Are you a cheerleader at work? How do you make your staff contribute their best talents and skills? It’s amazing that with a little humor, you will make your company an enjoyable workplace for your people and you yourself.
Story 1:
WestJet Airlines crew had turned the usually boring safety announcement into a stand-up comedy routine. The crew has turned the usual “emergency landing announcement” into something so funny to its customers "The floor lighting will come on in the event of an emergency landing or a disco revival."
The CEO of WestJet believes that work should be fun. He sets examples through his own behavior, and by encouraging employees to enjoy their jobs. He makes it safe for the people he employs to use humor by leading the way.
And the payoff? All WestJet employees said they loved working for the company because it was so much fun. And their enjoyment was reflected in great service to the passengers. They expressed their appreciation of the humor and their intention to continue flying WestJet.
Story 2:
A team of welfare workers on the front-lines of a poor neighborhood, serving difficult, high-needs clients. And if that’s not tough enough, each has a caseload of about 100 pounds and works for an organization undergoing massive funding cuts, downsizing, and policy changes.
But every day after coffee, it's the same. The supervisor and two workers appear in the reception area. "What song do you wanna hear? Do you wanna hear Jazz? Rock? Folk?" Then, "playing" accordion folders and staple removers as finger cymbals, they launch into the world’s worst rendition of "Across the Universe" by John Lennon, to the hysterical laughter of their colleagues.
"It's our way of keeping up morale," says a team member. "We're so overwhelmed, so stressed, so burned out. This is how we keep our sanity."
Story 3:
An organization keeps cutting staffs until the people left feel like they can't cope anymore. Unfortunately, the organization didn't take into account what this would do to the morale of the "survivors."
Management was unwilling to listen to their concerns, and when anyone did voice them, they were labeled as disloyal. Teamwork plummeted, with employees adopting a "me first" attitude. The office atmosphere was poisonous, rife with gossip, rumors, and backstabbing.
"This feels like hell. I’d never recommend this company to anyone, and I just hope I can survive until I take early retirement," said one long-term employee.
Like the team of welfare workers, this group found themselves in a bad situation over which they had no control.
Sadly though, members were not encouraged to make use of humor. Instead, management saw it as a frivolous waste of time, a sentiment which came to be echoed by the employees. "We're living in hell. We're too busy to laugh, and besides, it won't change anything,” was a common refrain among employees.
Why is boosting morale important?
The team of welfare workers described above chooses to laugh. These relatively inexpensive interventions did nothing to change the adversity they faced, but they did create an atmosphere in which going to work was fun.
Hence, the big question for both individuals and organizations is: how do you keep up spirits, continue to work effectively, and maintain health and sanity in a crazy-making situation?
This has been proven in some pretty dire situations. Steve Lipman, who researched the use of humor during the Holocaust, cites an example of how a group of Auschwitz prisoners put on vaudeville shows to provide laughter for the camp population. Somehow these people, on the brink of death, realized that their morale and survival depended on keeping their ability to laugh alive.
Even though nothing could be as horrible as Auschwitz, people in almost all workplaces can learn from this example. Take the time and energy to share humor. In today's uncertain work environment, humor is a necessary way to boost morale. When employees clown around, they’re not wasting valuable time, they're making use of one of the few tools available to increase and maintain their esprit de corps. Laughter may not change the external reality, but it can certainly help people survive it.
Source: Human Resources
