Are you interviewing for a job or seeking a promotion?

Are you preparing a presentation, rehearsing to be pitch perfect?

Are you negotiating a contract to capture critical new business?

Whatever your current professional “as is” is, and whatever your task list holds, you want “to be” a better professional, team member, or leader, right? To be happier and healthier add a little more humor into the mix. And now is the time to do that, not just on April Fool’s Day but through the entire National Humor Month (www.humormonth.com).

There’s significant research and science documenting the opportunity and importance of humor in business settings. A Harvard Law School blog posted late last year asked the question, “Is Humor in Business Negotiations Ever Appropriate?” The answer, in short: Yes! The Program on Negotiation staff wrote that “Humor influences who we are drawn to and whom we can trust…[it] can help us cope with difficult circumstances and can make work and life more enjoyable.” Taking the topic further, the team cited research showing “using humor induces positive emotion, which in turn triggers positive communications and better team performance…humor has been shown to boost creativity.”

Humor Has Its Benefits

Writing for the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Joel Stein also cited studies that concluded “humor is an effective and underleveraged tool for power, offering competitive advantage against peers, higher retention rates of employees, innovative solutions and teams more resilient to stress.” He also referred to data surfaced in a recent CEO survey. Of the 700 execs studied, 98% reported they prefer job candidates exhibiting a sense of humor while 84% said they think people with a sense of humor do better work.

Not only can you learn more about how, when, and why to up your humor quotient, you can take it to the next level—a credential. Through distance learning sessions and workshops, individuals explore “How to Create Therapeutic Laughter” and can become Certified Laughter Leaders (www.WorldLaughterTour.com). Steve Wilson, the practicing psychologist behind the credential–who also goes by creative titles that include “Cheerman of the Board” and “The Joyologist”–first spoke on the “healing power of humor” 40 years ago.

Prevent Attitude Hardening

Traveling the globe through his World Laughter Tour since 1999, Steve says he’s taught and consulted with teams and leaders who consistently show the upsides of humor, including better teamwork, better customer service and fewer product defects and can “prevent hardening of the attitude.” While the therapeutic laughter certification and other elements of the humor toolbox are popular—as you’d expect–with healthcare and social service professionals, demand grows across more job functions and titles.

In all seriousness, Steve discussed how “true, mirthful laughter” has its place in the workplace because genuine giggles, a robust round of chuckles, reduce cortisol levels in the brain and increase an individual’s sense of well-being. “Two people laughing are communicating, connecting,” Steve said, having observed such interactions the world over.

Yet, even as Steve and other experts see the need and opportunity for more merriment at work, now more than ever as we attempt to move into a post-pandemic next normal, that encouragement comes with cautionary notes. In his Stanford piece Joel Stein suggested leaders, especially, can “get good at self-deprecating humor” because it “creates connections and signals to people that they are allowed to be funny.” In such situations the emphasis is on “self” and not humor at the expense of others. The Harvard team pointed out that “a joke can fail in many ways…it can be perceived as unfunny, inappropriate, or both.” And, as Steve put it, “Don’t ever use humor to put people down. No zingers.”

So, humor in business settings, in communications, and in content requires awareness and sensitivity. It shouldn’t be forced, but it can be a force for good. Think about it. Maybe there’s a time and a place to weave in a little wit. Maybe add a little comic relief to your conversations. Perhaps discard the dull for a dose of droll. Here’s to you–a happier, healthier and [carefully] more humorous you!

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