Career Coach - Using humour for success

Isn't it crazy as human beings, we love to laugh. We even pay money to watch somebody doing funny things in a comedy show or a film in private. We all seem to enjoy a good laugh as soon as we walk into an office building. However, we seem to lose our sense of humor and our longing for a fun time with the people around us. If you're somebody who enjoys a good laugh from time to time in the office, people will start to talk about you. They'll wonder what your problem is and whether you have enough to do humor and laughter have something of a bad reputation in the corporate world. Too much is considered unprofessional or inappropriate laugh and learn. This has some implications for me as a team coach in my seminars and workshops. Laughter is more the rule than the exception for two simple reasons. Studies show that we learn more effectively and sustainably if positive emotions and enthusiasm are involved. And the second reason is that I enjoy my time with participants more. If we have fun together, I feel it makes me a better coach. And that in turn makes the experience more effective for all. When potential clients hear that I use humor and encourage laughter in my workshops. They often ask how I make sure that people really learn. Even the participants themselves are sometimes worried that they won't learn anything if they laugh or that their boss won't be happy to hear. They had a good time. Let me give you an example of how humor works its magic. The following exercise is effective in various contexts. It's a good starting point for a conversation about communication within a team. And it's an eye and heart opening experience for everybody to learn how they respond to unexpected change. Let me present my trip to Jupiter. Depending on the size of the group. You'll need 4 to 8 volunteers. They have a simple task, tell a story as though they were only one person. I point to one of them. Let's call her Heather and have her begin the story. As soon as I point to the next person, we'll call him, Pete Heather has to stop talking immediately and Pete continues the story where Heather stopped and so on. Usually I provide the title of the story. It needs to be about something they haven't done before or a place. They've never been. My trip to Jupiter has always been a good choice quite quickly. Some strategies can be observed. For example, some people try to push their own ideas with each turn, they come back to their original thoughts. Even if the story has already taken a different route, perhaps they think it's about winning clearly, these participants would rather talk than listen and don't pay a lot of attention to other people's ideas. Then there are others who seem hesitant and prefer to rely on their colleagues to continue the story. Maybe they fear making a mistake in just a few minutes. Different roles as well as conflicting or complementary patterns of communication have been brought to light. What's more most of the groups who do this exercise never actually get to Jupiter in their stories. Why? Obviously no one has ever been to Jupiter. So it's unfamiliar territory for everyone. They have to make something up and can't be sure if it's good or even plausible. This is a great starting point to talk about change and innovation, adapting to change minute by minute. The group is learning, participants learn how to respond better to input from their coworkers. They see that it's often good to have a plan, but it's sometimes even better to throw out the plan and adapt to the current situation. Then they become more courageous and dare to break new ground, unusual ideas and unexpected turn, make listening and being involved on stage fun. Every time I do the exercise with a team, everyone has a lot to laugh about and a lot to think about Heather Pete and their colleagues on stage experience firsthand, how it feels to be exposed to continuous change from the outside and how to respond to such changes. They go through various emotions from being frustrated about having made mistakes, to laughing about themselves. Most of all they realize that co-operation works much better if people not only share a goal, but also build on the ideas of others from a communication perspective. They learn how important it is to listen rather than think about what they want to say next. Overall, this exercise shows communication habits that the participants aren't aware of in their daily interactions. My trip to Jupiter can be used in a number of different situations as a starter in a kickoff meeting for a transformation project in a team workshop to start a conversation about communication within the team, to inspire your team to take more risks and establish a culture of learning. However you use it, you'll recognize one important thing. People will laugh and they'll connect and have a good time after the exercise. It will be much easier to have conversations about current issues around communication or cooper operation in the team. And that perfectly describes my understanding of humor. It's not about telling jokes and making fun of others more than anything else. Humor is an attitude, a mindset. It's about how you respond to your own mistakes and to those of others, humor is about taking a new perspective. Quite often. It's an unknown or unexpected perspective that creates laughter even more. It creates a connection between people. So why don't you take the humor perspective next time you are dealing with a problem or with a mistake. Let's take a closer look at two words that are very important when talking about humor, laugh and laughter. Normally the noun for laugh is laughter. As in Tina, heard the sound of laughter coming from the conference room in informal English laugh itself may appear as a noun, especially in the phrase, a good laugh with slightly different meanings. The act of laughing, everyone had a good laugh at my new tie. Something that is very enjoyable and amusing. Ted's retirement party was a good laugh. A person who often makes us laugh. I like sharing an office with Sally. She's a good laugh. Spelling and pronunciation in English can seem strange at times. Learners are often surprised that laugh has a GH that produces an f sound. There are a few other examples, including enough and cough. However, there are many more words in which GH has no sound at all such as eight, right? Thought through doe and daughter.