Seven Ways To Use The 'Humor Advantage' To be Successful at Work
Many companies are now tapping into what is referred to as ‘humor advantage’. Do not take this as a joke, but companies as big as Zappos and Southwest Airlines are using humor and embracing a positive, fun, culture to boost their brand and their businesses. What is the verdict? They are successfully enticing and retaining employees while continuing to grow with more customers. Maybe humor is their kind of secret on how to be successful at work and in business.
Examine humor that lets you see the forest through the trees. Not only is it promoting a happy disposition but it is also a sign of maturity. Well, you do not have to be clowning around work or act like a stand-up comedian. Well-placed and intelligent humor can smooth one’s relationship with peers and bosses that work great, too, for promotions.
If you are interested to know why injecting humor can be defining strategies for companies and people on how to be successful at work, learn from these:
• Humor is humanizing. Humor can most effectively bring together people regardless of their positions. It makes them realize that positions interfere to what both seek – a common ground.
• Humor puts everyone at ease. It is a very effective tension breaker especially in a workplace where work and positions are taken seriously. It ends conflict and encourages convergent thinking to seek solutions in a relax manner. Laughter can foster creative thinking as fear or insecurities are quelled by the lightness of the moment. Thus, it establishes a fertile milieu for innovation.
• Humor bolsters morale. It makes people less tense and unafraid. It motivates people to come to work regularly and on time because they look forward to the happy moments to be shared while at work. Employees do their jobs without the feeling of servitude.
• Humor promotes trust. Trust is established as humor effectively reveals a little of the person inside. Humorous people tend to be more likable and easily more trusted. Having the uncanny knack for making people laugh is a talent and a sign of intelligence and wit. Thus, humor can breakdown walls and build relationships.
• Humor cultivates happy working environment. People generally want to work with people they like and they can share some light moments with. Consider how much time of your waking moment you spend at work. A little humor can significantly improve the ambiance at work. Humor, deftly employed, is a good way to win friends and impact on people. You need to be funny, but not to the extent of being offensive, abrasive, and irresponsible.
• Humor is a powerful stress-buster. You may not believe it, but humor can cause you to shift your stressors, emotional responses, and physical responses so that you relax instead of becoming tense. Laughing is a potent antidepressant that works even more productively at work.
• Humor can drive efficiency. When employees come to work on time and regularly, tasks are finished on time. When creativity is allowed to flow, more ideas are generated. It also helps improve efficiency, output, quality of work and products. These fuel better business for the employer and better financial gains. If shared with the hardworking employees, it can be further perk employees’ salaries and benefits. The benefits and the advantages can cascade down to the littlest employee making the organization flourishing as a whole.
Many people running a business are always on the lookout for effective ways and strategies on how to be successful at work. It is the same for employees who are aspiring to get promotions, salary increases, or simply to make it through the day’s end without feeling boredom. These people need not look too far. The answer is right with them – humor. Why do you think big companies are now tapping into ‘humor advantage’?
