But I’m not sure I'm funny
The good news is, you don’t have to be a comedian to add humour into your leadership style. Most natural laughter is spontaneous.
4 ways to start injecting humour into the workplace.
1) Being present. When you are in the moment, and really listening to what is going on around you, witty responses just seem to appear. It always amazes me when that happens.
The great comedians are often admired for being ‘quick witted’ and yet everyone will find themselves at times being witty and making people laugh. Often this will be when you feel safe, are relaxed and in the moment. All a quick witted comedian has done, is managed to get on stage in that same relaxed state.
2) Looking for the funny side. When I first took up comedy, I realised I’d stopped laughing. If you want to inject humour into your leadership style, you first have to start getting your humour muscles in shape. Look for the funny in your daily life. Before you know it, you will notice yourself laughing a lot more often.
3) Laugh out loud. Of course there is a time and a place.And if you laugh at someone and it causes shame or embarrassment, it isn’t going to have the positive effect. When appropriate though, let yourself laugh. This is a really easy way to lead by example and inject some laughter into the workplace. Plus you will make someone feel really good.
4) Give people permission to laugh. Work life can be serious. And people can feel self-conscious about laughing, especially in front of colleagues.If you are doing a work speech, let people know they have permission to laugh. They might not be expecting you to be funny, so won’t necessarily be looking out for it – you might have to tell them you are giving it a go!
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Comedy at Work, learning through laughter.
If you are interested in training the leaders in your organisation to use humour, comedy, performance skills and laughter to engage, inspire and motivate your people, get in touch here, we love hearing from people who like a laugh.
