Maggie Klenke Named As The First Recipient of the SWPP Lifetime Achievement Award

Maggie Klenke photo

Maggie Klenke

SWPP has announced Maggie Klenke as the first recipient of the SWPP Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes an individual who has shown outstanding leadership in the workforce management industry.

Maggie Klenke is one of the founders of The Call Center School (now retired) and was an active industry consultant, assisting contact center clients in development of strategic and tactical plans, technology applications, forecasting and scheduling optimization, service level analysis, and overall management issues.  Maggie teaches seminars on a wide variety of call center topics and has been a popular speaker at industry conferences in the US and abroad.

Maggie has written frequently for the industry press.  She has also co-authored the five textbooks that support the Call Center Manager curriculum at the University of Phoenix, as well as Call Center Staffing – The Complete Practical Guide to Workforce Management, Business School Essentials for the Call Center Leader, Hiring and Developing the Workforce Management Team, and Team WFM: Building a Collaborative Process for Contact Center Staffing

Maggie is also an advisor to SWPP and the Quality Assurance and Training Connection (QATC) – two membership associations that support the specialized personnel in contact centers.  She writes articles for the associations’ newsletters and delivers sessions at the annual conferences. She co-authored the industry-accepted SWPP certification testing program. Maggie often serves as the “Workforce Wizard,” answering challenging questions from SWPP members.

From 1987-1999, Maggie was Vice President of Consulting at TCS Management Group. During her tenure at TCS, she was responsible for a growing consulting practice and the development of Call Center University, which quickly developed into one of the premier training programs available for call center professionals.

She is an honors graduate of Loretto Heights College (now Regis University).  She is also one of the first to receive the CIAC industry certification as a Call Center Management Consultant.  She has also served as an examiner for the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence, a statewide program of the national Malcolm Baldridge awards.

Maggie was nominated for this prestigious award by Todd Gladden of PlanMen.  Here is the information submitted with his nomination form:

“In my many years of association with Maggie, she has always stood out as one that exemplified a life of achievement in the field of Workforce Management.

From one of the first WFM training classes I ever attended, Maggie was able to educate myself and others on the fundamental principles of WFM, while intertwining the technical aspects of the system.  Not only did she relay the technical components and steps of using the system in her training courses, but she understood that if you didn’t know the ‘why’ behind the buttons you pushed, the learning would be superficial.  She has continued to use that approach to WFM education to this day.

“From her articles, books and speaking sessions, countless others have grown to appreciate the art and science of WFM.  She continues to draw high praises in her speaking sessions, and accepts this praise with the greatest of humility. Although ‘semi-retired,’ she is constantly asked to provide her insight and knowledge to articles, webinars and conference sessions.

“With Maggie’s knowledge and leadership in the industry, she has certainly impacted the advancement of WFM technology.  Her influence and experience has been used by many of the leading WFM technology vendors to better their products and expand their offerings.  From Forecasting to Real-Time Management and Reporting, there are not many systems you can view that don’t have some of Maggie’s touch in them.

“Lastly, with Maggie’s influence and guidance, the WFM profession has gone from a small, back-office function in the operations to one of a strategic partner, critical to the achievement of business, customer, and employee goals.  From her involvement in SWPP since it’s inception, to her relentless cheerleading for all of us in the profession, she has certainly earned a lifetime of thanks from any of us that call ourselves Workforce Managers. It is my honor to nominate her for the SWPP Workforce Management Lifetime Achievement Award.”

For this award, candidates are evaluated in terms of major contributions to the field of workforce management throughout their careers such as:

  • Service to the profession through SWPP with contributions to regional meetings, newsletter articles, tips of the week, web seminars, and/or the annual conference
  • Leadership in the WFM industry and/or SWPP
  • Contributions to the education of WFM professionals
  • Shaping of WFM technology

The award is for lifetime achievement rather than for a single contribution, and nominees should have a minimum of 25 years of distinguished service to workforce management.