Recreation and Humor

In the national bestseller Flow, University of Chicago psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi suggests two key factors determine our overall happiness:

• Our relations with other people
• How we experience our work

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You can improve both areas by bringing humor to work each day.

Harvard Business Review (September 2003) reports that executives with a sense of humor climb the corporate ladder more quickly and earn more money than their counterparts.

Stu Robertshaw,Humor At Work: How To Be Funny Without Being A Jerk Articles a University of Wisconsin professor emeritus of education and psychology, cites a study in which a firm experienced a 21 percent decrease in staff turnover and a 38 percent decrease in Friday absenteeism after incorporating humor into the workplace.

And in another study, management professor David Abramis of California State University, Long Beach, determined that employees who have fun on the job are more productive and creative; are better decision makers and team players; and have fewer absentee, sick and late days.

A sense of humor offers many job benefits:

• Reduces stress
• Stimulates creativity
• Boosts motivation and morale
• Strengthens teams
• Makes meetings more effective
• Facilitates open communication
• Improves customer services
• Improves the bottom line

A good laugh reduces blood pressure, increases heart rate, massages internal organs and reduces the levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the blood. It boosts blood flow to your brain, which means you learn more, forget less and feed your curiosity.

Humor also keeps your life in balance, allowing you to more effectively juggle personal goals, family commitments and work demands. You’ll maintain your sanity and perspective as you reduce tension in stressful situations and rise above crises.

Humor and Creativity

Humor encourages creativity, allowing you to view challenges from new angles. You’ll enjoy playing with a variety of ideas and making innovative associations.

You’ll be more willing to step back and observe, often with a beginner’s mindset. As you begin to search for the exaggerations that make something funny, you use the same parts of your brain that help you create new solutions to old problems.

Humor and Managing Change

For the 99.4% of us who are continually wrestling with major workplace changes, humor can make your professional life much less frightening. It encourages out-of-the-box thinking and flexible attitudes — two important traits in people who manage change successfully.

Motivation and Morale

Workplace humor keeps the mood light and maintains a climate of positive energy. When morale is high, coworkers get along better, people enthusiastically do their work, and employees are more committed to goals.

Successful organizations celebrate milestones on their journey to achieve goals. That’s why many use fun and even wacky ways to reward employees for a job well done.

Humor Strengthens Teams

Teams that laugh together work well together. Humor breaks down stereotypes and promotes a sense of unity. It can build company traditions and a sense of shared history, which reminds employees they’re playing for the same team.

In meetings, humor encourages participation, minimizes conflicts, helps people retain information, opens up dialogue and sparks creativity. It livens up dry business correspondence, softens authoritative messages and improves the delivery of presentations.

Including your customers in the fun helps you connect with them on a human level, helps ensure loyalty and makes service memorable.

More managers are embracing their sense of humor as a way to build rapport with staff, communicate more effectively, show their human side more openly, develop trust and foster a supportive workplace climate. And as we succeed at what we enjoy doing, laughter improves the bottom line.

The Dark Side of Humor

Joking and sarcasm will earn you a few chuckles, but there’s often an element of negativity in funny remarks.

You must avoid crossing the fine line that transforms comic relief into hurtful jabs. As with anything in life, execution can elevate or sabotage your intentions. A gentle poke at someone’s weak spot may be just that, but perception is in the eye of the person receiving the poke.

Often, humor falls flat. Even worse than not being funny is inadvertent destructiveness. The problem occurs when we fail to recognize how what we say in jest can turn negative. We assume the recipient knows we’re “just kidding,” but research shows:

• Nasty interactions have a 500% greater impact on one’s mood than positive interactions.
• It takes numerous encounters with positive people to offset the loss of energy and happiness a jerk can cause in a single hurtful episode.

Laughter can also work against you if you diminish others or offend people by laughing at what they consider too crude or sacred. People rarely enjoy being the butt of jokes. This is why it’s best to laugh at yourself or an immediate situation you face at work, as opposed to others, their backgrounds and idiosyncrasies.

But be careful to avoid laughing at your own career competence, as those around you want to see courage and confidence. Otherwise, you risk undermining your position, and people will have a hard time taking you seriously.

How to Add Humor at Work

Timing can be everything when it comes to humor. Follow these guidelines to increase your chances of getting a few chuckles after your next one-liner:

1. Watch for a playful mood before you tell a joke.
2. Keep your stories short and simple.
3. Laugh at your own jokes when a room goes silent. It’s contagious.
4. Link laughter to something people already know: place, work or climate.
5. Avoid laughing at other cultures; instead, laugh at your own.
6. Laugh at your own ego.
7. Listen to people who make you laugh, and mimic a few tactics they use.

Stress abounds today’s work environment-moody bosses & co-workers, repetitive tasks & unpredictable market pressures. Humor can help maintain a healthy balance between the pressure & seriousness which comes from high stakes jobs & a competitive marketplace.

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Many of today’s work environments are rife with moody bosses and co-workers,Laugh and the Work World Laughs With You Articles repetitive tasks and unpredictable market pressures. Stress abounds. Managers often tell me they can’t afford the time or cost for my humor workshops; how can they afford not to address workplace stress.
We know clinically that laughter and play have medicinal qualities, offering physical, psychological and physiological benefits as well. In the workplace, humor and fun can increase productivity, encourage creativity, enhance team building, and thus improve esprit de corps.

While we may not be able to control everything that happens to us in our jobs and work environments, we do have control over how we choose to react. I coach others how to create an environment which is safe and friendly, and use humor to help maintain a healthy balance between the pressure and seriousness which comes from high stakes jobs and a competitive marketplace. Remember that humor starts from within. Being able to laugh at your own foibles goes a long way toward creating a healthy work climate in which to flourish. The following are activities and strategies for you as individuals, workgroups and managers. Be creative and use these ideas to stimulate your own remedies to workplace stress.

– Adorn your work area with cartoons, headlines or funny photos which bring a smile to your face and visiting co-workers’. Whether you’re surrounded by your favorite Pez dispensers childhood, or wry cartoons that speak to your tastes, let your work area comfort and humor you while taking some of the edge off the standard office decor.

– Tap a co-worker to be your humor-partner. Bring a daily joke to share. Commiserate about funny workplace events. Keep each other buoyed with good cheer. When the chips are down your humor partner can chip away at your depression, and vice versa.

– Don’t think cubicles limit your humor options. I’ve seen shower curtains, umbrellas and other devices used effectively to set a light or semi-serious tone. For some, creativity flourishes behind their cubicle’s shower curtain. People tampering with your work area? Don’t get angry…protect it with yellow “Crime Scene” tape! – Subscribe to a humor website to be e-mailed a free daily or weekly humorous story, joke and anecdote. Sites such as www.netfunny.com/rhf/ or www.oraclehumor.com/ are two examples.

Are You Laughin’ At Me? One manager, known for his moodiness, acknowledged it with a “Mood-O-Meter” outside his door. Both he and his employees took turns forecasting his mood: from fire-breathing to variable clouds to periodic eruptions…proceed at your own risk. Don’t underestimate the power of self-effacing humor for making yourself more accessible and liked.

Room for Laughter. Some companies designate a room, work area or corner of their office as a romper room, where frolicking and silliness is allowed. Whether yours has a punching bag, games, a dartboard or foosball, it’s a room for letting off steam and taking a break from the grind.

Whine Not. Everyone loathes whiners yet we all need to blow off steam periodically. One group of creative trainers and their manager decreed Thursdays to be effective whining days. They self-policed themselves the rest of the week, making sure not to whine. Yet even their Thursday gripes had a departmental sanction and somehow seemed healthier. After all, they belly ached together. A ripple effect actually improved the morale of departments adjacent to theirs! Meting Out Humor. Many professionals approach meetings with trepidation. A dash of humor can make a difference. For regular meetings earmark one or two minutes each meeting for a humorous interlude. In one workgroup a “humor hand” rotates from meeting to meeting. Employees take turns setting a lighter tone to the meeting, insuring everybody is engaged. An anecdote, verbal or physical activity focuses the group on the task at hand and brings colleagues together in a spirit of fun.

When not to use Humor. Not all humor is good humor. Humor that hurts, ostracizes or is cruel will have a detrimental effect on others and you. Strive for humor that is inclusive, creative and captures our human essence. By now you know that sexist, racist, ageist jokes and crude humor are not only inappropriate, but can lead to sanctions, termination or even lawsuits. Be sensitive when telling jokes involving terminations, reductions in force (RIFs) and personal tragedies. Their hurt can linger long after the fact. . When in doubt…leave it out! Appropriate humor can make hard tasks easier, collaborations fun and certainly make workdays go faster. Laugh, and the work world laughs with you!

Although humor in the workplace can have beneficial effects, yet not all humor is good humor. However the challenge is to interject appropriate humor & fun into our serious jobs without hurting others or seriously undermining the company.

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Most agree that humor in the workplace can have beneficial effects. Yet not all humor is good humor. The challenge: how to interject appropriate humor and fun into our serious jobs without hurting others or seriously undermining the company. When used appropriately,Jest Practices: Best Practices for Humor in the Workplace Articles humor can work for you.

Humor that Uploads Also Uplifts Humor has the power to make people feel special. When you include people in fun it simultaneously improves morale, reduces stress and facilitates team building.

With the prevalence of telecommuting and workgroups scattered geographically, the challenge of furthering working relationships, bonding and building camaraderie is real. At one San Francisco Bay Area company a workgroup staged an elaborate Remote Baby Shower.

The expectant mother, who was out-of-state, called in for a pre-arranged conference call with her workgroup. When she did…surprise! Everyone was having a party in her honor. They uploaded digital photos of a decorated conference room and each other, and e-mailed sound files with well wishes. Everyone shared in the good cheer.

This creative use of technology brought employees closer to each other, figuratively if not literally. Humor That Brings People Together Workplaces are full of opportunities to use humor for the benefit of all.

Milestones are a natural place to employ humor. Dress like the recipient as a tribute during a surprise birthday party. Other celebrations to mark anniversaries, project completions or similar accomplishments are perfect opportunities to utilize humor. Even surviving certain projects is cause for celebration and fun. Holidays are another natural time to employ humor. Halloween is a time for contests to see who can best decorate conference rooms; for other companies the anniversary of their founding is cause for celebration. Silly speeches, skits and spoofs abound. And the Award Goes To…

Staging award ceremonies is a great way to have fun, recognize each other and revel in the shared work experience.

Whether the categories mimic those found at the Oscars, Emmys or Tonys, or are derivative, esprit de corps rises when the team laughs at itself and each other.

Best Supporting Actor, Best Impersonation of an Inanimate Object, Best Special Effects, Most Likely to Secede, or Lifetime Achievement Award.

Humor Is The Winning Ticket Pranks can alternately be uplifting or uprooting. A desktop publisher, on April Fools Day, adorned his co-workers cars’ windshields with mock yellow parking tickets, complete with envelopes for remittance. Upon closer inspection, these true-to-life replicas of tickets had whimsical offenses of significance to the recipients. The departmental joker’s ticket cited him for “excessive use of farce” and the hard charging corporate counsel’s infraction charged him with a “Failure to Yield.”

Of course the initiator of the gag was later cited for impersonating an officer. Everyone laughed at the spoof once they realized it was a joke. Judge Judy’s signature at the bottom of the ticket gave it away.

Pole Position A fast growing company didn’t have enough office space for full cubicles for its new hires. One unfortunate hire’s assigned cubicle had a giant pole in its midst.

To her credit she never complained.

Co-workers felt for her.

One night they hit the streets, collecting various fliers from telephone poles in their neighborhoods. The next day when the new hire reached her cubicle, the offending pole was now covered with notices about missing pets, renters seeking apartments, cheap movers for hire and even local GRE study groups.

Not only did the employee know her co-workers felt her frustration, it bonded them as well as they pulled together to help one of their own.

One Person’s Humor is Another Person’s Horror When targeting humor consider targeting yourself.

Everyone has a different idea of what’s funny and what’s not.

Many a well intentioned prank or joke has backfired.

One co-worker sent another a prank letter impersonating a local media figure. The recipient mistook it for real, interpreted it as harassment and called the FBI.

Oops!

The Benefits of Self-Effacing Humor When we make fun of ourselves it actually demonstrates our healthy outlook, showing we don’t take ourselves so seriously. As a result, we’re regarded as more approachable and down to earth. Don’t make fun of yourself excessively. Such humor loses its effectiveness with overuse.

Everyone from politicians to CEOs to Southwest Airlines flight attendants use self-deprecating humor – humor that makes fun of themselves – to get people laughing at, and consequently with them. You can too. While gallows humor may feel appropriate during layoffs and cutbacks, strive to employ humor that uplifts and taps universal themes for best results. Here’s to laughter!