Creating a Company Culture for Women Leaders to Thrive

At MGA, we embrace diversity and inclusion, enabling us to create a robust culture that supports better ideas and appropriate innovations.

Talented women lead several of the practice areas at MGA. In fact, 75% of our Firm leaders are women. By having a diverse leadership team with different perspectives, we can make healthy Firm decisions that keep us moving forward.

We support our women by offering leadership training programs to those who are looking to grow. Some of our emerging leaders are participating in a one-year development program hosted by PrimeGlobal. Others are participating in a six-month Personal Development Program that is being led by a Corporate Anthropologist—an outside consultant. Our team also engages in PrimeGlobal’s Women’s Leadership Conference. This program tackles some of the realities that still exist for women in the workplace, helping them thrive in leadership roles. Heck, we even won Accounting Today’s Best Accounting Firms For Women last year!

Overcoming the workplace obstacles of opportunity and fairness doesn’t happen overnight. To help you leap over those hurdles, here are some tips on what it takes to get there.

3 Ways to Help Women Leaders Thrive in Your Workplace

1. Offer flexibility.

One way to support women in your work culture is to understand that work and home are no longer separate life spheres. Mothers know that their children need to be dropped off at school. How can you make it easier for them to work and be a mom? Sometimes there are unexpected doctor appointments. Being flexible allows your team members, both men and women, to balance their life demands with their workload. Women especially can benefit from this—but their male counterparts can as well.

2. Offer training and development opportunities to all employees.

Another way to build a diverse, inclusive culture is to offer development programs to all team members. Where are they looking to grow? What skills do they need to acquire to get there? These could be those soft skills where they learn to communicate better, coordinate, collaborate, and solve complex problems. Or they could be technical skills. Your commitment to them turns into happier, more productive staff. Supporting all employees in their unique career paths eliminates the unconscious bias.

3. Establish clear criteria for job positions.

When making promotion or hiring decisions, it’s essential to set clear qualifications for your choices. Then, look at that approach through an objective lens. Is it the right set of skills for the job? Are the criteria going to ensure success in the job role?

When You Refuse to Accept the Status Quo, Cultural Change Happens

We can’t stress enough how influential the culture of your work is. Employees need the opportunity to advance and grow. They want to feel respected, and they want opportunities to be fair. When you do this right, you can naturally begin to attract and hire a more diverse workforce. And like the domino effect, this then leads to a more inclusive culture where women and minority groups are more likely to thrive.

We know that cultural change doesn’t happen overnight, but by following the ideas we have mentioned, you can start to shift your organization in the right direction.

If you’d like to talk with us further about the challenges your business is facing with diversity or recruitment, please reach out to us!

We’d be happy to help you map out a way forward.