March 26, 2008. Chevy Chase, Maryland. Shopping.

I had nothing to do with it, but my hats took on a life of their own. On the other hand, I had a part of my tea ritual. Every day since I have been a Manager, around four o'clock, I serve tea to the agents. They like it. I have become the tea manager. From the standpoint of the agent, it is a welcome break from the phone and a bit if a pick-me-up at the end of a day. For a Manager, the tea drill is invaluable. I get to go away from the phone and say hello to my favorite people. Remember, the agents make the house sales where we receive the commission who pay our bills, including my salary. So anything I can do to make the agents easier is worthwhile. As a side effect of this tea service, I have received many many tea objects. I have tea trays, tea aprons, tea scarves, tea plates, tea shirts, tea pictures, tea earrings, tea pins, tea bowls, tea tea towels, all given to me.

My system for serving the tea has changed over the years. Now I serve tea using a most wonderful tea cart, given to me by my co-manager, Carole Maclure. It is one of those gifts you never knew you needed until you received the gift. Now it is invaluable. It also looks very elagent. I make the tea in the kitchen in a coffee pot and I push my cart around the office handing out the tea and buiscuits. Right now I have lots of Girl Guide cookies donated by the agents. Then I take the elevator to the agents on the second floor. In the olden days, I used chine mugs, but now I use styrofoam cups. The system is easy and takes about one hour of my time. We have a good thing going here.

Over the years I have taught many managers about how to run an effecient office. I always speak about the tea routine. To my knowledge, not one manager has implemented this drill. I often am called over the years about all the other systems and suggestions that they have found useful and productive. No on does the tea drill. I ask about it, and the answer is always the same. They just can not bring themselves to serve tea. It is amazing to me.

This is how it started. I was a new manager. My training was education, not managing, so I read lots of books, one of which was 'The Walk Around Management System'. I tried walking around the office, just to see how everyone was getting on, but only thing that happenened was that the agents stopped talking on the phone until I passed them by. Now I was the new manager, who used to be a very hard working agents, and I think they thought they were wasting time. But I really did want to know how they were doing, so I decided to serve the agents tea. It was an instantanious success. And I by serving the agents, in turn were served by the agents, in that I could sense their moods and their anxieties. And of course, many times the questions about strategy are asked in this informal setting, questions that might never be asked if the agent has to come to my office. For me, the Manager, the tea service daily is invaluable. For the agent, it is just a pleasant time in their day.

I started this routine for my own purposes. But no one knows but me....until now!!