An Analysis Of Todd Van Beck's Funeral Service

The keys to service: Changing the ‘authority’ mindset written by Todd Van Beck, CFuE focuses on breaking the authoritarian mannerisms that were once prevalent in the funeral service industry. Mr. Van Beck tells of his boss, who exemplified the dictatorial funeral director mentality and points out that while this practice was accepted in the past, it is no longer the case. In fact, such practices are the antithesis of what families expect from the funeral industry. Nevertheless, some funeral directors are prone to an authoritarian attitude, and Mr. Van Beck explores the ways in which funeral directors can unknowingly abuse their power. The two examples covered in the article are preoccupation with self and issues with questioning techniques

This is actually one of my great weaknesses, so the examples in the article and suggestions that Mr. Van Beck offers will be very useful in the future. For example, the author discusses “the preoccupation with one’s self” (Van Beck, 2017) essentially describing it as directing your thoughts inward and concentrating on how you are being perceived by the family as opposed to actually listening to what they are saying. I definitely agree that this is a problem even if the preoccupation comes from a place of concern for them family. For instance, if a new funeral director is so concerned about having the perfect arrangement conference and is preoccupied with “not messing up” it will send the same message as if the funeral director is simply going through the motions and that he if she does not really care about the family. This is a huge problem on which I am constantly working. I have a terrible habit of constantly focusing on myself and how well I am performing, if I am saying or doing the right thing or just trying so hard to fix things that I take over and stop listening to the person asking for help. This personality flaw is especially prominent in scenarios in which another person is in crisis. I definitely have work on myself in this regard if I want to be effective in my career. Next, Mr. Van Beck’s article discusses the problem of bombarding the family with questions and how such a practice turns questions into “a weapon” (Van Beck, 2017). Included in this portion of the article is a list of problematic questions. Further, the author suggests that a quick test of your questioning strategy is to ask yourself if you feel that your questioning methodology is harmful. If you feel that it might be, then you must conclude your practices are, in fact harmful. I never would have thought that asking if the family needed more time or if they did not know specific