Interpersonal Skills
Definitions
Wolfelt: “all interpersonal
relationships are either helpful,
neutral, or harmful”
 Johnson: “interpersonal skills are the
sum total of your ability to interact
effectively with other people”

Agree or Disagree?

Wolfelt: “unless families receive
consistently outstanding service right
now, funeral service as we know it will
not exist in thirty years”
Interpersonal Skills Within
Funeral Service

Wolfelt: “the public’s perception of
anyone who is connected with the
funeral home will be the very
perception of the funeral home as a
whole”

Agree or disagree?
Wolfelt’s Characteristics of
the Helping Funeral Director
“Empathy” (Cust. Service A-Z)
 1) empathy


2) respect

3) warmth and caring

4) genuineness
Helping Skills
Canine page 260
 Attending/Listening: “giving undivided
attention by means of verbal and nonverbal behavior
 Barriers to listening skills: Canine
page 257 – 259
 Winning Ways: page 126

Helping Skills (cont’d)

Paraphrasing: “expressing a thought
or idea in an alternate and sometimes
a shortened form”
Paraphrasing Exercise
Helping Skills (cont’d)
Clarifying: “the process of bring
vague content in the interaction into
clearer focus or understanding”
(Wolfelt)
 Perception Checking: “asking the
person for verification of your
understanding…..asking for feedback
about the accuracy of your listening”
(Wolfelt)

Helping Skills (cont’d)
Leading: “anticipating where the
person is going and responding with
an appropriately encouraging remark”
(Wolfelt)
 2 types of leading: indirect and direct

Helping Skills (cont’d)
Canine page 261
 Questioning: “a method of gaining
information and increasing
understanding” (Canine)
 2 purposes:

1) to obtain specific information
 2) to direct the person’s interaction
with you into more helpful areas

Open-ended Questions
allow the person to tell more about
what he/she might be thinking or
feeling
 help the person better understand
 focus on the feelings of the person


Open-ended questions are preferable
in most situations.
Helping Skills (cont’d)

Reflecting Feelings: “expressing in
fresh words the essential feelings
stated or strongly implied of the
person”
How is this helpful to the funeral
director?
Helping Skills (cont’d)

Informing: “sharing of facts
possessed by the funeral director”
(Wolfelt)
providing information that will allow
the person to make an informed
decision
 information must be usable to the
person receiving it

“Informing” Exercise



Break into groups of 2.
1 person will assume the role of FD
2nd person will be the client
*Each person will have a turn at both roles.
FD must address the following questions:
Why do I have to buy a vault?
Does my mother have to be embalmed?
Helping Skills (cont’d)

Summarizing: “a method of tying
together several ideas and feelings at
the end of a period of discussion or
the arrangement conference”
(Wolfelt)
How can this be helpful to the FD?