IS HUMOR A LIABILITY?

I love to laugh, and I laugh a lot. People around me say my laugh is contagious. And I call others obnoxious. Either way, it has made me a better professional and inspired me to even start a company that does the same i.e. make laughing a part of their professional lives. But, I started this to make people understand what they are missing out on. People need to understand how laughter and enjoyment should always be a part of their work and how it vanished.

Some time ago, work got the image to be the antithesis of fun. Along with it became synonymous with wasting time. We’ll never know if it was the factory supervisors who thought it might slow down the assembly line, or because white-collar MDs thought those starched, button-up shirts tend to split open from loud belly laughs. Just kidding. It is clear, however, that corporate desperately suffers from an epidemic of being overly serious. That makes people miserable, and so it ends up taking a toll on efficiency, creativity, and relationships in the workplace.

Laughter is a refreshing respite from the metronome of quarterly reports and deadlines. Laughter doesn’t make you look any less professional–it makes your colleagues enjoy working with you. Companies spend bags of money on happy hours, off-sites, and team-building activities in the hopes that we’ll output results that ultimately improve the bottom line. Laughter is a simpler (and way cheaper) way to get there.

CAN IT MAKE US MORE PRODUCTIVE AND CREATIVE

We need to change the perception that laughter and productivity are against each other. They’re not. According to a 2009 study, people are more likely to be better at problem-solving if they are in a relatively better mood. Researchers compared their performance after watching a funny movie, to after seeing an anxiety-inducing clip. Unsurprisingly, they “solved more problems with greater insights” after getting in a laugh or two.

Managers who successfully cultivate creativity in their teams create a “habitat” for them to do so. One way they do this is by encouraging humor–this helps employees relax around each other and creates a “homely culture” that lets them bat ideas around without fear of being put down. As entrepreneur Peter Sims mentioned in his 2011 book Little Bets, “A playful, lighthearted, and humorous environment is especially helpful when ideas are incubating and newly hatched, the phase when they are most vulnerable to being snuffed out or even expressed because of being judged or self-censored.”

ISN’T HUMOR A LIABILITY?

Obviously not, every humor is appropriate. When representing your company, locker room and bathroom humor, political, sexist, religious, homophobic, and xenophobic humor are big no-no’s.

There are many ways to be inappropriate at a workplace but there is also an outlandish part of your personality which your colleagues never get to witness.

Some types of jokes that are generally safe for the office, and the strategic ways that you might want to use it:

? Self-deprecating. This is basically where you make fun of yourself, and is always a safe choice in the workplace because there is a very low risk of offending others, after all, it’s you that you’re making fun of. You hear a feeble echo of this when someone is finishing up a presentation and says, “I’ve already bored you enough, so I’ll wrap up . . . ” (Though that one is pretty old, so I wouldn’t recommend using it.) This kind of humor indicates to others that you’re a good sport about your shortcomings; everyone admires someone who doesn’t take themselves so seriously, and it gives you a confident persona.

? Unexpected. Sprinkling unexpected quips throughout the day is a quick, non-disruptive way to get a chuckle. So go ahead, respond to today’s Skype conversations Yoda-style. “Upload to the website, I will.” Is this necessary? Absolutely not. Will your coworkers crack a smile? Unless they hate Star Wars, most likely!

? Wordplay. Puns, some of which may classify under dad jokes, are usually groan-inducing. But you can elicit a few laughs if you manage to finesse a pun out of industry-specific concepts and buzzwords. Just test it out first before you include that in your presentation.

? Sarcasm. This is tricky. Some people’s entire charm rests on their sarcastic prowess, and indeed, quality sarcasm is a beautiful experience to witness. Studies have shown that there is a positive correlation between sarcasm and intelligence, but too much sarcasm can come off as overly negative, so use this sparingly.

? Situational. Situational humorists are the ones you want to be stuck in a room with during day-long business meetings, power outages, or whatever sacrifice is happening in conference room C. Those who have a knack for poking fun at everyday things alleviate the stress of fellow workers overwhelmed by the grind–their commute, work, childcare, housework, bills, taxes. Everyone wants to work with the person who turns the workday into an Office episode.

What if you’re just not funny? Or don’t you find others funny? That’s okay. Don’t force it. But don’t be a spoilsport by frowning at others, instead, laugh with them. Laughter is the sound of love, bonding, and collaboration, and those are the hallmarks of a productive team.

This is why I got out of my job to spread this wonderful thing known as laughter and started my beautiful journey with ComedyMunch.