Lessons from the funeral home

My mom FaceTimed me from the funeral home last weekend.

My parents were planning their funerals and wanted me involved.

My family and I have been having conversations like this a lot since my grandma died a few years ago, and even more since my grandpa died a few months ago.

But after that particular phone call, I realized something I hadn't thought about before:

All of my parents' planning around their own deaths was a deep act of love for my brother and I.

My mom and dad won’t be here when those plans need to be carried out. It’ll be on my brother and me.

And instead of leaving us guessing and scrambling over details while grieving, they’re documenting everything for us ahead of time.

When my grandma died, I realized how much of the family matriarch she was and things felt... lost for a while. Our extended family felt like chaos for a while.

The only reason it didn’t turn into a total disaster was because my mom knew where everything was: The will, all her paperwork, passwords to accounts, etc.

This gave our family so much space to grieve and make other hard decisions, like what would happen to grandpa next.

For years, my mom has reminded me where her passwords are written down (even though I set her up with a password manager!), where her will is, even weird places she hides cash.

After my grandpa passed in January, the “who does what when one parent dies" conversations ramped up.

(My brother will handles medical decisions and I handle the financial ones.)

I just got an email from my mom about their cremation info, so I assumed everything is now officially documented and all big decisions have been made:

even though (gaga willing), my parents will be alive another 50+ years).

I hesitate to talk about SOPs and documentation too much because... its kind of boring!

No one gets excited about standard operating procedures.

But documenting your processes is an act of love.

You’re writing down instructions for the moments you won’t be in the room.

💓when you’re on vacation.

💓when someone is sick.

💓when someone quits.

💓 For when your team simply needs an answer and you’re deep in something else.

Your team works hard to bring your vision to life, and documentation gives them clarity and confidence.

It gives them the ability to take care of your clients without waiting on you.

That’s love and kindness!

🤟🏼 Your SOPs tell your team: "I care enough about you not to leave you guessing"

And it might be one of the most generous things you do as a leader.

If you want help building that kind of clarity in your agency (the kind that keeps things running whether you're in the room or not) that's exactly what I do!