3 minute read
HR - Laughter in the Workplace
HUMAN RESOURCES
Transition to Business
By Paul Falcone
The Big Benefits of Laughter in the Workplace
July is the month celebrating the Declaration of Independence, and every employer wants to hire new staff members that are independent, accountable, high performing, and achievement focused. Do you know one of the best ways of getting there? Laughter. Seriously. Humor drives camaraderie, teamwork, and trust better than just about anything else. And when workers feel comfortable in their skin and supported by one another, they perform at a higher level naturally.
They say “Laughter is the best medicine” for a reason. A healthy workplace culture known for humor and lightheartedness produces incredible benefits, including:
• Creating an atmosphere of levity and a sense of perspective that can dissolve tension and, in turn, protect us from stress at work and improve our physical and mental health
• Keeping your team connected and bonded, especially when you’re facing challenging times, so that people are more inclined to have others’ backs • Making team members more open to change, as the very act of laughing releases feel-good chemicals that enhance concentration and creativity
• Driving greater innovation because workers who relax around each other and benefit from a playful culture are less concerned about making mistakes and open to taking risks—a foundation for finding more creative and innovative solutions
A hint of self-deprecating humor can also be a useful tool for leaders and other employees to make themselves more approachable. In fact, when leaders and employees share a certain level of self-effacing banter, employees tend to gain even more professional respect for leaders—a counterintuitive finding for leaders who are afraid to show weakness. Moreover, research suggests that people who engage in more conversational humor with colleagues feel happier and experience higher job satisfaction. But how do you incorporate humor into the corporate world?
Many of the ideas below will depend on your own personality and willingness to adopt a broader spirit of fun, but here are some places to start:
1. Smile: That’s it, and it’s that simple. Ask your team to just smile more. That’s an order. 2. Set up Eat & Greets: Start a lunch bunch and get out for a daily walk or watch your favorite TV show (especially The Office, which might make for parallel laughter) 3. Organize a happy hour with your co-workers once a week 4. Play Tell the Truth: Gather trivia about the people on your team; send out a mapping and matching quiz to see who can correctly guess all of the matches. 5. Picture This: Photoshop headshots of your team onto a picture of superheroes or celebrities. Use these avatars in all your PowerPoint presentations. 6. Get Cartoony: Start a cartoon board and post some funnies for all to enjoy (Dilbert, anyone?) 7. Showcase Your Kids: Create a “Look at what my kid made!” or “Could you imagine my kid did this?” mural for employees to share their kids’ creations and peccadillos 8. Learn a New Language: If you work internationally, learn a few words and phrases of a language of one of your clients; surprise your team with it in your next meeting 9. Learn More English: Pick a word of the day or week, make sure it’s obscure and esoteric, and ask everyone to create a funny sentence using it 10. Be Creative: Brainstorm your own unique way of bringing humor to work. It’s worth the added effort.
Note that many of these exercises work just as well for remote teams. Presentations and meetings are great opportunities for you to add a little entertainment value to keep your team engaged. With an increasingly distributed workforce, virtual team building activities have become an important measure for cultivating camaraderie and boosting motivation amongst remote employees. And with remote work here to stay, managing the needs of a remote team is basically equal to managing the needs of the future workforce. Let laughter get you there much faster as your key strategic leadership tool.
You can connect with Paul on LinkedIn at
www.linkedin.com/in/paulfalcone1
Paul Falcone (www.PaulFalconeHR.com) is a human resources executive and bestselling author on hiring, performance management, and leadership development.
