubt meaningful and beneficial in any job. Yet, we’ve found that internal education is just as important as professional development found outside of the bank.
Since banking is a highly-regulated industry, we have compliance training mandated by federal regulation. Most employees have four or five compliance-related courses each quarter, and we also have custom courses delivered through an online training platform.
Our new hires also undergo personalized, hands-on training and education which is specific to their role at the bank. In addition, our employee orientation session provides information about INB’s various departments, use of equipment and communication standards.
At INB, our team is empowered to come forward with ideas and to provide feedback. We rely on this to make changes to our internal education programs so we are continually delivering the most accurate information in the best way possible.
The process is never-ending when it comes to learning and development, but it’s through this process that we build long-term relationships with each employee.