Bring Humor to Work - It's Good for You and Business

Posted on January 27, 2016 by Ken Abrams, One of Thousands of Executive Coaches on Noomii.

The physical benefits of laughter are well documented. Laughter decreases stress hormones, boosts the immune system and raises the heart rate, bringing more blood and oxygen to the brain. It also enhances alertness and memory as well as the ability to learn and create.

Benefits for the Office
It makes sense that all that extra brain power and relaxation would lead to enhanced performance at work.
But laughter has other benefits around the office, which include:

Stronger teams. Laughter breaks down barriers, builds relationships and allows for better communication among coworkers. People with a sense of humor often have the ability to deal effectively with people and work issues, and they keep the severity of problems in perspective. Humor also enhances collaboration and team-building, creating a climate in which people feel motivated, energized and ready to contribute. The group that “plays” together stays together.

Happier workers. Laughter reduces workplace stress, and breaks up boredom and fatigue. Happier, more relaxed workers are able to better focus on tasks, make fewer errors and are more productive. They also stick around longer, are absent less and don’t burn out. Humor also helps to minimize resistance to change. It’s a good defense against the stress of reorganizing, downsizing, outsourcing and other sometimes unsettling workplace trends.

Creative problem-solvers. Humor unleashes creativity and divergent problem-solving. For example, good jokes guide us down one path only to suddenly track us onto another with the punch line. This breaks the habits of our thinking and leads to increased creativity.

How to Bring Humor to Work
Injecting humor into the workplace is not about entertaining others.
It’s not pranks, practical jokes or juvenile antics. Instead, it’s more of an attitude, a way of viewing and processing things.

Here are a few tips for bringing more humor into your work life:

Look for humor. The more you look, the more you’ll find and receive. Try to see things from an out-of-the-ordinary perspective.

Collect humor. Start a funny file with cartoons, jokes, comic strips and stories. Set aside a portion of your office or desk as a “humor corner.”

Encourage laughter in your department. Establish a humor bulletin board, keep a prop box, play games, encourage humor breaks.

Laugh at yourself. Whatever your title or role at work, laughing at yourself encourages trust and good will.

Use humor every day. Add humor to presentations, performance evaluations, meetings, in memos, newsletters and emails, and at parties and recognition events.

Keep humor appropriate for the office. Never poke fun at those in a subordinate position and don’t deprecate a person’s beliefs or background. There is plenty of wonderful, clean humor out there