KPMG committed to inclusion
KPMG believes in shattering the glass ceiling. Women with leadership potential at the firm are given support and training to help them elevate their careers to the highest echelons of the executive team.
The numbers bear this out. In 2016, 41 per cent of partners appointed nationally at KPMG were women. In Calgary, four of the six people named partners last year were female.
“What moved me forward in my career was a few great leaders taking an interest in me and helping me find my way,” says Sophia Langlois, a partner in the audit division in Calgary and leader of the KPMG Women’s Network, which oversees the elite Women in Line for Leadership (WILL) program.
“It makes me proud that today at KPMG we have formal programs, initiatives and support systems in place to help more women realize their full potential.”
As part of KPMG’s commitment to a culture of inclusion, they created the WILL program to help high-potential senior managers in client-facing roles develop the skills needed to compete for partner positions in the firm.
WILL participants are provided with resources and learning opportunities to hone their leadership presence, strengthen their individual readiness for partnership and to understand how to balance the partner role alongside other commitments.
“Women in our program earn a sponsor over time. This program is for women who clearly want to advance and who have the motivation and the potential to work toward becoming a partner,” says Langlois.
After the initial step of securing a sponsor, Langlois says women in the program are encouraged to focus on the second step — building their internal profile.
“We’ve really discovered, both in doing research and in our own observations, that many women are not that good at ‘tooting their own horn,’ so to speak,” says Langlois.
“So, what happens is that they work really, really hard and say and do all the right things and just expect to get noticed, but of course, that doesn’t always happen. We help provide them with opportunities to showcase themselves and share their accomplishments and abilities by offering networking opportunities within the firm.”
Social functions attended by senior leaders give female employees a venue in which to share their successes with decision makers. The women also have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with key leaders at least twice each year.
“This gets them on the radar and also prepares them for the third step, which is building their external profile,” says Langlois.
“It is important that our team members not only retain key clients, but also help us develop relationships with new clients, and so we provide women in WILL with opportunities to invite key clients and future clients to community events such as sporting events or festivals. We also provide the women with speaking opportunities.”
Women engaged in WILL also have access to join peer groups. Currently the 14 program participants in Calgary are split between two peer groups, each led by a female partner at KPMG.
“These small, tight-knit groups give women the opportunity to be with likeminded, driven women who can set their own mandates for their groups according to their own needs and interests, and they often become an amazing support system for each other over years or even decades,” says Langlois.
“We know there are women in our firm who have what it takes to get to the top and we want to help them achieve that.”