March 24, 2021

This paid piece is sponsored by Eide Bailly LLP.

A version of this article previously appeared on EideBailly.com.

In the ’80s, as a woman in the accounting industry, you’d be lucky to find more than one or two other female counterparts at an industry event. And it was even more unlikely that you’d be seeing her onstage or leading a discussion. Historically, accounting, like many other professional service areas, has been a very male-dominated space. The women who were in the industry knew they were just as smart, capable and driven as the men who significantly outnumbered them, and they wanted to increase the representation. But it didn’t happen overnight.

In 2007, leaders at Eide Bailly, including the COO, director of HR, director of leadership development and several partners, took a step back and analyzed the role of women in leadership at the firm. What they discovered was that, while the average hire rate of male to female was 50/50, females at the senior associate level were leaving at an accelerated rate compared to their male counterparts. This left an evident gap in the ratio of women to men within the ranks of managers and senior managers, which, in turn, narrowed the pipeline of women moving on to partner or other leadership roles. These stats made it clear that something needed to be done to increase the retention rate of the many qualified female accountants who offered so much potential.

After about a year of discussion and collaboration, the firm launched an initiative called First Focus with a goal of leveling the playing field. The vision of First Focus is “to nurture a firmwide culture where women are as likely to succeed as men.” The purpose of this initiative was threefold:

• First, create an atmosphere where women could transparently relay their concerns, frustrations and drawbacks to First Focus leaders.
• Second, outline an action plan to the firm’s leadership of steps the firm needed to take to effectively respond to the issues raised by initiative participants.
• Third, provide training and resources that would better facilitate the success of female associates and senior associates, leveling the playing field with their male counterparts.

Then-COO Dave Stende, who now serves as the firm’s CEO/managing partner, strongly supported the initiative and encouraged the committee to take steps to roll out a firmwide program that focused on 120 senior associates and first-year managers.

Accompanied by the strong backing of the firm’s leadership and the First Focus committee, Focus Forum sessions began. These sessions were facilitated by carefully selected, high-potential female senior managers who received facilitation training.

The first year of meetings was wildly successful. It quickly became apparent that more facilitators were needed to maintain a high level of energy and impact. The committee began to recruit senior managers to join the facilitator pool.

By providing content along with skills training to effectively lead First Focus dialogues, these new facilitators were equipped and empowered to confidently take on their new role. After each session, a coach would meet with them to discuss how the session went and talk through any challenges they had to help them continually improve. Many of the facilitators have moved up to become partners and credit the program for helping them progress within the firm.

Over the years, retention has improved, confirmed by the fact that roughly 50 percent of these women are still with the firm and many of them have been promoted.

“We’ve accomplished a lot since 2008,” Stende said. “Currently 31 percent of our partners are female, where the industry average is 23 percent as of 2019. We’re making great strides as a firm.”

Another observation provided an interesting and impactful derivative of the program: experienced facilitators were not only staying with the firm, they also were excelling in their roles. Their presentation skills were being sharpened and honed, and their leadership capabilities were becoming more evident. As their skills grew, so did their confidence. In turn, they pursued new opportunities they may not have before. With confidence, they advocated for specific jobs, higher salaries and opportunities in other departments or offices. They began to sign up for more committees and were  invited to participate on task forces and special projects.

The success of the First Focus initiative is evidenced not only by retention of the firm’s senior associates and managers but also in the increased percentage of female partners, female involvement in committees and task forces, as well as overall confidence from facilitators and participants. First Focus continues to transform, and it is now open to staff of all genders, levels and departments.

“Before First Focus, I would have considered myself to have a timid, quiet voice,” one member said.

“Now, I can confidently stand up in front of a group of hundreds of people. This experience introduced me to people I wouldn’t have otherwise met, and we’ve made lasting connections. It’s a great way to bring women to the table.”

There always will be challenges, unintentional biases and barriers to break down, but initiatives like Eide Bailly’s First Focus have been a catalyst for positive change. First Focus also helped pave the way in launching the firm’s Inclusion & Diversity Initiative, which began in 2018. The mission of the initiative is to create an inclusive and diverse environment where we build a workforce that is reflective of the communities in which we serve. We believe that different people and different perspectives help us provide innovative solutions for our clients, opportunities for our staff and success for our firm. The initiative is led by an Inclusion & Diversity Council made up of staff and partners from across the firm who monitor, discuss and create efforts to further the mission.

We know we have more work to do, and we welcome growth opportunities to provide a place where our staff and clients feel safe and comfortable being their authentic selves.