Lessons from my Time in a Hospital

p.s. all the images in this post were taken through a hospital window

Not me, but I've had to spend several days and nights at a variety of hospitals with family members. It's amazing what can come out of days with no specific goal in mind but the restoring to health of a loved one.

Uhm, there is a likelihood some of you might not be able to relate, just follow along with the lessons, you'll take one or two away with you I know.

Without much ado, let's dive into the lessons

• Patience is indeed a virtue. In one of the hospitals, they had it on the wall at the foyer - Patients must be patient. It is more than that actually. Let's just say that until you are literally at death's door, there is no point but to be patient.

Work tip: when working with people whether in a corporate environment or in business - unless you are about to lose your life, be patient with the other person cos your frustrations are really not their concern.

• Be nice always. The Bible says 'in season and out of season'. I agree. When we first got to the hospital and after admission, the nurses acted like they were doing us a favour, however, there was to be a surgery so all we cared about was the successful outcome of that so didn't pay much mind. The airconditioning and the bell weren't working, the room needed to be cleaned again, the bathroom was less than sanitary. Let's just say that graciousness was our watchword and by the end of our stay, nurses and cleaners were literally licking our feet.

Work tip: it doesn't hurt to be on your best behaviour with colleagues, superiors and even subordinates. Remember, to influence anyone, there has to be a positive interest in you as a person and an emotional investment of some sort on your part. Besides, what does it benefit you to be an unliked person in the workplace and carry bad vibes around?

• The little people are powerful too. You'll be surprised how much influence the supposed 'little people' have. Let me give you one example of this while at the hospital, the first time we left the hospital, one of the cleaners got the take-home drugs together in under 30 minutes and helped make sure the guy in charge of bills payment attended to me in less than 15 minutes. The second time we were leaving the hospital, she had gone home and we waited over 2 hours to get the take-home drugs.

Work tip: no matter who they are - cleaner, driver, guard, anyone really, be nice to them. The one thing they'll cherish more than anything else is when you respect them as a fellow human. You'll be surprised how easy they'll make your work and your day as a whole.

• Being warm & pleasant is a gift that keeps on giving. When we first arrived at the hospital, the nurses were strong-faced, the General Manager was being a bully, the cleaners were intolerant and nothing was working. However, we remained pleasant, courteous (please & thank you aplenty) and warm to them. When we were leaving, we gave them all tips for being helpful in their own way during our stay there. By the time we came the second time, they were all smiles, sought to be helpful, pleasant and downright friendly. The GM gave us his number and the security guards literally guarded our car that was parked there day and night.

Work tip: I understand that you may not always feel like it, but a truly warm smile goes a long way to warm someone's heart and reassures them that you have no ill-feelings towards them. Remember, you can't control how people behave towards you, but you can control your attitude towards how they behave towards you.

 "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou.

A hospital might be an unlikely place to learn a lesson but they were lessons well learned. Do you agree?