The following is a guest piece by Jaime Anderson and Gabor George Burt.
In the beginning, there was humour and there was laughter. And it was good. But then, work became suffocatingly serious. Until now.
There’s an entire branch of social science that studies the psychological and physiological effects of humor and laughter on the brain and the immune system— it’s called gelotology.
Discoveries in this field have demonstrated that humour, laughter and fun releases physical and cognitive tension, which can lead to perceptual flexibility—a required component of creativity, ideation, and problem solving. So to get the most out of innovation processes such as design thinking, truly creative leaders also need to master the social dynamics of… [wait for the punchline}…humour!
But in the world of leadership, humour has typically been typecast as a manifestation of individual personalities and thereby a spontaneous and non-replicable activity. Much less attention has been given to the idea that humour might be acquired, learned and nurtured.
We have witnessed that skilled leaders, those we call “Stand-Up Strategists”, understand the utility of humour to boost innovation. In the words of IDEO founder Dave Kelly: “If you go into a culture and there’s a bunch of stiffs going around, I can guarantee they’re not likely to invent anything.”
Of course, humour can be highly subjective and what one person finds hilarious another person may not – so knowing your audience is paramount. It is therefore not surprising that business leaders who score high in the effective use of humour as a tool to boost innovation also tend to score high in emotional intelligence.
Creative leaders also have an intuitive appreciation of the four humour styles, and understand how these styles can be nurtured – or sometimes curtailed – in others.
The first three styles generally generate positive emotions, while the fourth is more typically associated with negative emotions and therefore has the most limited application with regard to enabling cognitive flexibility:
- Sense of Fun involves a leader projecting an energetic, positive, playful vibe, and having a generally humorous outlook. It also involves the ability to appreciate the humour and playfulness of others.
- Self-deprecating humour is the act of a leader to laugh at him/herself through self-belittlement, excessive modesty or downplaying own achievements. The purpose is to reduce power-distance.
- Social humour is about boosting human interaction, and is used by a leader to enhance relationships. It typically involves jokes or stories shared as a tool to reduce interpersonal tension, increase sociability and promote openness.
- Strong humour most often entails sarcasm or cynicism and is used by a leader as put-down, as a tool for hierarchical control, as a signal of dominance or to encourage conformity to group behavioural norms.
With his Groucho Marx moustache and quirky personality, IDEO’s Kelly is renowned for his sense of fun. Any visitor to an IDEO office immediately appreciates the importance of levity in the organization’s culture – indeed, having a sense of humour is a key criterion for recruitment into the firm.
Senior leaders – including Kelly himself – are sometimes self-deprecating, a cultural behaviour that reduces hierarchy and power-distance and ensure that ideas come from all ranks.
But while self-deprecating humour can reduce social distance and make leaders seem more collaborative, participative and open to their employees, leaders shouldn’t overdo it. Studies have shown that humorous self-criticism works much less well as a tool to engage with peers and superiors, and can even reduce one’s credibility with subordinates – if used excessively.
Social humour is practiced as part of the IDEO design thinking process that “encourages wild ideas” to take root. Even the most absurd perspectives are embraced, and people are encouraged to “defer judgement”. Team members openly make fun of failures related to the ideation process in a way that nurtures their collective, creative input.
Positive humour can also be utilized to reduce the pressure of stress associated with deadlines – not to make targets or challenges disappear, but to improve morale and increase solidarity of purpose.
IDEO embraces the understanding that individuals with a high sense of humour tend to experience less stress than individuals with a low sense of humour, even in situations where both face similar challenges. So Project Leaders are identified not on a basis of seniority, but for their track record of orchestrating positive social interactions between people – of which humour is a critical component.
The fun and humour-filled work culture at companies such as IDEO are well known, but efforts can start at the team or departmental level in any organization – even those not renowned for having fun-embracing corporate cultures.
Lilli Marten Christ is an energetic development manager who works for German automotive firm Daimler AG in China, and opens each of her weekly team meetings with a joke or a riddle. She has found it a useful approach for reducing hierarchy, boosting openness and increasing divergent thinking.
When it comes to boosting innovation the overwhelming focus should be on styles of humour that generate positive emotions. Just as there are rules for the design-thinking process at IDEO, there are unspoken rules about the humour that is acceptable – cynicism, ridicule, sexist and racist humour are considered completely inappropriate.
Inappropriate humour can stifle people’s creative confidence in any organization – not to mention contributing to reduced morale, absenteeism, the elevation of dysfunctional internal competition, and even company-level reputational damage.
But from a gelotological point of view, innovation is one of the few areas of business in which strong humour such as sarcasm can potentially pay dividends – so long as its practice is limited to environments in which people already know, trust and like each other. Research has shown that receiving sarcastic comments and other forms of strong humour from trusted co-workers can stimulate creativity without spurring conflict.
Pixar Animation Studios understands the power of such strong peer feedback. It has created what it calls its ‘Brain Trust’, consisting of a group of highly accomplished directors. When a director and producer feel in need of assistance, they convene the group and show the current version of a movie in progress. This is followed by a fiery discussion that can last up to two hours, unlocking provocative suggestions and constructive criticism.
The sessions are frequently punctuated by laughter, but nobody pulls any punches to be polite. This works because all the participants have come to trust and respect one another – but leadership still actively moderates to ensure that no red-lines are crossed. In these interactions, strong humour is never used as a put-down, as a tool for hierarchical control, or as a signal of dominance.
Discoveries in the field of gelotology also explain why companies such as IDEO, Google and Lego are investing in creating playful and fun work spaces. IDEO offices are designed to encourage fun and freedom of expression, with employees often designing their own work-spaces.
Today, we stand at the precipice of a new era. Future-shaping business leaders are re-discovering the power of humour as a vital driver of organizational success. “Stand-Up Strategists” are leaders who understand the utility of humour to boost creativity and innovation. The joke is on those who fail to seize the power of humour in guiding their organization’s ongoing relevance.
May the farce be with you.
Sources:
Beard, A. (2014) Leading with Humor, Harvard Business Review, May, Available at: https://hbr.org/2014/05/leading-with-humor [Accessed: 18 October 2017]
Catmul, E. (2008) How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity. Harvard Business Review, September, Vol. 86 Issue 9, p64‐72.
Huang, Li, F. Gino, and Adam D. Galinsky (2015). The Highest Form of Intelligence: Sarcasm Increases Creativity for Both Exressers and Recipients. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 131 (November), 162–177.
Zhang, G. (2014). Office Humor, London Business School Review (Online Edition), 4 February. Available at: https://www.london.edu/faculty-and-research/lbsr/office-humor#.WeXmkROCzJx [Accessed: 10 December 2017]
Jamie Anderson is Professor of Strategic Management at Antwerp Management School, and Visiting Professor at INSEAD. A three-time TED speaker, Jamie has been named as a “management guru” in the Financial Times, and has also been included on a list of the world’s “top 25 management thinkers” by the journal Business Strategy Review. To learn more about Jamie’s work, visit his website: www.jamieandersononline.com.
Gabor George Burt is a leading business transformationist and creator of the Slingshot Platform, enabling organizations to overstep perceived limitations, re-imagine market boundaries, and achieve sustained relevance. To learn more about Gabor’s work, visit his website: www.gaborgeorgeburt.com.