The Walkabout^® Method gets its name from my working with an Australian vice president of operations. Every morning we’d have coffee and then he would say, “Mate, I’ve got to go do my walkabout.” He would walk through his facility and check every area. He was spectacular as a manager. This led to the third trait of effective managers, “they are better at assessing the operation for correctness, consistency, and capability on a daily basis.”

To guarantee an effective call center, our center should be checked daily. In Australia, a walkabout is a wandering stroll to see the countryside. In our context, we are wandering in a controlled and disciplined way to assure a correct, consistent, and capable call center.

To support this method, we developed the tool called the Walkabout. The Walkabout^® provides the roadmap and metrics test the knowledge base. Knowledge checklists for all associates must be built from the metrics to effectively run the center.

In my books Designing Effective Call Centers and The Executive Guide to Six Sigma Call Centers, I explain the building and use of the Walkabout^®. To support your design efforts, below you will find a Walkabout® PDF file that you can download.