A year after the COVID-19 outbreak was declared a global pandemic, employees and leaders of a bank wholly owned by the Chickasaw Nation reflected on the challenges they faced and the progress that resulted.

The COVID-19 pandemic began soon after Chickasaw Community Bank (CCB) set into refocusing its services. The bank’s name changed from “Bank2” to “Chickasaw Community Bank” to better reflect its mission.

CCB is a bank for Chickasaws and the community – a bank on a mission to better the lives of those it serves. This is its guiding light, and helped navigate the stormy waters caused by the pandemic.

“Like every business, when this pandemic first hit, and we all became aware of the risk, we started thinking about the safety of our employees and also the safety of our customers – and how we can do that and still provide a service,” said CCB Chief Executive Officer T.W. Shannon.

“We always say you can’t take care of your customer until you take care of your employees,” Shannon said. “Our employees were not unlike our customers. We were all going through the pandemic together, you know? And they were being impacted by students being out of school, taking care of elderly loved ones and adapting to new norms of wearing masks and social distancing. We had all of those same concerns.”

Shannon said CCB’s employees and leadership rose to meet these challenges.

“I’m very proud to say that, through the entire pandemic, our services were never disrupted. In fact, I would say our level of service increased as a result,” he said.

Shannon attributes the bank’s recent record-breaking success to the visionary leadership of Chickasaw Nation Governor Bill Anoatubby and the direct support the bank receives from the Chickasaw Nation and its people.

The right people People like Shannon, Sarah Brown and Hunter Paul are Chickasaws who shaped the services offered by CCB from within.

Shannon, who served eight years in the Oklahoma House of Representatives and was the state’s first African American Speaker of the House, drew on the insight of Governor Anoatubby to guide the bank and its crew.

Brown is the bank’s vice president and head of human resources. She joined the team just in time to guide the bank’s new pandemic procedures, which kept employees and customers safe and continue to do so.

Paul is director of CCB’s marketing and community involvement. By the nature of what CCB does – helping community members build a home, start new local businesses or keep doors open – the bank plays a role in life stories. Paul tells those stories, a key aspect of the bank’s community goals. There are 117 employees at CCB who collectively made sure customers would not miss out on the bank’s services during the pandemic.

The right plan

The bank’s first proactive adjustment was guaranteeing every touched surface was sanitized. Places like entrance doors and meeting rooms were cleaned after each use. Every Friday, a bank-wide deep cleaning was performed by professionals. Eventually, at times of heightened public infection rates, the lobby would also be closed.

At the same time, CCB ensured employees could work safely and remotely while also being a part of a connected workplace culture.

“Technology was a huge part of getting our team to be remote last March, just out of the interest of safety,” Brown explained. “In doing that, we purchased quite a few laptops. We deployed TeleWorker, which is a relatively new thing not a lot of companies are using. It allows our employees to work from home and securely file directly into the bank without having additional steps.”

CCB equipped its employees with new laptops, processors, peripherals and cameras. Now, they are able to meet the needs of customers securely and remotely.

Shannon said more than 60% of CCB employees are working from home, and productivity has increased.

“Our customers got an even higher level of service, because our employees were accessible and more productive,” he said. “We realized there can be a lot of efficiency in it. That was a major culture shift and service model change. For our customers, they don’t see a change. Everybody is still available, if not more so than before. Now we are able to support a more remote workforce.”

Their efforts to rebrand and refocus melded with the pandemic response.

“When COVID-19 was at its highest points, we considered how to show we care about our people and our community. We want to remain a part of our community even when we can’t be there in person,” Paul said. “We are all storytellers. We want to make sure we are showing the bigger story of how we can impact the community for good. We are wanting to lift up those people that the larger banks wouldn’t.”

There’s a story of community outreach in every home loan, commercial loan or new savings account, and CCB began telling those stories.

“For us, it’s about building better lives for everyone,” Shannon said. “Because when the community does well, the bank does well. We are interrelated to our community. We take to heart our mission of building better lives for everyone and improving the overall quality of life of the Chickasaw people.”

Shannon credited the pre-COVID-19 health incentives CCB offered as well as their extensive response measures for the low impact the pandemic had on bank personnel.

At the same time they were minimizing the impact of the virus, the bank’s assets grew north of 30%, according to Shannon.