The Business Case for Humor
PLUS, IT’S JUST FUN.
Everyone hates consultants. We are the business world’s equivalent of lawyers. So, introducing yourself to a new set of clients can be a bit fraught; they already hold a host of not-so-flattering opinions about you before you even open your mouth.
One such occasion was kicking off a post-merger management project involving two dozen clients, many of whom were working together for the first time. My team had decided that we would break the ice for everyone by sharing names and favorite candy. I told this room of strangers that my signature candy was M&Ms as established by my father at my birth: “He was working for the government at the time, in a facility where cigars were forbidden, so he decided to hand out plain M&Ms instead. M&Ms because those were my initials - Marja Marie - and plain because I’m a girl. No nuts.”
The room erupted. In less than 30 seconds, I humanized myself and my team, established a baseline of humility and levity, and kick-started the social bonding that would pull us through the hard work ahead. Only humor could have managed such a feat. You might be thinking: but the risk of telling a (slightly) off-color joke to a large group in a professional setting! Yes, humor comes with risks, but the payoff is big.
The Biology of Humor
Laughter is universal across all human cultures. It even exists in some form in rats, chimp and bonobos - leading some social scientists to date its appearance to 14 million years ago, based on the last common ancestor. And it starts early: humans begin to develop a sense of humor as early as 6 weeks old, when babies first smile and laugh in response to their environment.
And yet, the reason why we laugh remains an unresolved mystery. There is strong evidence that humor is a form of social communication. Studies have shown that people are 30 times more likely to laugh in the presence of others than alone - thus, the ubiquitous laugh track. Some even suggest humor is an evolutionary replacement for the social grooming seen in higher primates given the similar release in opiates. Laughter also has some modest physiological benefits such as boosting immunity, improving blood pressure and alleviating anxiety and depression. Clown therapy is used in hospital settings to help patients in their healing.
Sadly, we tend to lose our sense of humor as we age. Babies laugh, on average, 400 times per day. By the time we turn 35, it’s down to 15. The social and physiological benefits remain, but we cease to tap into them. Why? I suspect we succumb to cultural messages that deem laughter child-like, unprofessional, frivolous. All of which means we need to do a little bit of work to keep laughter in our lives.
Benefits in the Workplace
“According to research from institutions as serious as Wharton, MIT, and London Business School, every chuckle or guffaw brings with it a host of business benefits,” writes Alison Beard in the HBR article, Leading with Humor. “Laughter relieves stress and boredom, boosts engagement and well-being, and spurs not only creativity and collaboration but also analytic precision and productivity.” Consider:
Adding a bad dad joke to a sales pitch increases customers' willingness to pay by 18 percent
Bosses with a sense of humor are 27 percent more motivating
Their employees are 15 percent more engaged
In the business world, many successful organizations such as Zappos, Virgin, and Google deliberately build play areas into their workspaces and organize fun events to ameliorate the stressful nature of work, boost morale, and increase productivity. Let’s investigate these benefits.
Stress Reduction
The brain centers that regulate laughter are those which control emotions, fears and anxiety. The release of laughter breaks the stress or tension of a situation and floods the body with relief. “When you start to laugh, it doesn’t just lighten your load mentally, it actually induces physical changes in your body,” the Mayo Clinic explains. It enhances your intake of oxygen-rich air, increasing your brain’s release of endorphins. It can also “stimulate circulation and aid muscle relaxation, both of which can help reduce some of the physical symptoms of stress.” Laughter is a sign of relaxation and safety, a place we need our teams to be if they’re to perform at their best.
Creativity
People who have been exposed to a stand-up comedy show prior to tackling tricky puzzles report experiencing more flashes of inspiration, and are able to solve 20 percent more of the problems they face. Humor - the creation, absorption, interpretation and reaction to it - exercises multiple brain functions, including working memory, long-term memory, executive function, emotional expression and language skills. Combined with the stress reduction benefits already mentioned, laughter primes our brains to be in their most open, lucid state - exactly where we need to be to tackle the most perplexing and novel problems.
Team Bonding
WIth such strong evidence that humor is fundamentally social, it’s no surprise that people who laugh together feel more comfortable together. When two people laugh, it suggests that they see the world in similar ways and builds a sense of connectedness. As a result, they tend to rate their relationship as higher quality and a greater source of meaningful social support. Danish-American comedian, conductor and pianist, Victor Borge may have put it best: “Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.”
Motivation & Persistence
A group of researchers found that employees who had watched a comedy clip were 10% more productive than their counterparts. Similar research showed that people spent about twice as long on a tiresome task. Humor is not only entertaining, but replenishing. It provides fuel which allows us to sustain effort beyond what we’re capable of without it.
Humor’s Underbelly
With all these proven benefits, making space for humor in the workplace probably seems a no-brainer, but two critical areas those seeking to tap into its benefits must watch out for:
First, humor can be misused as a form of indirect communication. Jokes, by design, are frequently indirect. It provides the novelty, surprise and benign tension that makes something funny in the first place. If we allow this indirectness to become a habit or worse, hide behind jokes to convey serious but uncomfortable messages, we actually undermine the effectiveness of our work environments.
Second, the social cohesion encouraged by laughter can also be used to isolate through creation of an in-crowd. When a subset of a team is exclusively privy to inside jokes or even uses humor to objectify, demoralize and “other,” the social power of humor is misappropriated to divide a group rather than unify. The key difference is in the notion of shared humor; if laughter isn’t shared, it may be encouraging social separation rather than bonding.
Lessons for Leaders
Some good news: you don’t have to be funny to tap into the power of humor! In fact, nothing is less funny than inauthenticity. The key is to support humor in a way that feels genuine to you. If you don’t feel comfortable cracking a joke yourself, focus on the following:
Role model laughter. You may not be comfortable poking fun, but someone on your team probably is. When they do - when something strikes you as genuinely funny - let that belly laugh free!
Create space for hilarity. Sponsoring, or at least allowing time for, periodic lunches and happy hours immediately puts your team in a mindspace in which humor is more likely to flourish. If they can figure it out in these work-lite settings, they will find a way to bring it back into the office.
Monitor for healthy humor. It is your job to make sure that your team’s laughter is shared. Notice who is participating, whether anyone seems to be on the edge. Check in with them. And if you ever hear a joke made at someone else’s expense, nip it in the bud immediately.
If you do want to offer up a joke or two, a couple to try as a parting gift. Enjoy!
I was wondering why the frisbee was getting bigger, and then it hit me.
A woman in labor is having a terrible time and suddenly shouts out: "Shouldn't! Wouldn't! Couldn't! Didn't! Can't!" "Don't worry," says the doctor. "These are just contractions."
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
