Elevating Leadership With Humour: Actionable Insights for Leaders

In Part 2 of this series, I discuss why humour is a leader superpower. You’ll discover how leader use of humour at work is positively linked to wellbeing and mental health, and gain practical tips on the WHY? HOW? WHEN? and WHAT? of using humour at work.

I remember how I felt – as a leader – when I was seriously told off for laughing at work. Frustrated, ashamed, angry, humiliated – you get the drift.

The message, from an executive, was clear. My loud, unbridled laugh (and that of my colleague – another leader at work) was too much. It was unsuitable, disruptive and inappropriate. From that time, I learnt not to laugh at work – and, sadly, to not find reasons to laugh.

While this reflected on the workplace culture, looking back, this experience made me less of a leader. I became smaller, unwilling to be fully authentic at work and less connected to my teams and work community.

A sense of humour is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.

Dwight Eisenhower, American military officer and statesman, 34th president of the United States

Leadership might be a serious business yet it doesn’t need to be humourless. In fact including humour as part of your leadership toolkit can potentially enhance your effectiveness as a leader, boost wellbeing and team performance and support the bottom line.

What Do You Need To Know About Leading Others With Humour?

❇️ WHY USE IT?

Research shows that leaders with any sense of humour are seen as 27% more admirable and motivating than those who don’t joke around. Their employees are 15% more engaged and committed, and their teams are twice as likely to solve a creativity challenge …

In Part 1 of this series, I outlined seven reasons to use humour at work.

As a leader, engaging in appropriate humour:

✔ Builds interpersonal trust, an important prerequisite of psychological safety

✔ Supports employee inclusion and team cohesion

✔ Cultivates resilience, which protects against stress

✔ Promotes effective workplace functioning

✔ Potentially enhances approachability, leading to better employee engagement.

❇️ 4 TIPS ON HOW TO USE HUMOUR

The idea of using humour as a leader might strike fear into your heart if you feel you are not born funny. Yet using humour as part of your role is NOT about suddenly becoming a comedian or spending time looking for chances to crack a joke, especially if that doesn’t feel like you.

Here are some natural ways you can integrate humour into your leadership:

1️⃣ Play along with light-hearted banter around you, smiling, laughing and relaxing into the moment.

2️⃣ Find the humour in your own slip ups or mistakes, making light of them and showing your vulnerability

3️⃣ Share suitable anecdotes, clips or instances you found funny with members of your team, especially if you sense they will respond positively

4️⃣ Where appropriate and comfortable, use humour to accentuate your own weaknesses or shortcomings (e.g., a previous leader of mine used to make fun of how he was always late).

Research suggests this form of humour can humanise the leader, making you relatable, and improving employee perceptions of trust and leadership ability.

❇️ WHEN TO USE IT (AND WHEN NOT TO)

Humour is a valuable strategic resource in workplace discourse which leaders can use when appropriate.

Holmes & Marra, 2006 

Effective use of humour can help or hinder perceptions of your confidence and competence.

It is obviously unwise, as a leader, to engage in indiscriminate use of humour. In fact, you need to ‘read the room’ and sense when situational cues and signals suggest that humour is suitable. What the context and who is involved are extra considerations.

For instance, poorly judged humour used during a performance appraisal may well backfire. There is evidence that employees who prefer hierarchy and clear workplace social structures react less positively to leader humour. Likewise avoid sick, aggressive or negative humour.

It is also notable that cross-cultural humour studies suggest that western cultures are more likely to perceive humour as a desirable leadership trait, compared to eastern, collectivist cultures who may view humour as irreverent or less desirable.

On the other hand, humour may be used most effectively in situations when you know peers or team members well and can reasonably predict a positive response.  Sometimes you may get it wrong. Apologise and step forward.

🟧 NEXT STEPS 🟧

Wondering what to do now?

In the absence of humour training or familiarity with humour styles, what will you do?

What I’d like you to take away is the encouragement to think intentionally about how you might use humour to support your leadership.

If you are not already doing so:

💥Fine tune your radar for organic sparks of humour, aligned to the culture you want to create and support.

💥Give these moments air and watch them generate energy and fuel positive emotions, in you and others.

If ever there was a time to inject some humour into the workplace, it’s now.

Remember - people appreciate a bit of humour, as long as it is not mean or offensive. Start small, light up and maybe, like me, you will get to lead with the freedom to authentically and gleefully laugh out loud at work.

Watch

https://www.ted.com/talks/jennifer_aaker_and_naomi_bagdonas_why_great_leaders_take_humor_seriously?language=en