Before Christmas, Galia and I borrowed a small mountain of books
from the Auckland University Library. We both love the smell and
feel of libraries, so it was a happy way to spend a morning. Only
when we could carry no more did we call it quits.
Four of the books in my stack had
the theme of leadership. Two of them were under 200 pages long
which made them shoo-ins for my priority summer holiday reading.
They also looked a little lighter in tone as well as in grammes
than the other two! The one I'll review here was Secrets of
Connecting Leadership & Learning with Humor by Peter M.
Jonas. Jonas is a director of institutional research, an assistant
dean and a faculty member in the areas of research and leadership
at Cardinal Stritch University in the USA. The book was published
byMcGraw-Hill in 2004 in paperback, with funky colours, including
joke graphics of the male and female brains. You know the ones -
they show large areas of cerebellum devoted to the preoccupations
of sex and chocolate respectively.
I recently took the Values in Action survey, part of the Positive
Psychology suite of tests freely available online, and discovered
that humour is one of my signature strengths. An exercise in
personal branding also revealed that one of the things people
associate with me is "likes to laugh." Thus, I was intrigued to
read more about humour and its uses in the workplace.
This is a book that has several pages of academic references at
the back but still managed to make me laugh. Jonas begins with a
research based approach to humour, largely leaving the theoretical
underpinnings to leadership and learning to other authors. He
freely admits that they are all challenging concepts to research,
define and codify. The concept of humour probably changes a lot
less than what people find humorous at any point in history.
Jonas quickly sidesteps definitions in favour of examples and
finding common variables. One of these is social context, in which
the audience must be informed or knowledgeable about the social
context of the joke so they can relate to it. I guess that's why
David Brent's antics in The Office are so painfully funny
to so many of us.
But humour is an art, with a lot of judgement required… The
audience mustn't relate too closely to the joke because another
variable is the need for a degree of detachment. People are more
willing to laugh at things that don't touch too close to home or
feel like personal affronts. Indeed, a number of Jonas's personal
experiences of failed jokes and stories come down to this point. He
recommends first person stories because they help tell a human side
to the story and are thus less offensive.
His section on the purposes of humour in leadership interested
me. He proposes four reasons why leaders should consider using
humour:
- Contrasting Incongruent Ideas
(Or "If you can't convince them, confuse them." - Harry S.
Truman)
When a team or class fails to understand a complex or incongruent
situation, humour can be a way for the leader to acknowledge it and
put it out into the open for discussion. If the leader shares some
of the group's confusion, humour also can be a way to signal it and
become part of the group. Two of the most obvious uses of
incongruent ideas for humour are the oxymoron (think 'exact
estimate' and 'military intelligence') and, my old favourite, the
pun. Unexpected or surprising endings to stories also fit
here.
- Provide a Feeling of Superiority over
Others
(Or "It is frustrating when you know all the answers but nobody
bothers to ask you the questions.")
While the leader has to treat this purpose very carefully - 'the
sword that is used to point can also be used to cut' - it can work
well as self-deprecation. A leader who can laugh at himself looks
human and confident and makes the members of his audience feel a
little better about themselves
- Releasing Strain and Tension
(Or "Most of us are willing to change, not because we see the
light, but because we feel the heat.")
Here I recognised my own common motivation for using humour at
work. It's a way to break the ice, reduce tension and open
communication lines. Jonas suggests there's no one right joke for
this situation though the knock-knocks and light-bulb changing ones
are pretty safe, and he also finds lists an excellent way of
combining humour and content. For the leader, lightening the mood
of the group can be a way to allay his own concerns and to help him
feel more in control.
- Coping with an Ambiguous Audience or
Environment
(Or "I describe the present and because so many people have not
arrived here, to them it sounds like the future.")
Leaders are often at the centre of the awkward event such as at
those times they need to give instructions or directions to others.
Humour can help people relax in uncomfortable situations and
provide some comfort to the group. Jonas recommends related stories
as a way for leaders to join the group and help others cope.
Related stories are ones that connect, for example, to the
situation or industry.
He points out that leaders who can use humour successfully,
which includes being able to flex the kind of humour to the
situation, are better communicators, more liked, and their messages
may be remembered for longer. It may help them get a job, too! In a
survey by Culberson (2000), 98% of 737 CEOs said they would rather
hire someone with humour over another candidate with the same
qualifications but no humour.
Jonas regularly returns to his few rules of thumb:
- Know your audience's likes and dislikes. Listen to them!
- Be sincere with the content of your message and its humour
- Set up the joke, get in and get out. Don't admire your
work
- And if the joke doesn't work, don't give up on humour, try and
figure out what went wrong!
Like other academic books, Jonas "returns" several times to his
various themes albeit they appear in various guises. Variables,
purposes, tools... you get the idea. Because he was entertaining me
I put up with it.
What about humour and learning? I'll leave the chapters on this
for you to discover but the news looks good. When people are
laughing, the brain seems to operate more efficiently and
symmetrically between the hemispheres (Scriven and Hefferin 1998).
This apparently leads to heightened creativity. And with laughter
claimed to be as effective as aerobic exercise, it's easy to see
that humour is good for you, mind, soul and body!
This book ends with a selection of inspiring material. Jonas has
brought together fourteen pages of interesting sayings, stories and
lists. And my favourite? Sorry, I can't pick one, so it will have
to be three (all short):
-
Don't be irreplaceable. If you
can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.
-
Experience is something you
don't get till just after you need it.
-
A closed mouth gathers no
foot.
This book is available at Amazon.
©Professionelle Ltd 2008