Humour at work.
For some, that means a colleague who tries to make a joke in every meeting.
For others, it is that one WhatsApp group HR is better off not knowing exists. 😄
But humour at work is about more than trying to be funny.
Used well, humour can bring people closer, break tension and help us see one another as more than just the manager, a colleague or that person from finance for a moment.
And you really don't have to be a comedian to do that.
Humour isn't the same as having to be funny
The moment you tell someone, “We're going to do something funny now,” some people immediately become stressed.
Because what if you aren't funny?
Fortunately, humour doesn't have to mean telling jokes all the time.
Humour can also lie in how you look at a situation. In daring to point out something unexpected. In putting things into perspective. In exaggerating. In briefly looking at a situation from another angle.
“When people hear that I run a workshop on humour, they sometimes think they have to become funnier. That really isn't my intention at all.”
I don't want to teach people to play the office comedian.
Humour is much broader than telling jokes.
It is also about perspective, timing, daring to play with a situation and not taking everything deadly seriously from the outset.
And above all, humour needs to suit you.
The humour of a very extroverted colleague will look different from that of someone whose style is drier and more subtle.
Just as well.
If everyone had the same sense of humour, coffee breaks would become exceptionally tiring.
Laughing together creates connection
When people laugh together, something simple happens: for a moment, job titles and roles fade into the background.
You simply share the same moment.
That doesn't mean, of course, that a team that laughs a lot automatically works together perfectly.
But humour can help reduce the distance between people.
A joke, an unexpected comment or a shared absurd moment can sometimes create more connection than a carefully planned exercise in which everyone is required to share something personal.
Humour can break tension
Every workplace has moments when tension rises.
A difficult deadline.
A presentation that goes wrong.
A meeting where everyone senses that something is hanging in the air.
Humour can sometimes open up a situation like that.
Not by laughing the problem away, but by giving people room to breathe again and look at the situation from a different perspective.
“For me, humour works best when it opens something up. When people can breathe again, when it creates a little distance, or when you can name something that might otherwise remain unspoken.”
But humour isn't a universal fire extinguisher.
You can't solve every difficult situation with a joke.
Sometimes something simply needs to be discussed seriously.
And sometimes, in that moment, a joke is mainly a very efficient way to postpone the real conversation for another ten minutes.
So humour works best when you can also sense when to use it.
You don't have to be the loudest person in the room
Humour is often associated with extroverts.
The person with the quick response.
The person who tells stories.
The person who makes everyone laugh around the lunch table.
But humour can be just as subtle.
Some of the funniest people may say very little — but when they do say something, it lands.
“I personally love humour that isn't necessarily loud. A dry remark, an unexpected observation or a single sentence delivered at exactly the right moment can be much stronger than someone who is constantly trying to be funny.”
That is why I don't want to push anyone towards a particular kind of humour during a workshop.
You don't have to become the person who always makes the joke.
You can discover what kind of humour suits you.
Can you actually learn humour?
You probably can't turn someone into a stand-up comedian in a single workshop.
Fortunately, that isn't necessary at all.
But you can learn to look at how humour works.
Why do we find something unexpected funny?
What happens when you exaggerate a situation?
How does timing work?
Why can a particular choice of words suddenly make something much funnier?
And how can you learn not to shoot down an idea before you have even said it out loud?
“In Humor Effect, we work with perspective, timing, observation and daring to play with ideas, among other things.”
It isn't about learning twenty new jokes.
It is about learning to look at situations differently and discovering how to use humour in a way that feels natural.
In communication too.
In presentations too.
And when a situation is in danger of becoming just a little too serious.
Humour only works when people can laugh together
There is, of course, humour that doesn't connect at all.
A joke at a colleague's expense can be hilarious to one person and deeply hurtful to another.
“It was only a joke” isn't automatically a magic phrase that undoes everything that came before it.
So humour at work also requires a little awareness.
Are we laughing together, or are we laughing at someone?
That difference matters.
“To me, the distinction is quite simple: if the humour makes someone smaller, it quickly becomes something other than humour that creates connection.”
That doesn't mean humour always has to be tame.
Quite the opposite.
Humour can have an edge. It can be absurd. It can be unexpected.
But the question remains: who is paying the price for the joke?
You can also make yourself the subject very effectively. That is often both safer and more interesting than throwing someone else under the bus.
Humour creates room not to be perfect
Perhaps that is one of the most interesting sides of humour.
At work, we often try to appear professional, prepared and competent.
And of course, there is nothing wrong with that.
But no one has everything under control all the time.
Being able to laugh together when something goes wrong can make it easier to admit mistakes, try again and sometimes simply say:
“Okay. That didn't go according to plan at all.”
And then move on.
Humour doesn't necessarily take away the seriousness.
Sometimes it makes the seriousness easier to bear.
Humor Effect
In Humor Effect, Barbara Loots explores with participants how humour works and how it can be used in communication and collaboration.
The aim isn't to send twenty new comedians back to the office afterwards.
That would probably become tiring too.
“I created Humor Effect because, to me, humour is about far more than making people laugh.”
Humour is a way to make contact, change perspective and sometimes create a little space when everything becomes very serious.
I want people to discover what kind of humour suits them and how they can use it without having to play a part.
You don't need to be the funniest person on the team.
You don't even need to be particularly funny.
Above all, you need to dare to look, try and sometimes say something when you aren't entirely sure how it will land.
And if it doesn't work?
Then you immediately have something to laugh about.
Humour at work isn't an end in itself
You don't need to turn your office into a comedy club.
Humour works well precisely when it is woven into the way people communicate with one another.
A little perspective.
An unexpected observation.
Being able to laugh together when something doesn't go according to plan.
Or simply remembering that there is still a person behind that job title.
That may be the power of humour at work.
Not that everyone laughs all the time.
But that there is enough room to laugh together sometimes.