Why has humor become a recognized asset in the workplace? Among others, there are the principal reasons
why humor is important: it energizes, helps facilitate communication, and build
relationships. 1. Humor Promotes
Attending and Energizes
We know that all good lecturers have many jokes, stories,
and anecdotes that are shared in order to command attention and energize the
audience. Humor wakes us up and increases our attending. An office bulletin
board loaded with cartoons, one liners, jokes, pictures, etc. is one way to
invite humor into the workplace. A few moments of humor at work can lead to
increased productivity as the newly energized employee returns to his or her
task. In working environments where humor is supported there
develops a culture that utilizes the humor to reduce stress and provide
perspective. We have all heard humor directed at lawyers, medical personnel,
scientists, engineers, business persons, educators, etc. Learning to laugh at
ourselves and our work lightens the load. Humor is a major career asset, so let's be serious about
humor and use humor to lighten our seriousness in the workplace. As we increase
our personal humor quotient and spread our humor contagiously to others, we
will begin to see the "lite" at the end of the tunnel. 2. Humor Facilitates
Communication Humor provides a non-threatening medium through which an
employee or employer can communicate with others without intensifying the
emotional temperature of the relationship. Consider the frazzled secretary who
posts the sign "I have only two speeds, and if this one isn't fast enough
then I'm sure you're not going to like my other." Or the somewhat
scattered boss whose messy desk is complimented with a note that says, "A
Creative Mess is better than Tidy Idleness." The message is clear, yet the
communication is done in a light and, therefore, less stressful way. The
secretary's sign pokes fun at the situation, and the boss's note pokes some fun
at himself. 3. Humor Builds Relationships The development of staff cohesion and a sense of team effort
in the workplace can be effectively facilitated by the use of humor. Bulletin
boards, electronic mail, intra-office memos, voice mail, etc. all offer mediums
through which we can share humor with co-workers. Office jokes taking the
seriousness of work lightly provide us with the opportunity to become more
connected with others.
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