As proven by their recent presence at Tour De La Porte where they set up water stations, Horizon Bank’s leaders and advisors work to leave more than a financial footprint in their communities. Since it was established in 1873, Horizon Bank has hired staff members from local communities and empowered them to act to benefit both customers and communities.
Empowering staff members to act, according to Horizon Bank’s Regional President of Northwest Indiana Steve Kring, means making decisions to help business owners and consumers and getting involved in the community.
“People have different interests, different things that they're passionate about,” Kring said. “It could be the Humane Society or the YMCA or the Salvation Army. There are just so many great organizations out there that need help, that need people to sit on their boards or make contributions or help with an event. We want our advisors to be a part of that, and for the most part, Horizon Bank is there to support them with not only our advisors but also financially as well.”
Kring shared that Horizon Bank strives to be aware of all the different organizations making a difference in the community, so it is easy to identify where help is needed in the community and address that need. Kring will sit down with his team at times, and they will assess what things they could do collectively to help out the community.
“It’s about just knowing the needs of your community, knowing the organizations that do a tremendous amount of work, and just getting involved with those different organizations to help your community. We've got a lot of people here at this bank that take a tremendous amount of pride in being involved in these different organizations,” Kring said.
This focus on community is acted upon not just at community events, but also through the daily work of the advisors at Horizon Bank. They have intentional, in-depth conversations with customers which help to form relationships and keep people coming back.
“You can't really help somebody out financially or worry about the financial side of things unless you really understand what their need is,” Kring said. “Then, it's our responsibility to determine whether or not there's a way to help them. If there is a way to help them, it’s about what is the best way to go about doing that.”
Horizon Bank’s Advisors work to be inclusive of the desires of both the bank and the customers. When advisors promote and safeguard this balance, customers can feel confident to approach the advisors with their concerns and opportunities.
“We always look at it as a relationship first; we want to make sure that we take care of our customers and provide them with really good advice in terms of how to handle things,” Kring said. “If we're able to do that, the financial side takes care of itself, because they're going to realize that we're in it for their best interest.”
For more information about the work and service being done at Horizon Bank, visit https://www.horizonbank.com/. To learn more about La Porte Economic Advancement Partnership, visit https://laportepartnership.com/.