Let’s Strive to be Remarkable

It is my pleasure to serve as your 2020-2021 Chairman of the Community Bankers Association of Georgia. We have a motivated Board of Directors serving CBA this year who are eager to promote community banking in Georgia. In this issue, I hope you will take the time to read and learn a little more about each of these great bankers who are serving as board members. Know that as a Board, we pledge an open-door policy to you. Please get to know us and reach out during the year with any ideas or concerns you may have. These are some of the most challenging times I have had to navigate in my career. It is tempting to feel discouraged as I look back at 2020 and think of friends, businesses, and opportunities lost. I would be remiss if I did not pause to remember friend and CBA Board member Chuck Harwell. His passing was a somber loss for us all. I recently read a quote from an unknown author which states, “If you feel like you’re losing everything, remember that the trees lose their leaves every year and they still stand tall and wait for better days to come.” So, as we look ahead, I believe it is imperative to focus on the positives and prepare for better days. I am strongly encouraged by the many positives coming from CBA and I look forward to sharing some of these exciting programs and initiatives with you. Membership in CBA provides several benefits to banks including high quality education, networking opportunities, and legislative advocacy. CBA’s educational services have never been stronger, and Kristi Greer stands ready to assist you with your education or training needs. CBA has always offered greatly beneficial onsite and customized programs. However, during these times, CBA has worked hard and done an excellent job of bringing that wealth of information into the virtual world. The traditionally in-person educational offerings have been transformed into multi-faceted digital experiences so that banks would not experience a disruption to the training that is vital to success. Never have I been around a group of Georgia bankers when I did not take home some useful knowledge. That is the

David Lance

President & CEO Greater Community Bank

2020-2021 CBA Chairman power of networking opportunities. Unfortunately, inperson networking has been limited by the pandemic. But don’t discount the power of a Zoom, a phone call, or even a hand-written note. Human connection and collaboration are essential. We hope there will be more opportunities for in-person networking in 2021, and in the meantime, CBA is looking to create socially distanced ways to connect.

Advocacy under the leadership of Lori Godfrey is taking off. We have had tremendous success at the gold dome and our bankers have supported the advocacy efforts with their pocketbooks to new and unprecedented levels. Thank you!

CBA has recently added a new and motivating benefit – CBA Wellness Solutions. I invite you all to visit the website www. cbaofga.com/wellness-solutions and learn more about this new initiative. You will find programs, resources, and stories to enrich overall well-being. I look forward to taking a deeper dive with you this year into the three pillars of wellness - mind, body, and spirit.

I am also very excited to share with you the new mission statement recently approved by the CBA Board of Directors.

Communities are our Passion. Banking is our Purpose.

Advocacy is our Power. This is truly an expression of what Community Bankers Association is all about. History has taught us that the community bank is closely, vitally linked to the local economy, and will rise and fall with it. The bank that looks to prosper in the future should make a concerted effort to focus on the economic development of its market area. The health of communities is reflective of the health of community banks, and vice versa. Keeping CBA’s mission at the forefront will aid us in our work to enhance local banking and build stronger communities.

2020 has certainly been an unusual and challenging year. At our recent CBA Annual Convention, Keynote Speaker David Salyers inspired us to consider our perspective. Having the right perspective will drive success. As we look forward, let’s strive to be remarkable. I wish a better and brighter 2021 for each of you. Have a wonderful holiday season.

Corner GENERAL COUNSEL

legal news and updates for cba members

Have a topic you would like to see covered in “General Counsel Corner?” Email us at generalcounselcorner @ jamesbatesllp.com

cbahotline @ jamesbatesllp.com

T. Daniel Brannan

Attorney (404) 997-6023

dbrannan@jamesbatesllp.com

Michael N. White

Attorney (478) 749-9921

mwhite@jamesbatesllp.com

Corrie E. Hall

Attorney (478) 749-9949

chall@jamesbatesllp.com Strategic Planning: Lessons from the Pandemic By T. Daniel Brannan, Michael N. White and Corrie E. Hall The COVID-19 pandemic (“Pandemic”) wreaked havoc across households and industries alike, including the community bank industry. Community banks nevertheless rose to the challenge, particularly in the implementation of the Payroll Protection Program. What will 2021 bring? As your bank plans for 2021 and beyond, and perhaps as new Board members transition in, this is a good opportunity to re-engage in strategic planning and use the lessons of the Pandemic to help us re-evaluate how we do it.

Reimaging the Process

Strategic planning can be incredibly useful for setting objective goals and metrics over short- and long-term periods. However, sometimes, strategic planning glosses over the relationships between stakeholders in the quest for objective outcomes. As a result, many strategic plans end up collecting dust on the shelf, ready to be brushed off for a visit by the regulators. Perhaps this is the year to think about a different strategic planning process.

The Pandemic has forced many employees to work from home or caused workplace disruption. Strategic planning is an opportunity to address disruption or disconnect between employees and between employees, your Board, and your shareholders. In other words, it’s a unique opportunity to make sure that everyone – from top to bottom – remains aligned with the mission, goals, and objectives of the bank. This year, consider doing your strategic planning in two stages: at the management level, then at the Board level. Give your management team time to work through key goals and differences and attack operational inefficiencies or poor communication. Then take management’s recommendations to the Board and allow management and the Board the chance to do the same. This multi-stage process highlights areas of alignment and difference at multiple levels within your bank. This is not the time to allow the disconnect of the Pandemic to sink in.

What’s “Normal” Anymore?

Many of you probably never imagined Board meetings by Zoom or widespread lobby closures. But in 2020, you figured out new ways of meeting, touching base with customers, and working together remotely. Business continued, but the Pandemic changed our sense of what is “normal”.

This is the time to ask your employees and your Board what took place during the Pandemic that should be permanent. Should certain positions remain remote? Should that technological infrastructure project be placed at a higher priority? What ways did you reach customers differently, but better? What plans were set aside this year, and should you refocus on those? Take the time now to review the last six to twelve months and think critically and proactively about your new “normal”.

Building a Flexible Plan

Many of the best made strategic plans for 2020 became some of the best laid aside plans. What caused this? It’s possible that the Pandemic alone was the issue. It’s also possible that your strategic plan was a one-size-fits-all plan. While your strategic plan should outline your bank’s main priorities and goals for the next several years to ensure accountability, your strategic plan must also be a living document. As you plan, consider alternative scenarios and ask your employees and Board how priorities change in those scenarios. For example, if your bank was looking to expand branch operations prior to the Pandemic, is that still the best priority? But what if a vaccine is discovered? Will you need that branch lobby opened and how soon? Look for ways to build flexibility alongside accountability into your strategic plan.

Let’s not ignore the lessons of the Pandemic – let’s capitalize on what they taught us in strategic planning. And let us know how we can help.