How a hospital visit could help your career...

My dad came home after a weeklong stay in the hospital. Thank God!

To say that he was just a bit grouchy throughout his ordeal of being prodded, pinched and poked is definitely an understatement. And while all the nurses and doctors thought him to be just as sweet as pie...I was the unfortunate recipient who got to experience the Hyde to his Jekyll. Normally my father is not like this...but the combination of pain and lock down in a hospital room certainly brought out his alter ego. By mid week I was one thinly, fraying nerve away from being at my wit's end. I needed to find a way to turn this trial into something positive, at the very least a mechanism to maintain my sanity. As cliché as it may sound, I had to turn the lemons into lemonade.

As I sat in the room with my father, who was undergoing a bone scan and could not move, I had a moment to evaluate the different scenarios that had already taken place-- all in the matter of maybe 45 minutes-- and found parallels that occur in the workplace. Oh, but I didn't stop there. I tapped into that file cabinet I mentioned in an earlier post, and pulled out advice I had garnered from the experts--executive recruiters, human resource personnel, and managers to name a few--that I interviewed in the past.

Scenario #1: I brought him socks, underwear, and the toiletries he requested. All wrong. It went something like this:

"Here you go, dad..."

That's me.

"No, no, no. I said the old ones, not the new ones. These are for my trip. I told you to get them from the second drawer in the dresser, not from the first drawer in the armoire."

That's him.

The conversation goes back and forth between who said what and who didn't say what for about another two minutes. We're both a bit stubborn.

Lesson: C.Y.A. big time! Don't depend on your memory. Keep detailed notes on work-related conversations. Document what's said, especially if you're working on a multifaceted project with a number of players. Use whatever means you can to keep track, whether that's a time- management program, memos, emails, whatever, without stepping on toes or seeming completely anal-retentive.

Scenario #2: I brought him bananas. He normally eats one a day as part of his regimen. I thought I was doing a good thing...being thoughtful even. He scowled. He didn't want them.

Lesson: It's great to anticipate your supervisor's expectations, just don't convince yourself that you know what they are. Assess and reassess goals and benchmarks on a regular basis.

Scenario #3: As I mentioned earlier, he was really, really grouchy. The stress of losing a major client, having a father in the hospital and my own three-day migraine (and counting), left me a bit off-kilter. I wanted to cry.

Lesson: Toughen up! Thin skin and emotional responses are ingredients for disaster. There will always be someone or something that will try to throw you off your game.

Thank God for my dad. He makes me a better person!