It started with a simple question: “Who’s someone at INB you really admire?”

That question sparked a bank-wide conversation — one that ultimately shaped the values we live by at INB every day.

In 2013, our HR team was inspired at a conference after hearing a representative from Zappo’s (the ecommerce footwear company) speak about the power of the company’s core values. They thought it’d be a good idea to establish something similar for the bank.

“We wanted to ensure that our culture and mission were clearly defined for both our employees and customers,” recalls Kelley Himmelberg, director of human resources.

And rather than dictate a set of values from the top down, we wanted our entire 

team to be involved. The conversation started in the manager’s meeting, and then the managers carried it back to their own departments.

“We encouraged managers to ask their staff to write down a few names of who they felt was the perfect example of a great manager or team member at INB and then think through what words they would use to describe what makes them the model employee,” Kelley shares.

The values that define INB

The ideas that came out of those discussions shaped the ultimate list of core values that INB embodies today:

• Caring: Our staff has empathy and respect for one another, customers, and the communities we serve. We find that the care we show one another in the workplace is reflected in our interactions with our customers.
• Creative: We are constantly coming up with creative solutions for customers and processes. We strive for innovation to provide better solutions for our customers.
• Teamwork: No other organization works as closely together as the INB Team. We realize that respect, cooperation, and hard work from everyone creates the best environment and result for our customers.
• Balance: At INB, our team members are our family. We help each of them to meet personal and professional goals by achieving life balance.
• Working Smart: Our team looks at each day as an opportunity to learn and be independent in our thinking.
• Assertive and Enthusiastic: We are eager and want to help everyone in our community. We reach for our goals with enthusiasm and courage.

What exactly is a core value?

Core values are more than just guiding principles; they represent our highest priorities, deeply held beliefs and fundamental driving forces behind our work.

In her long HR career, Kelley has seen firsthand how organizations thrive when they truly embrace their values, allowing leaders to make better decisions and reducing the need for stacks of policies and procedures.

“It gives everyone a foundation from which to make tough decisions and generally brings simplicity and clarity to many of these systems,” she says.

 Living our values every day at INB

 As the HR team coordinated the effort to define INB’s core values, they wanted to use those to build on the company goals, department goals and individual goals.

 “We started with the words that define our collective values and over time, have used stories to help everyone understand how those values could be put to work,” Kelley says. “It has also made it easier for new employees to understand what our culture is all about.”

 That’s why our core values don’t just sit in a handbook; they’re woven into everything we do:

• Hiring and onboarding: We integrate our values into job descriptions, recruitment strategies and interview questions to ensure we attract employees who resonate with our culture. At new employee orientations, INB leadership shares real-life stories of how the INB team demonstrates these values.
• Performance and growth: Employee evaluations include assessments of how well each individual embodies and applies our core values in their daily work.
• Strategic decisions: Every major decision at INB we’ve made since 2013, from policy changes to new initiatives, aligns with these values.

Over the years, our values at INB have laid the foundation for a work environment that encourages collaboration, facilitates innovation and guides our strategic priorities.

They’re not just words; they’re a commitment to carry out our vision to make banking easier, minimizing the financial pressures for our customers, and helping them live better lives.