Humour: An Update
Wednesday 2 March 2005
The basic argument

Humour is a key feature of EQ, and EQ is a key feature of leadership.

Humour creates strong teams, because it creates emotional connections, based on
trust/common bonds and a shared view of the world

Humour is a feature of creative thinking. It jumps starts the brain and allows us to
see what is logically illogical

Humour relieves stress by increasing endorphin levels, oxygenating the blood and
lowering blood pressure

Humour creates memorable communications.
The next level of detail
Leadership

Two aspects of EQ: self-awareness and empathy

Both linked to the effective use of humour

US research: executives ranked as outstanding used humour more than twice as
often as average executives

US research: female executives use more humour. Also backed by NZ research
Team building

Language in the Workplace Project: collaborative humour

The three meeting phase:
-

initial phase - stiff and serious (30 minutes)
short transition - humourous interactions (one to six minutes)
problem-solving phase - consensual and cascading laughter of positive or
neutral tone (45 minutes)
rituals and stories
Creative thinking

Incongruity: something that does not fit our conceptual patterns and ordinary
expectations.

Mental flexibility and perspective: a human not animal trait.

Humour encourages divergent thinking and an openness to novelty.
Stress

Humour produces chemical reactions in the body

Stressful situations produce strong collegial humour
Communications

Collective laughter demonstrates empathy with speaker: more common that
applause.

Can use humour to:
-
set up key message
praise or criticise
produce collective displays of affinity.
Check out www.vuw.ac.nz/lals/lwp/ It’s the website of the Language in the Workplace
Project at Victoria University. Janet Holmes and Meredith Marra have been a huge help
in developing my ideas on humour.
Hilary Bryan
The Training Practice
March 2005