Pete Abilla Bio Lean Stand in a Circle, 5 Whys, and a Call Center An effective exercise

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Author Archive Some time ago, while consulting for a huge call center, I took a group of customer service agents for a little gemba walk and a quick activity to demonstrate a few lean fundamentals. What was scheduled for a 60-minute exercise turned out to be an experience that awakened the agents, several of whom went on to create reports based on Toyota's A3 problem-solving method and on the plan-do-check-act cycle (a method for learning and improvement developed by Walter Shewhart), that added value to the customer and the company. Stand in a circle I gave each of the customer service agents a pencil and a piece of paper. We then stood quietly in the middle of the call center for five minutes. There was no talking. We wrote down as many things as we could observe during those five minutes. Instruction With a white board, still in the middle of the contact center, I had one of the agents create a tally of the items observed. I showed the team how to create a simple tick sheet and then I asked them, “What’s a good way to visualize this data?” Like what you're reading? Log in or create FREE account to continue Enter your Quality Digest username OR email address. Enter your Quality Digest password. By logging in you agree to receive communication from Quality Digest. Privacy Policy Remember me Create a FREE account Forgot My Password Quality Digest does not charge readers for its content. We believe that industry news is important for you to do your job, and Quality Digest supports businesses of all types. However, someone has to pay for this content. And that’s where advertising comes in. Most people consider ads a nuisance, but they do serve a useful function besides allowing media companies to stay afloat. They keep you aware of new products and services relevant to your industry. All ads in Quality Digest apply directly to products and services that most of our readers need. You won’t see automobile or health supplement ads.



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Quality Digest Discuss About The Author Pete Abilla Pete Abilla wirtes the blog shmula, where he gives his take on technology, business, operations, The Toyota Production System, lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, Queueing Theory, operations research, building software, the customer experience (especially ethnography and design thinking and word-of-mouth marketing). Abilla is an adjunct professor at Brigham Young University, where he teaches students at the Marriott School of Management in operations and supply chain management. He is also active in the business and technology community in Utah and was peer-nominated as a v|100 for 2009, a recognition awarded to influential business leaders in the state of Utah. He earned his undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University in Philosophy and Mathematics and my graduate degree from The University of Chicago in Operations Research. He's a green-thumb-challenged gardner, a wannabe cook, and happily married to his High School sweetheart.