Top 10 Ways to Lead More Effectively with Humour (part 2)
Humor and laughter provide so many rewards. Studies have shown 20 seconds of laughter yield the same benefits as 3 minutes of hard rowing.
A Robert Half International study reported 84% of executives believe a worker with a good sense of humor does a better job! Incorporating humor more effectively in the workplace allows you to defuse difficult situations, reduce stress, create attention for new ideas, build rapport, and be a more approachable and memorable leader.
With those benefits, it behooves you to hone your workplace comedic skills. So in the tradition of David Letterman, here are the last 5 of the top 10 ways to more effectively lead with humor!
#5. Know the Rules and Boundaries
There are blatant humor no-no’s in the workplace which are quite acceptable for an onstage comedian. At work, avoid harmful practical jokes or pranks, heavily sarcastic comments, and humor rooted in religious, sexual, ethnic, or racial themes. Think you know your work setting well enough to tread on this dangerous ground? Here’s some advice: DON’T. The way questionable humor will be perceived by a workplace audience is too much of an unknown to take big risks when your career is at stake.
Use this checkpoint to actually see if your intended workplace humor is SAFE. To pass the SAFE test, all of these statements need to be true regarding your joke, comment, or image:
#4. Get over Yourself
Effective leaders don’t take themselves too seriously. They’re comfortable laughing at themselves and letting others be funny as well. Leaders should become adept at appropriately using self-deprecating humor, i.e., self-directed humor downplaying your own talents, stature, or accomplishments
You don’t want to use self-deprecating humor on simply any topic, however. It’s most effectively & appropriately used in:
#3. Need Humor Ideas? Just Look Around
The workplace is filled with situations lending themselves to comedy. Humor springs from exaggeration, wordplay, misunderstandings, ambiguity, contradictions, paradoxes, pain, and inconsistencies. If you work in any type of business or organizational setting, there are plenty of these situations to go around!
As a leader, it’s your role to use the proper oppotunities to encourage and employ humor successfully by ensuring that:
If you’re looking for more joy and levity in leadership, surround yourself with joyful people. These are people who are funny, easily spur laughter, and routinely cheer people up through their presence.
Cultivate relationships with these types of people. Spend time with them, learn from their successful uses of humor, and emulate elements of their approaches that work for you.
Beyond basking in the joy these people create, select 3 or 4 of them to be an informal comedy team. As your comedy team, solicit their opinions to help you generate and refine humor ideas. They can also provide perspectives on potentially questionable humor material that makes it through the SAFE test, but still feels like it might not be right for a workplace audience.
#1. Dive into the Fun
Ultimately, the most important part of successfully using humor as a leader is actually sharing it in the workplace. Here are a few final tips to keep in mind:
A Robert Half International study reported 84% of executives believe a worker with a good sense of humor does a better job! Incorporating humor more effectively in the workplace allows you to defuse difficult situations, reduce stress, create attention for new ideas, build rapport, and be a more approachable and memorable leader.
With those benefits, it behooves you to hone your workplace comedic skills. So in the tradition of David Letterman, here are the last 5 of the top 10 ways to more effectively lead with humor!
#5. Know the Rules and Boundaries
There are blatant humor no-no’s in the workplace which are quite acceptable for an onstage comedian. At work, avoid harmful practical jokes or pranks, heavily sarcastic comments, and humor rooted in religious, sexual, ethnic, or racial themes. Think you know your work setting well enough to tread on this dangerous ground? Here’s some advice: DON’T. The way questionable humor will be perceived by a workplace audience is too much of an unknown to take big risks when your career is at stake.
Use this checkpoint to actually see if your intended workplace humor is SAFE. To pass the SAFE test, all of these statements need to be true regarding your joke, comment, or image:
- I can Say/Show this to my mother.
- It wouldn’t Anger me if I were the butt of the joke.
- This wouldn’t trigger an FCC violation
- Everyone in the audience will be able to get it.
#4. Get over Yourself
Effective leaders don’t take themselves too seriously. They’re comfortable laughing at themselves and letting others be funny as well. Leaders should become adept at appropriately using self-deprecating humor, i.e., self-directed humor downplaying your own talents, stature, or accomplishments
You don’t want to use self-deprecating humor on simply any topic, however. It’s most effectively & appropriately used in:
- Situations where you’re comfortable & self-confident
- Areas where your credibility & competence are clearly established
- Ways that fit your known personality & sensibilities
#3. Need Humor Ideas? Just Look Around
The workplace is filled with situations lending themselves to comedy. Humor springs from exaggeration, wordplay, misunderstandings, ambiguity, contradictions, paradoxes, pain, and inconsistencies. If you work in any type of business or organizational setting, there are plenty of these situations to go around!
As a leader, it’s your role to use the proper oppotunities to encourage and employ humor successfully by ensuring that:
- Your humor makes others feel good about themselves.
- Hurtful fun isn’t made of those less tenured than you in the organization.
- You don’t use humor when agitated since it can lead to apparent meanness.
If you’re looking for more joy and levity in leadership, surround yourself with joyful people. These are people who are funny, easily spur laughter, and routinely cheer people up through their presence.
Cultivate relationships with these types of people. Spend time with them, learn from their successful uses of humor, and emulate elements of their approaches that work for you.
Beyond basking in the joy these people create, select 3 or 4 of them to be an informal comedy team. As your comedy team, solicit their opinions to help you generate and refine humor ideas. They can also provide perspectives on potentially questionable humor material that makes it through the SAFE test, but still feels like it might not be right for a workplace audience.
#1. Dive into the Fun
Ultimately, the most important part of successfully using humor as a leader is actually sharing it in the workplace. Here are a few final tips to keep in mind:
- Practice your humor in appropriate, low-risk settings to find out what works before trying it out with a bigger audience.
- Signal a laughing opportunity through your words, actions, and tone. It’s also a good practice to give people “permission” to laugh in the workplace.
- Finally, be earnest in using humor; don’t focus on laughs so much as lightening and adding fun into work settings.
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Source:Mike Brown, author of "Take the No out of InNOvation.'
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