Who ever said that professional = serious. The case for laughter in the workplace

A RIDDLE: ​

It’s the best medicine, and we take less and less of it as we age.   

ANSWER: Laughter, of course.

Research tells us that we laugh less and less after age 23. Is it a coincidence that, for many college graduates, it’s around that time that they enter the workplace full-time? Depending on the culture of your work environment, you may avoid humor all together. Fear of being perceived as unprofessional or disrespectful can make us stiff, hyper-correct, and overly-serious. This phenomenon has been called the “humor cliff.”
 
Join me in a movement to bring back the laughter!
 
Book Club this month dove into the book Humor, Seriously, by Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas. This book builds the business case for laughter in the workplace, and it’s pretty compelling. In a nutshell, humor at work increases our sense of connection and generates more creative ideas.
 
So how do we inject fun back into the workday?
 
There’s no need to take a comedy class, memorize jokes, or dress like a clown. It’s not performative humor; it’s about levity—which is much more simple and much more accessible. I rounded up a few fun examples:

• Employee awards are a great way to get spunky and creative. For example, create an award of white tube socks to someone who “knocks your socks off”—make this a weekly or monthly recognition.
• Bringing levity to a group meeting or training can open people up and allow them to share more about real challenges. To set the tone from the start, one can share a quick story in your introduction. It may be about an experience from the weekend, the weather, or a show you watched the night before. It’s a way of modeling humor and giving others permission to lighten up.
• One book club participant manages to weave in this statement during interviews, “You’re only perfect when you are born and when on a job interview” to help the interviewee relax a little.
• Inside jokes are a great way to build levity at work. The key to generating them is noticing something, and then sharing it. Years ago, back in the days of dressing for work, one of my colleagues forgot to change into her dress shoes and, after a 1.5 hour commute, arrived at work in fuzzy slippers. You better believe we milked that for months!
• Consider the physical space in your office. At book club, someone mentioned an organization that calls the conferences room different business buzz words such as, “Let’s unpack this.”
• A ‘bad-ideas brainstorm’ can get the whole room laughing, and it can also truly support risk management as you think ahead to what might derail a project or initiative. Try it with your most serious PMP-certified colleague!

 
Modeling levity is important at home, too. My husband and I have always made it a point to laugh together. My family loves to watch shows such as Impractical Jokers. We have been known to invent games such as “soap soccer” (which involves a tarp and soapy water, however it’s not recommended) and balloon tennis (turns out you can hit a balloon VERY hard with a racket, and it won’t break - great for releasing some stress too!). Whether your children are toddlers or teenagers, laughing together, and showing your kids that you can laugh at yourself, is a great way to connect.
 
The bottom line is that levity takes the pressure off. You don’t need to be a stand-up comic to tell jokes. A little laughter can go a long way toward strengthening relationships at work and getting everyone in the right mindset for a productive day in the office, and beyond.