How Does Your Sense of Humor Develop Your Career?
For a student participating in the University of California (UC) Foundations of Happiness at Work course, humor appears in any social situation every day. One shared a story during a meeting, saying: “My boss praised our colleague saying, 'How handsome.''
The team was so surprised that he explained his intention that he was impressed with his work, and everyone laughed, which tempered the meeting, to come back and add that he was also handsome, and everyone laughed again.
Work may seem like a serious place, but according to research, introducing an atmosphere of laughter into working life can boost our safety and productivity. Actually, humor is one of the skills that students learn through online courses.
Benefits of Humor at Work
Humor creates an atmosphere of lightness, which removes stress, protects us from stress at work, and benefits our health. Research indicates that people who make jokes when they dialogue with their colleagues feel happier and more satisfied with their job.
Laughter creates and strengthens social bonds between humans, as well as among chimpanzees. One theory of evolution states that laughter first appears as a nod to feeling safe and comfortable after something unexpected happens, which may explain why colleagues who laugh together tend to feel safer and more comfortable in the workplace and feel cohesive among team members.
Psychology professor Dacher Keltner explains that when friends laugh in unison, their fight-or-flight response is as calm as increased blood pressure, triggering the release of mirror neurons, where laughter turns into a collective experience.
Feeling comfortable in our work environment can push us to express our ideas and take risks, which is the basis for creative solutions at work, and contribute to increased productivity. One study found that leaders who used humor at work were more likely to reach their goals and obtain a higher degree of performance from their subordinates after only one year because leaders' humor in their leadership style makes them popular while maintaining respect and influence.
One survey found that employees who acknowledge their manager's ability to make them laugh-even when they're very serious-or use humor to relieve stress are more likely to trust their manager and feel like they belong.
Self-deprecating jokes can also be a helpful tool for leaders and other employees to bring themselves closer together. One study revealed that when managers and employees use this type of prank, employees tend to gain more professional respect for leaders, which is the opposite result for those afraid to show weakness.
However, some types of humor may be counterproductive; specifically those that devalue people or their status, and this is quite different from gentle banter that helps the bond between colleagues and creates an atmosphere of spontaneity.
How to find humor at work?
One way to ensure more funny moments at work is by writing them down. A 2016 study found that participants who had been blogging three funny things every evening for a week were less likely to feel depressed afterward and happier after six months of the practice than those who had only written down their memories.
In the Basics of Happiness at Work course, people were asked to try this, examining their responses to see what they find funny at work, while some funny moments may be spontaneous. It is possible to create the funniest moments with some practice, often consequences from jokes about daily working life.
We can also add humor to work assignments, where someone shared what happened with him at work, saying: "The Human Resources Department sang a rap song of their own during the leadership meeting, and that was very funny and alleviated the meeting."
Adding a sense of humor to the situation when we can help even when the work is stressful. One wrote: “I was talking to a colleague about the time it takes for management to decide whether they want me to lead a project, and some of them took a long time to make a decision and look into the matter, and I could not find better than to make jokes and banter a little bit about it, which eased the burden of waiting for their final decision.”
Humor is not always a good thing, especially if it distracts us from our tasks or prevents us from seeing and addressing real problems at work, but in many situations, exchanging jokes with colleagues and finding humor during chaos and stress can make work a little more enjoyable.