Jeff Jones, President, Jones Insurance
Casandra Haas, CEO, Haas Insurance Group
The broker channel has a unique disposition within the world of business. Because brokerages compete primarily with direct sales by insurers, rather than competing with one another, they get to relate as peers in a way that you’re unlikely to find elsewhere in business. Look around the room at any IBAO event, and you’ll see comradery in every direction. Many brokers have gone a step further to form collaborative working groups that expand the boundaries of what they can achieve on their own.
Jeff Jones, Jones Insurance, is a founding member of The Accelerator Group (TAG). “The group was founded during IBAO’s 2013 Beyond Best in Class program. A few of us had been YBC Team Leaders, and others were well known to us—natural choices for our growing collective.
“TAG has become an extension of my executive team. We share most ideas before implementing new procedures, products, or technology.”
Casandra Haas, Haas Insurance Group is part of another working group that came together more recently under very different circumstances.
“Our working group was formed in March 2020 when the world was in chaos due to the pandemic,” said Casandra. “The group was formed by Traci Boland, Ontario West Insurance, and Zac Sutherland, Sutherland Insurance, who recognized an opportunity to bring together a group of insurance brokerage peers to help navigate the challenges of running a brokerage during a pandemic.”
The pandemic offers a perfect example of how knowledge sharing among peers can prevent individual businesses from each individually investing time and resources into solving the same problems. Beyond that, knowledge sharing among peers can provide a higher-level view of an issue than any one member might possess on their own.
“We were all facing similar issues, such as figuring out how many brokers had to be in the office, where to find PPE that wasn’t already being hoarded by your neighbour’s cat, and how to develop policies and procedures to address the pandemic,” said Casandra. “With our group, we were able to pool resources and knowledge to navigate those challenges together. We also leveraged the group’s collective wisdom to help each other find markets for hard-to-place business.”
“Each member has relied on their unique skill sets and backgrounds to conquer parallel—often the same—challenges in our industry,” said Jeff. “Learning from their different approaches has made our team at Jones more robust in the executive roles we fill. Personally, it has provided invaluable growth by challenging me to see situations through new lenses.”
How formal and structured a working group is will obviously be determined by its members and their needs, but there’s no singular way to connect and cooperate productively.
“In TAG, each member takes turns hosting a quarterly meeting in person where our agenda is structured,” said Jeff. “Our monthly coffee chats on zoom are less formal but with targeted discussion. Weekly and sometimes daily, we use Basecamp—a digital collaboration tool—to follow-up for support with of-the-moment issues.
“I have a few action items that we explore or implement after each meeting. Equally important is the input we provide each other that prevents missteps in strategic direction or investment.”
TAG also has different members from their brokerages on separate forums to discuss issues at different levels:
CEO Group—strategic planning, new technology, sales/lead generation strategies, market placement, anything someone is stuck on.
Ops Group—HR, best-in-class practices, special projects, tech stack comparison.
Financial Group—benchmarking company volume, financials, compensation, and other data projects.
But, a less formalized approach can be just as effective for providing other types of support. For business leaders, simply having a conversation with others in a similar role allows for valuable perspective and assistance.
“We have regular video calls every other week and a WhatsApp group that’s always buzzing,” said Casandra. “Our working group is more like a virtual support group for insurance brokerage bosses. We’re always there for each other when someone needs a hand or some advice.
“We chat about the ups and downs of running an insurance brokerage. We share ideas and swap war stories about navigating the insurance world. We discuss topics such as dealing with the changes and hurdles with insurance companies, finding ways to insure the uninsurable, HR challenges, personal and professional development, and insurance brokerage policies and procedures. By openly discussing these topics and more, we’re able to support each other to help each other grow and succeed in this wild and wacky world of insurance.”
For brokers looking to form working groups, Jeff and Casandra suggest the following to ensure its success:
- Seek out brokers whom you can confide in and who have your back
- Prioritize your group to represent diverse operations, skill sets, backgrounds and perspectives
- Define what you want to achieve and ensure your visions align
- Make sure everyone feels welcomed, appreciated, and at ease to share their thoughts and experiences
- Regular communication is the key to the success of any group
Whether your connections come from your local affiliate, meeting at industry events or working together in volunteer roles, the broker channel has no shortage of talented, generous, innovative individuals to huddle with. Forming a working group can be mutually beneficial for all involved and push them to new levels of success.
“Sharing the highs and lows with individuals on similar paths is quite powerful,” said Jeff. “The members of the group have also become some of my best friends.”
“Knowing others are facing similar struggles and having a support system to rely on during difficult times is invaluable,” said Casandra. “The opportunity to share knowledge and expertise, as well as celebrate each other’s successes, enriches our personal and professional lives. I’m truly grateful to be part of it.”