Jamie Biesiada
Goal-setting typically begins with selecting an end goal, creating a plan to achieve it and establishing a metric to measure success —Â often a numerical target — according to industry author, coach and strategist Geraldine Ree.
However, Ree prefers to view it a little differently for the leaders of host agencies.
“I approach it from, what does your team want to achieve? What are their goals?” she said. “It’s a bottom-up type of visioning, so that when you add up all of your team goals, if that doesn’t measure to where you want to go, how do you address that gap?”
For some, it might mean more advisors. It could also mean more training or marketing. But it all starts with what she calls “vision setting” and getting the entire team to engage.
That’s one of many topics Ree discusses in her year-long leadership program, Atlas-52. Ree recently released a book, “Atlas of a Travel Business — Leading What Matters,” a textbook resource for the course.
Ree’s inspiration for the book was the proliferation of the host agency model in the industry today.
“There are these ICs who, all of a sudden, they’re so busy, they end up taking five or 10 sub-agents,” she said.
She sees an emerging leadership category among the owners of new host agencies and wants to create resources to help them navigate the industry.
Geraldine Ree aims to provide guidance for successful sellers who have grown to become hosts. Photo Credit: Geraldine Ree
The book is focused on leading a high-performing team, Ree said, including how to attract and engage top talent. She also digs into customer flow and adjusting a business that tends to ebb and flow depending on the season.
The accompanying course is one year long with cohorts beginning each quarter. A cohort will be limited to 20 people. Ree hopes each cohort becomes a community for its members.
It’s a self-guided study program on how to become a leader, capped with a monthly meeting with Ree. The course totals $100 a week, or $5,200 total.
The ideal agency owner for the course runs a host agency, usually with 10 to 15 ICs, who feels stuck in terms of operating the business because she’s just too busy, Ree said. That owner will typically do between $6 and $10 million in gross revenue; Ree hopes to help them break the $10 million mark.