FINDING SERIOUS LESSONS IN HUMOROUS PLACES

www.thefunminutemanager.com - by Dr. John W. Newstrom and Dr. Robert C. Ford
Leading With A Laugh: 101 Funny Stories With 300 Serious Insights and Lessons for Managers, Trainers, and Speakers

    Humor—one component of fun at work--consists of interpersonal communication that has a witty or funny intent or effect.  These communications can take the form of jokes, stories, gags, comedic exchanges, skits, parodies, puns, or cartoons. Although humor is highly individualistic, it often involves a focus on misfortune, nonsense, stupidity, someone's clumsiness or stumbling, exaggeration, teasing, or self-deprecation.  Some managers, however, resist using humor because they believe workplaces should only be serious, they are concerned about its cost to implement, they don’t know how to go about it, or they fear ridicule by others if they were to use it.
    In our book, Leading With A Laugh, we document the wide array of benefits from humor that can accrue to individuals in their personal lives, to employees at the workplace, and to their employing organizations.  We focus specifically on the value for managers of deriving direct insights into human behavior (“Ah Ha’s”) as well as action prescriptions for immediate application at work.  We offer a “roadmap” to travelers on the path to humor at work in the form of a dozen concrete recommendations (e.g., “Pretest humor before using it; Avoid toxic, juvenile, or offensive humor; Use humor to make a meaningful point or to teach a worthwhile lesson”) for the safe and productive use of funny stories.
     We offer three major conclusions.  First, humor and work are often viewed--at least historically--as mutually exclusive.  By contrast, we believe that they are not only compatible but quite likely complementary.  Second, humor, when carefully prepared and used wisely, can have substantial positive effects on an organization and its employees (and generally involve minimal risks to them).  Finally, we suggest that humor is easy for managers to initiate and can lead to useful lessons.  In conclusion, we contend that leading with a laugh can have multiple payoffs if used appropriately!