Why supporting women’s internal audit careers benefits everyone
“When I was thinking about entering my firm’s partnership process, but felt daunted because I was pregnant with my second child at the time, a senior partner told me ‘we need more female role models’. This persuaded me to go ahead. I became one of the very few female partners at that time who openly admitted to family caring responsibilities and working from home on Fridays.”
Faiza Ali told this story at an event held by the Women In Internal Audit (WIIA) community in March. This event coincided with International Women’s Day on 8 March, and picked up the same theme – “Give to gain”.
Ali, who gave the keynote speech at the event, explained that her partner’s support came at a critical moment in her career as an internal audit leader at Big Four consultancy Deloitte. It gave her an opportunity to draw boundaries around her working life – and, importantly, it also gave men this freedom.
By encouraging her to aim for partnership, the company sent a message that it was ok for partners to have home lives and responsibilities and to demarcate space for these. As a consequence, the company gained a committed partner, Ali gained promotion and her colleagues gained a clear example that leaders are stronger if they can be open about their backstories and home responsibilities.
This kind of example is particularly important at a time when politicians in the US and other places are pushing back on diversity and inclusion policies. Whatever the political climate, it still makes sense for organisations to attract and promote the best people for the job. Encouraging these people to apply and enabling them to do the job to their best ability is common sense.
Ali was the first female partner promotion in her area of Deloitte and the flexible working arrangements meant she continued to work full time.
“I was given the opportunity to change the narrative and this was incredibly powerful,” she told the WIIA.
Leading by example
On this occasion, Ali was given a chance. She then went on to describe how she had then given opportunities to others.
“When I became a partner, I had a fabulous female boss and she asked me to look at how we could give women more opportunities to gain skills and a louder voice,” she explained. “This was a group effort with strong advocacy behind it, so it wasn’t just me, but I was the talent partner of the operational unit. The initiative enabled us to recruit and retain some great women.”
The team ended up with equal numbers of men and women and the company benefited from this, she added. They ran Q&As where people could discuss the value of diversity at work and debated how best to discuss diversity with those who couldn’t see the benefits.
The point of these stories, Ali explained, was that they demonstrated how giving women the ability to progress while enabling them to be honest about external pressures and responsibilities led to everyone gaining.
“When I joined, I had to look for role models outside my practice. Things have changed a lot in 25 years,” she said.
However, events like those hosted by the WIIA community are still important. “If you stand still, you go backwards,” Ali says. “We can’t be complacent. We need to champion and push the arguments in favour of diversity, as we always have done. If we do this well, we can change opportunities for everyone.”
Role models and community
The WIIA community is not only a platform on which to bring women in the profession together, offer support and encourage open discussions. It also gives the women who participate experience leading debates and provides them with role models in a variety of sectors.
Amy Aldis, who joined the committee last summer, says this was a motivating factor for her. She is currently the only public-sector internal auditor on the committee and is keen that all sectors are represented. “It’s about inspiring and encouraging women across the profession and building a supportive network,” she says.
The community holds four events a year, online and face to face. Details are posted on the Chartered IIA events page and on LinkedIn. WIIA will also have a stand and a workshop session at the Internal Audit Conference in September.
Aldis emphasises that everyone is welcome to attend sessions. Many topics are relevant to both sexes, and everyone benefits when male allies and bosses are there to support women in the workplace. It is important that men understand more about the everyday issues women face and how they can help support women to perform at their best and advance their careers, she says.
“I was keen to get involved in WIIA because I love coaching people and encouraging people in their careers,” she explains. “I’ve been head of internal audit in several government bodies, so I can offer the public-sector viewpoint. I also work part-time in the head of internal audit role, which gives me a slightly different perspective.”
“WIIA is for everyone,” she says. “I joined to make a difference for women, but also to build my own network and for my own development. I wanted to continue to be inspired and to share and discuss universal challenges. A key part of the community is making people feel less alone, whatever challenges they are facing.”
The committee is led by volunteers, she adds “so we always welcome ideas about events and topics that would interest people and ways to take the community forward –please get in touch for ways to be involved.”
The Give to Gain speed networking session with senior women leaders in March attracted people from a wide range of sectors, and at different points in their careers, and Aldis says the feedback was hugely positive. “Many told us that this session helped them think about their next steps.”