Are you open to Learn, Laugh and Let it go? by Santhanaram Jayaram MBA
The climate of the work environment has certainly changed over time because it used to be that you checked your humor at the door. We use to associate laughter as a bad thing and would not take anyone seriously if they laugh too much. Anyone who was caught cracking it up or laughing would most certainly have been ostracized but it is really that kind of attitude that enables one to persevere. Due to this perception, many organizations give laughter a lower priority. The danger to this could be the rise of a toxic environment. People getting overstretched with the workload and overstressed. People working in isolation and not opening up to each other. People not trusting each other and walking away with misunderstanding and ill feelings. There is hope. Learn, Laugh, and Let it go.
It is important to learn how to open up space around you and make work more fun.
1. Laughter is a wonderful remedy for managing stress
Laughter is a natural stress reliever because it releases powerful chemicals called endorphins, which literally make you feel better.
When workload is extremely heavy or challenges are great due to cutbacks, layoffs, or restructuring. When staff members are dealing with great stress due to increased workloads or impending layoffs, a joyful opportunity to laugh and share some funny news can be just the kind of “therapy” the organization needs.
Laughter at work is a wonderful thing! A little laughter can go a long way in making people more productive and friendly. When co-workers take a moment from their duties to smile or laugh together, studies have shown that it can lead to:
Fewer sick days
Increased sales and productivity
A healthier working environment
Learn, Laugh and Let it go.
Breaking for Laughter - Considering the amount of lost time companies experience because of sick or stressed out employees, companies may be better off incorporating a little laughter into the day. Perhaps we can replace the "smoke break" with the “laughter break!” It doesn't take a researcher to figure out that employees who enjoy their jobs better work more efficiently and more effectively. Organize some time during lunch to go out to an open space and stretch your happiness by laughing, sharing funny moments and even just smiling at each other.
Learn, Laugh and Let it go.
Connecting with Laughter. Laughter can help you on a personal level and on a corporate level because laughter is easy to incorporate into any company. Research shows that laughter does help increase or encourage things like hope and optimism, which can in turn help one feel better about themselves. Laughter is like a cool rain on a warm day because it clears away emotional debris that can weigh you down. The more be share the more we care. I believe that the more you encourage an open dialogue session, you could reduce misunderstanding in communication and clarify for better understanding. You will be surprised that when you share your current challenges, you might be able to identify similar pain points.
You could put more fun into work - If companies want to go from merely surviving to thriving, they have to be adaptable to change and they also have to learn to do more with less. Companies are always looking for to help stressed out employees and this is exactly where something like laughter therapy can come into play.
Learn, Laugh and Let it go.
Take a vacation from your seriousness - It is is like taking a vacation. Change your environment and break the pattern. It would help you to move away from the emotional serious loop to a more light hearted environment. Learning how to lighten up on the job and learning how to take yourself a little less seriously while working can help boost productivity and increase employee morale. When it comes right down to it, your sense of humor is a powerful coping mechanism.
Having a sense of humor should actually be a much coveted skill because those who have a sense of humor tend to laugh at themselves more and roll with the punches. Humor is a skill that can serve both the employee and the company well because people that have a sense of humor are also more likely to take the initiative more. Learning to laugh at yourself and your own mistakes.
Learn, Laugh and Let it go.
Bringing your sense of humor to the job will help you and everyone around you to work more effectively and more productive because laughter acts like a giant relief valve
Laughter, the giant relief valve - Laughter helps you deal with difficult projects, tight deadlines and too much work with too little time, you can make your life much more manageable. While some people may claim to thrive under pressure, it is not something that can be maintained day in and day out with no adverse effects. Laughter is a powerful tool to release the tension in your body.
Laughter has healing and restorative properties and it is an amazing tool that anyone can use.
Open your self up to possibilities
Laughter can:
Improve your mood and add joy to your life
Improve your resilience and immunity
Relieve stress and anxiety
Strengthen relationships
Promote bonding and help defuse conflict and enhance teamwork, making it a great tool for companies as well as individuals.
Boost the immune system and circulatory system
Enhance oxygen intake and stimulate the heart and lungs
Relax muscles throughout the body
Trigger the release of endorphins (the body’s natural painkillers)
Ease digestion/soothes stomach aches
Relieve pain
Balance blood pressure
Improve mental functions (i.e., alertness, memory, creativity)
In conclusion, laughter therapy helps improve one's attitude and it is a powerful mood booster. Laughter can reduce stress and ease tension and it can promote
relaxation. It helps you sleep better and enhances the quality of your life in every way. It can also help to strengthen your social bonds and your relationships as well, because it can enhance your sense of well-being.
Laughter may just be one of one the best medicine's there is. If you don't believe me, try it for yourself! Learn, Laugh and Let it go!
Why Laughter and Having Fun at the Work Space is Important to Productivity
Much is known about laughter and its impact on overall health. Research has long supported the idea that laughter and health are interdependent, and hospitals and nursing homes have begun to include daily and weekly focus on laughter promoting activities. Many hospitals are even offering stand-up comedians and clowns for their patients. But why is laughter important in the workplace? And how can your workspace become more effective with the simple addition of a little fun?
Laughter creates a special bonding. Recall a moment when you were in a public place where you witnessed an amusing incident. During times of unexpected amusement, people who are complete strangers will make eye contact and laugh together. Their conversations suddenly become effortless. Two strangers sharing a moment of humor and fun will demonstrate body language that looks like they have known one another their entire lives. Laughter appears to be a component of the genetic endowment handed down from generations of surviving forefathers.
The genetic endowment is like an inherited rule-book on survival that those before us have learned. These are lessons that survive from the caveman and early explorers who faced harsh survival conditions where only the strongest or most clever survived. The physical changes occurring in their brains from learning survival of the harshest conditions were then passed onto their offspring who in turn provided them to their own offspring. One such bit of genetic “gift” is our innate ability to look at snake eyes and understand if they will kill us. This is a fact no one is ever taught, it is an instinctive reaction to retreat from slatted eyes. Even children as young as two years of age have been shown to shrink away from a large photograph of a poisonous snake.
Laughter may be another aspect of the genetic endowment. There may be a rulebook similar to survival lessons except these innate rules favor socialization tactics. It is difficult to understand how so many people appear to have the same exact sense of humor as those around them. A stand-up comic will appeal to nearly everyone in the audience or conversely everyone will hate him. It is a rare thing indeed to see a comic that you believe is hilarious as others throw their nose up in the air. So how can laughter contribute to survival and be so important that it gets passed down genetically to your offspring? Benefits of humor and fun have been well-researched.
Survival of the race is the single most powerful force on the planet. Mothers instinctively kill to protect their children, and in truth they would put themselves in harm to protect the child of a stranger. Sex is a very powerful force that needs no further discussion here. The truth is the will to survive coupled with the powerful, immediate bonding of laughter would lead a thoughtful person to assume, laughter is about survival of the species. Add in what we know about the physiological and psychological benefits of humor and fun and assumptions can go further.
Hospitals provide comedy, humor and fun, especially cancer treatment centers for adults and children alike. Without a couple to raise a child, that child’s chances of survival are lowered when living in a single family home. A father traditionally would have been the hunter and the protector. If a wild beast appeared, the father would protect the genetic offspring to ensure survival of his species. The mother too is free to care more specifically for the child if the father provides food and protection. Laughter creates an immediate bond with strangers but more importantly it can establish re-bonding with committed partners. When people laugh, enjoying humor and fun together; and when they are in relationships with family and friends, they survive and that survival includes a higher quality of living.
Because laughter is so important to overall survival, could it be that laughter would help ensure the survival of your company? Through laughter and bonding, powerful work relationships would be formed and their work more effective and efficient. Bringing humor and fun into the workplace will increase productivity. When people laugh together they form a sense of trust. After all, if I believe something is funny and my friend believes the same, then he must be “normal” like I am.
How can you create laughter in the workplace? Well beyond the obvious of having clowns or comedians disrupting the office, there are other ways to do it. Lighten up on the work environment. An oppressive environment is one in which there is little room for laughter. If you set up friendly competition in the office, then the natural result will be playful laughter among competitors. If you institute lunchtime dance lines or allow workers to hum or listen to music as they work, again, laughter will result.
Efficiency and quality of work need not be sacrificed for the life sustained sensations of laughter. Through specific time frames placed upon identified objectives, playful competition can actually increase outcome. It will be important to define the parameters of play for you don’t want the office to resemble a day-care center. If the entire focus is on productivity and not vacation; then your employees will understand the changes and will surprise you by their focus.
Laughter heals and it ensures our survival. Work makes us feel important and needed, again factors related to survival. Competition and music appear to live deep inside of our souls and will naturally take on a playful quality even in the fiercest of competitions. By organizing effectively and having clearly defined goals and stated time constraints, you can fill your workplace with music, laughter, and competition and become a more effective machine for productivity in the professional office.