Humour as a competency
In today’s workplace humour is seen as a necessary competency for leaders. Michael M. Lombardo & Robert W. Eichinger in For Your Improvement – A Development and Coaching Guide (Lominger Ltd.- The LEADERSHIP ARCHITECT) suggest how humour shows up as unskilled, skilled and overused in the workplace and give some remedies for the leader who wants to improve. A person skilled in the humour competency:
- Has a positive and constructive sense of humour
- Can laugh at him/herself and with others
- Is appropriately funny and can use humour to ease tension.
Benefits of humour in the workplace
Promotes team cohesion
Promotes creativity and experimentation
Promotes wellness – relieves stress & tension
Deepens relationships
More ideas generated in brainstorming exercises
More options generated in problem-solving exercises
Provides a broader perspective
Grabs people’s interest and keeps them interested.
How can leaders create a working environment where joy, fun, humour and playfulness thrive?
- Model good humour skills to signal that’s the culture we desire.
- Allow time for enjoyment, social banter, anecdotes, informal chatting and story trading at the water cooler or in meetings or wherever.
- Hold a humour meeting (call it something like “Enhancing morale” or Stress reduction”) and discuss ways to have more humour, what topics are acceptable /not acceptable, do some creative exercises. Example: Come up with 10 words at random and then respond to the question “How can we have fun in this workplace?” using the random words as a place to begin.
- Create a fun zone with colourful toys.
- Create a laughter bulletin board for the latest Dilbert and other jokes.
- Share the occasional joke by e-mail
- Have a costume day
- Form or join a laughter club. (sources of information: http://www.laughteryoga.org and http://www.worldlaughtertour.com) May 1st is World Laughter Day – celebrate it.
Coaching Questions to Stimulate Reflection About Your Life & Work
- How does the culture of your organization view laughter and humour?
- Is it an unspoken rule in your organization to keep your dreams secret? How would you feel about revealing your inner person? What would happen if everyone took off their armour?
- Do you enjoy your work and workplace now? If not, what would it take to make it enjoyable?
This Mindset Monday post is presented especially for solopreneurs
by LowellAnn Fuglsang, Business and Career Coach
In my workstyle-lifestyle coaching work I love helping solopreneurs find direction, stay motivated and build systems that both support and promote their business. One support that I like to emphasize for them is the Google experience. Two great places to begin are my Weekly Being Your Own CEO Success Circle and The Portable Business Coach (Now titled “Solopreneur Evaluation Tool” – a tool that will tell you where you need to put more time and energy)