Many of the prospective employees entering the offices of Lauterbach & Amen for job interviews have questions about one thing in particular: the Naperville, Illinois-based firm's annual Innovation Competition.
"Interviewers are talking about this experience being one of their favorite things," shared firm partner Megan Holford. "And candidates ask [about it] a lot — it's a cool activity to be a part of and it makes them feel like part of a bigger organization."
Enhancing collaboration was a major reason for Holford creating the contest with fellow firm partner Nathan Gaskill two years ago.
Inspired by the TV show "Shark Tank," the competition invites teams of employees to present innovative ideas before a panel of judges in order to spur more creative thinking about firm growth and professional development.
This year was the competition's second year after its kickoff in 2021, and it garnered 36% staff participation (of 200 employees) on 10 different teams, not including staff members who served as team mentors and judges.
"The inception was, 'How do we keep trying to intentionally grow, innovate, develop people, opportunities, and help clients?'" said Gaskill. "One idea was, 'Can we create a 'Shark Tank'-type event and inspire people?'"
Lauterbach & Amen unveiled this year's program at the end of 2022.
"We announced it at our all-firm December meeting, in conjunction with our holiday party, with everyone together," Gaskill explained. "We put together a timeline of what people can expect, and were announcing the innovation competition, the prizes, and that we were looking for innovation, engagement and collaboration."
Teams averaged between three and six people, and they had three to four months to flesh out ideas, work with two to three firm mentors, and practice with mock presentations for mock judges before presenting to the final judging panel.
"Individuals were encouraged to come up with ideas and teams and submit executive summaries of ideas and teams," Gaskill continued. "We take those submissions and, with the leadership group, come up with mentors to support those people and ideas."
Those who didn't immediately fall into teams were still encouraged to compete.
"Some people reached out and wanted to be a part of it, but weren't sure if they had a 'Shark Tank' idea," Gaskill said. "People in administration helped form them into a team that already existed — anyone who wanted to participate, we found a way."
Gaskill and Holford registered employees' immediate enthusiasm from the announcement, which only grew in the subsequent months and was soon paired with a level of competitiveness they weren't fully anticipating.
"People were so competitive; people wanted to know how to win," Gaskill shared. "That was not the No. 1 priority for us — how to win. We do like to spur competition; that's part of what's engaging. But we make sure to focus on how to keep people engaged."
Gaskill and Holford's focus is paying off.
"From a client service, growth and development aspect, one of the really important pieces is employee engagement and retention," Holford said. "In the current CPA environment, it's tough. To have the opportunity for employees at any level and tenure involved in something firmwide that spurs creativity, is a great tool for us."
For that reason, they're in
Whether or not winning was the main goal, Holford and Gaskill witnessed a level of healthy competition — and secrecy — among this year's 10 team finalists.
"One [idea] was for diversity and inclusion in the industry, how to reach more audiences than we are currently reaching," Holford shared. "Another was an internal program that was fitness- and wellness-based. Our winning one was a program looking to connect some different client bases — the veteran and financial services client bases — to reach a more aging population." Another involved using artificial intelligence to catalog and solve cold cases.
The contenders have spawned ideas Lauterbach & Amen is currently developing or planning to develop.
"Almost all of the ones this year we have taken the next step on," Holford reported. "We have not implemented them all, but are exploring some of them further. We are taking time with a partner liaison on what it would really take to implement this, what kind of effort. A really big part is the time commitment in taking the next steps. The people on the team are given the opportunity [to assist] and pretty much all said yes."
During the competition, mentors within the firm helped finesse the development of the ideas, though the method for pairing them with teams changed between the first and second years of competition, based on feedback Gaskill and Holford received.
"They were brought on from a partner group interested in being mentors, without knowing who signed up to participate," Gaskill explained. "And then we shared with the volunteer mentors the ideas, not the people, because we didn't want them to play favorites. But [now] there's a fourth category — besides participants, mentors and judges — a group of administrative facilitators, four of us partners did that, to help facilitate the match of mentors with the people and the teams."
The first year, judges were Lauterbach & Amen managing partner Ronald Amen and two partners, including Holford, while this year the firm added a client and an industry executive coach as external guest judges.
The prizes also evolved between iterations. The first year, prizes for teams were of comparable value, while this year's awards were handed out for different categories, and prizes ranged from wireless earbuds to 3D printers, portable projectors and Yeti coolers.
After the two-day process of teams pitching their ideas to the judges (which firm staff were invited to attend), awards and prizes were presented during an awards banquet ceremony and also announced at the firm's summer party.
"We recognized pieces, not just the overall winner, but recognized based on presentation — some people were outstanding storytellers," said Holford. "We had awards for best presentation, best business case, a spirit award, most creative. It wasn't just who won, but the spirit of different parts."
Back into the water
Lauterbach & Amen is not only planning to implement some of the contestants' ideas but some lessons learned from the competition.
"Feedback that was surprising to me was how many people enjoyed working with someone from a different service area," Holford shared. "We will apply some intention into that in the future, of people working across service lines."
Based on the positive response from the first two years of competitions, Holford and Gaskill have already begun planning the next iteration, and expect it to continue to boost firm recruitment and retention.
"A lot of people come into the accounting world, and it takes a lot of time to get up and running, and be part of a bigger business," Holford said. "One of our ideas was that this gets them involved in something where they feel a part of the firm, feel they are interacting with people across the firm. We've noticed this most when interviewing candidates."
