How to Add More Humor and Fun in a Conservative, Traditional Company
How Do You Add Humor and Create a More Fun Work Environment in a Highly Conservative Company?
I frequently hear a similar lament from clients and audience members: “We work in a very conservative company so how can we bring more humor and fun into our workplace when it’s such a conservative environment?”
My answer is always the same: “You can’t. Just give up.”
Okay, I’m joshing. (It’s kind of how I roll.)
Of course, you shouldn’t give up! Adding humor into a conservative business or workplace isn’t much different than adding it to any other kind of workplace.
Here are some tips and strategies that can help you add humor to even the most conservative of workplaces.
- Clearly define what you are talking about when you introduce the idea of humor at work and focus on your ultimate goal
Be clear about what it is you are advocating: Embracing more humor at work isn’t about telling jokes, being a stand-up comedian, or even always about being funny.
Using humor in the workplace is about embracing a spirit of humanity and spirit of joy. It’s about creating a more positive environment where people feel psychologically safe enough to bring their authentic selves to work and to be able to enjoy and embrace the humor that arises organically in any workplace.
Bringing more humor into the workplace is often about laughing at the things you have no control over, and especially, about learning to laugh at yourself more often. Is it not a truism, after all, that the more seriously a person takes themselves the less seriously we tend to take that person?
And it’s about laughing with people, never at people. It’s about practicing “safe” workplace humor: using positive styles of humor that support your business goals.
You then need to link this idea of what workplace humor is with our ultimate goals.
Your goal shouldn’t focus on adding more humor into the workplace or figuring out ways that work should be an endless barrel of monkeys.
Instead, focus on the need to create a more positive and productive workplace culture because that is your #1 competitive advantage and driver all other business results.
Focus on the importance of improving employee engagement, employee retention rates, and reducing employee absenteeism rates.
Focus on the importance of creating more positive working relationships that will foster a more collaborative working environment.
Focus on the importance of lowering stress levels and creating a more resilient workplace – one where employees will be better equipped to manage change and handle uncertainty.
And focus on the importance of delivering an engaging and memorable customer service experience to your customers.
Always focus on the end results, then introduce the idea of how more fun and humor in your workplace might be one additional way to help you achieve these critical business goals.
2. Challenge your assumptions
Are you certain that more humor in your workplace would be frowned upon, or are you just guessing because it hasn’t gotten a foothold in your workplace yet?
Are you certain your senior leaders would reject any use of humor, or is it just that humor hasn’t ever been on their radar or come up as a topic?
And are you assuming that just because you’re in a conservative industry, that humor has no place?
I’ve uncovered numerous examples of humor being used, sometimes in outrageously funny ways, in every conceivable industry and profession – from lawyers to financial service firms – so don’t assume that just because you are in a supposedly “serious” business there’s no room for more humor.
Remember, you’re not advocating being “unprofessional” in any way. There’s a world of difference between taking yourself lightly, vs. taking your work lightly. The most professional thing you can do, in any business, and in any profession, is to embrace the use of humor to help you build constructive relationships and build a positive, supportive, and collaborative workplace culture that drives business results.
3. Sell the benefits of humor in the workplace to get support from the top
Ideally, you’ll want to get support from the top levels of leadership. And one of the ways to get their support is to champion the many benefits of humor in the workplace and share real world examples of humor in action.
There’s a reason, after all, that more and more business schools are talking about the role humor plays in business. Stanford University, as just one example, has a graduate level course called, “Humor: Serious Business.”
There are hundreds of studies that support the importance of humor in the workplace as culture-building tool and there are real world examples you can share to show that even in conservative businesses, humor can play an incredibly powerful role.
I’ve found in my 25 years of speaking and writing on this topic, nothing does more to convince serious skeptics than sharing example after example of humor in action.
If you want dozens and dozens of examples and supporting evidence to bolster your case, then I highly recommend my book, The Humor Advantage: Why Some Businesses Are Laughing All the Way to the Bank. Use the book to arm yourself with supporting evidence, buy a copy for your skeptical boss, and/or buy copies for your entire team or leadership team to generate some great discussions on the topic.
And for a summary of the benefits of humor in the workplace, share my video 30 Benefits of Humor in the Workplace and 15 Reasons Humor is a Key to Success.
There’s also a great summary of the benefits of humor in the workplace in a Forbes article I contributed to, 10 Reasons Why Humor is a Key to Success and in the article on my website Why Humor in the Workplace is a Necessity, Not a Nice to Have.
4. Have an honest discussion about the role humor can play in your business
Put humor on the agenda for an upcoming offsite retreat or team meeting. Nothing will change unless you start the conversation rolling.
You’re far more likely to gain support and build trust if you are honest about the role humor plays at work, so be sure to demonstrate that you understand what some of the negative perceptions or pitfalls associated with using humor might be.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be an enthusiastic cheerleader for humor but creating a safe space to talk about it honestly will garner you more support and help bring the skeptics on side.
5. Start slowly
Maybe, just a thought, don’t start by suggesting a bouncy castle in the parking lot.
As with any change, begin slowly. Don’t try to do too much, too fast.
Suggest a few ideas that are easily implementable and most importantly, easy to commit to in the long run. The last thing you want to do is to try a few things that feel like window dressing and that end up fizzling out in a few weeks or months.
6. Focus on a few key areas that will make the most difference
Here are three starting points that I always recommend.
First, start with your meetings. Meetings are key workplace culture touch points. Meetings are a critical venue to help you create your desired culture and more importantly, reflect your desired culture.
So, start by embracing more humor in your meetings to help set the tone and send the message that using humor is okay. For ideas and inspiration on how to inject more humor into your meetings, hop over to Ideas for Adding Humor Into Your Business Meetings.
A second simple and safe way to add more humor is to create some fun recognition awards for employees that are tied to your profession or workplace. For a few ideas on fun recognition awards, watch the video, Fun Employee Recognition Awards.
And thirdly, commit to just one weekly tradition or ritual. Rituals and traditions give employees something to look forward to and reminisce about – two key drives of happiness. Traditions help create a stronger team bond, they build a stronger cultural identity, and create a sense of shared history.
It could be a Friday afternoon team huddle, where employees share the top-3 highlights or wins of the week and a fun weekly award is given out. Perhaps it’s instating a weekly theme day such as, “Third Person Thursdays,” where everyone refers to themselves in the third person – in other words, by using their own names when they refer to themselves (Mike really loves this idea). Or maybe it’s a fun ritual to launch the work week off on the right foot.
7. Consider creating a rotating Ambassador of Fun or Culture Squad that can champion and spearhead new initiatives
Many companies have had great success using rotating “fun ambassador” positions, where employees must apply for the role and are given a small budget to initiate some fun activities. The position rotates to someone new every three months to give more people a chance to contribute their ideas and it prevents people from burning out.
Other companies have used teams to help launch fun activities and keep the message live. These can be helpful ways to build momentum, just make sure everyone understands that culture-building must belong to everyone and it can never be outsourced to a specific person or department.
A final word of encouragement. Even if you don’t get support from your senior leadership team, it doesn’t mean that you can’t influence your own department or team.
I can’t tell you how many times I have worked with very conservative clients, where the culture difference between departments within the same company is like night and day.
So don’t be afraid to start within your own team. If you build momentum there and shake up the energy in a positive way, you may just end up infecting your entire company – in a good way!
“The number one premise of business is that it need not be boring or dull. It ought to be fun. If it’s not fun, you’re wasting your life.” Tom Peters
Michael Kerr is a Canadian Hall of Fame Speaker who speaks about inspiring workplace cultures, inspiring leaders, and businesses that leverage their humor resources to achieve outrageous results. Michael is the author of eight books, including The Humor Advantage: Why Some Businesses Are Laughing All the Way to the Bank and The Jerk-Free Workplace: How You Can Take the Lead to Create a Happier, More Inspiring Workplace. He is also the create of the online Culture Leadership Academy Course.
