Measure Twice, Dig Once

In that order.

When preparing a grave, a major concern of mine is to make sure the grave plot is situated precisely so as to avoid digging through an existing grave.

I work in the St. Aidan's Memorial Garden, an ash cemetery 15x15 feet square. There is a small white cap on the surface of the lawn on each corner of the garden. Each grave plot is 18 inches square. The grave itself is a 12 inch square hole in the center of the plot. We can potentially have one hundred graves at one burial per plot, no stacking. If all the graves were to have been dug in one day it would like like a giant square waffle. The individual graves are unmarked so, as it is, the memorial garden appears as a nice section of the lawn with a single granite marker at one end.

There is a plat of the garden where we record the location, name and date of each plot. I consult the plat, the next of kin and the priest in an effort to reach consensus on which plot is most appropriate for the burial under consideration.

When the decision is made, I make a note of the selected plot and make detailed measurements. While measuring my first burial I acquired an appreciation of the carpenter's wisdom in the aphorism, "measure twice, cut once." Armed with measuring tape, T-square and yard stick I surveyed the site and staked out the perimeter of the plot and grave with 16 stakes in the ground connected in pairs with twine. I also prepared an 18 inch square of posterboard with a 12 inch square hole as a template for the grave.

I have learned that in a simple square cemetery, all those stakes are not necessary. My confidence level is now such that I rely primarily on the template and a single pair of stakes to situate the grave.

Clients

It helps to know for whom you are digging. Who is the RG's client?

On the surface, digging seems to be a rather simple affair, not much different from other landscape realted services like mowing, and so, the answer should likewise be simple enough.

So who IS the client when going about the process of diggin a grave? the next of kin? the priest? the family? the congregation? the church? the Lord? the living? the dead? God?

All of the above?

I turn to Edgar H. Schein to help sort this out. In his book Process Consultation Revisited: Building the Helping Relationship (1999), Schein offers these helpful thoughts as "Principle 5" of Process Consultation.

It is the Client Who Owns the Problem and the Solution

My job is to create a relationship in which the client can get help. It is not my job to take the client's problems onto my own shoulders, nor is it my job to offer advice and solutions for situation in which I do not live myself. The realith is that only the client has to live wit the consequences of the problme and the solution, so I must not take the monkey off the client's back.

These words are apropo to grave digging, the client has several issues pertaining to the recent death of a family member or close friend that are in most cases not yours. On the other hand, at the core, grave digging is not process consultation and you can advise your client vis-avis your experience and knowledge of preparing graves such as size of urn, consequences of rain, etc.

So it helps to know how and when to shift between the role of "simple" grave digger (where your "problem" is digging, period), grave and funeral preparation/diagnostic technician and the thoughtful helper you may wish to be throughout the whole process. Schein can shed light on all these issues. But enough digression. Back to our initial concern, "whither the client."

Again I turn to Schein:


The ambiguity of whom one is working with applies not only to consultants. The manager dealing with a group of subordinates or peers, the friend dealing with a neighbor family, and the teacher dealing with a class all have, in practice, the same issue - who exactly is the target of influence? Who needs what help? Who is seeking help? The [Process Consultation] philosophy in each case is the same, to try to be helpful, but, as we will see, the strategy and tactics will differ according to the client definition. Also, as the consultation process evolves over time, the question of who is really the client and what is the problem or issue being worked, becomes more and more complicated.


As with the consultant, manager, neighbor and teacher, the gravedigger too encounters a highly ambiguous and increasingly complicated set of issues when attempting to sort out from moment to whom these services apply. To simplify things, Schein defines for us basic types of clients:

Who? Basic Types of Clients

1. Contact Clients. The individual(s) who first contact the consultant with a request, question, or issue.
2. Intermediate Clients. The individuals or groups that get involved in various interviews, meetings, and other activities as the project evolves.
3. Primary Clients. The individual(s) who ultimately own the problem or issue being worked on; they are typically also the ones who pay the consulting bills or whose budget covers the consultation project.
4. Unwitting Clients. Members of the organization or client system above, below, and in lateral relationships to the primary clients who will be affected by interventions but who are not aware that they will be impacted.
5. Ultimate Clients. The community, the total organization, and occupation group, or any other group that the consultant cares about and whose welfare must be considered in any intervention that the consultant makes.
6. Involved "Non-Clients". Finally, one must note that in any change effort there may be individuals or groups whoare aware of what is going on, and who do not fit any of the above client definition, and whose interests may be to slow down or steop the helping effort. In any social and organizational setting there will be political issues, power plays, hidden agendas, and coniflicting goals that the helper must be aware of in planning and executing various interventions.

All emphasis and italics are Schein's.

The RG suggests that his fellow gravediggers read the whole chapter to fully understand these crucial dyanmics of contemporary gravedigger-client relations.

Schein concludes that "the most important oint to be made aout clients is that the consultant must always be clear who the client is at any gibven moment in time and must distinguish clearly among (them)..."

"Second, the consultant must always be aware that particularly the unwitting, ultimate, and nonclients may shift according to the level of problem being addressed..."

"Third, in either case, if the consultant feels that the next steps taken have imlications for others that the client may not have considerered, it is important to surface those implications and insure that the primary client is fully aware of them and willing to own them."


Again, all gravediggers: read this book.

Welcome to My Blog

I want to convey a communitarian "hello" in this initial post which I believe is quite possible but may take a bit time. Then again, things wouldn't be very communitarian at all here if I've gone to the other side before anyone reads this. Perhaps this blog will fill with posts and comments from various contributors; link to many blogs pertaining to themes of reflective practice, communitarinism, professionalism, ontology, conversations, intentionality, learning and all that. BTW, I'm no expert on most of those topics, but I think I can spell them. Oh yes, we (I'm not sure who 'we' are at this point) will also discuss the various nuances of grave digging and how all the above relates. Grave digging in this sense refers to contemporary practice at St. Aidan's Episcopal Church where we bury urns and ashes, not coffins and bodies. FYI, I am the memorial gardner for St. Aidan's and I've been chief grave digger and shovel washer on four occasions, if my memory is correct.

Anyway, back to the business of greeting you. (Yes you). Hi.

Before checking out, I must say why this blog happened. The Churchman just posted a story about me, St. Aidan's, my priest and a recent sermon of his. I was 'forced' to create a blog before commenting. Don't hold your breath waiting for my comment.

So welcome to my blog. I'll see you later, or as Emily says: Peace out.