In addition to a great resume and superior references, you might want to pack a little humor along on your next interview. From first impressions to the so-called daily grind, professionals are finding that the use of humor can perform workplace wonders. It may aid communication, establish empathy, diffuse tough situations and even build the bottom line.
Studies show that humor may increase productivity on the job. Research by Lee Berk, a medical researcher in humor and laughter, shows that good-natured or mirthful laughter can:
Increase the immune system's activity;
Decrease stress hormones, which constrict blood vessels and suppress immune activity; and
Increase the antibody immunoglobulin A, which protects the upper-respiratory tract.
"Who wouldn't want that kind of benefit?" says Dr. Berk, an assistant professor of family medicine at the Susan Samueli Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the University of California, Irvine. Dr. Berk co-authored an extensive study on laughter with Stanley Tan while with California's Loma Linda University School of Medicine.
Their study shows that if you're using or experiencing positive humor, the whole brain is involved, not just one side, and that there's more coordination between both sides. "As a result of using humor, we experience the diminishment of classical stress," he says. "When one utilizes humor, it makes you less on edge, lowers your blood pressure and your heart rate and allows you to think more clearly."
When you experience or use good-natured humor, "your biology has changed. Your stress hormones have been lowered and your immune system optimized," says Dr. Berk. "Using humor and laughter in our work environment counters all the negative effects of that environment."
Positive humor, as opposed to negative or mean-spirited joking, is beneficial in the workplace for other reasons. From job interviews to daily interactions, using humor can enhance career success. Here's why:
Job candidates worry that they won't seem serious during interviews. But coming across as easy to work with is important as well, and humor can aid in this impression.
As a hiring manager in the corporate workplace, Lou Heckler, a professional speaker and humorist in Gainesville, Fla., says he often was asked if candidates he interviewed seemed easy to work with. This quality "is definitely a factor" in hiring decisions, he says.
Candidates have plenty of opportunity to show an appropriate sense of humor during the interview process. For instance, when glitches arise, such as long waits, postponed meetings or misplaced resumes, the ability to relax, laugh appropriately and "go with the flow" will help you to be perceived as flexible.
Naturally, avoid all sexist, racist, crude and mean-spirited overtones when using humor. Others' reactions are the best gauge of whether humor works, and if there's a question about whether a remark is appropriate, it usually isn't.
Further, during an interview you can learn whether an employer encourages humor, says Mr. Heckler. Evidence of humor -- or the lack of it -- should be apparent, including posted cartoons, slogans and pictures and how employees treat each other.
This humor should be lighthearted. As Mr. Heckler notes, "I can work for someone for a short period of time with a sense of fear, but not for a long period."
As a free-lance advertising copywriter based in Carlsbad, Calif., Jill Easton often meets with new clients to pitch business. "You can walk into a business situation with the best plans, the most professional presentations," she says. "The decision about whether to hire you boils down to whether they like you or not."
Ms. Easton learned this early in her career while working in New York as a junior copywriter. The agency sent her to Dallas to make a presentation to a beverage company. The storyboard -- a visual depiction of the ad campaign -- showed musical lyrics and dancers in the ad, which she duly described to the client's decision-makers.
"We're not going to spend $100,000 unless we know what it sounds like," one executive responded. So she belted out the song. He then said, "I'm not going to spend $100,000 unless I know what the dancing looks like." "So I danced around in my Evan Picone suit and did 'shuffle off to Buffalo' and the 'Suzy Q' around the conference room," Ms. Easton says. She landed the account.
Later, Ms. Easton was interviewing for a job in New York when she met an interviewer who took a dislike to her California background. Finally, Ms. Easton told him in a lighthearted tone: "I'm not blond. I'm a brunette. I've never surfed a day in my life. I won't eat tofu or sprouts." The humor helped break the ice. She was later offered the job.
Ms. Easton says hilarious behind-the-scenes stories help put other participants in business meetings at ease. One story describes how, while filming a commercial at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, she and the crew on a flatbed truck were charged by two rhinos. Their handlers told the frightened crew the rhinos were "just playing." Meanwhile, an emu put its head over a fence and bit Ms. Easton's head. "This isn't in my job description," she said repeatedly.
Laughter reduces stress because it's relaxing and calming, says Steve Wilson, founder of the World Laughter Tour Inc., an organization based in Gahanna, Ohio, that promotes therapeutic laughter and a vision of world peace through laughter. He teaches "laughter yoga," a therapy started in India in 1995 that teaches people to laugh without using jokes.
"Laughter improves creativity and problem-solving. It activates the limbic system in the brain, connecting the right and left sides. It helps you do more whole brain work," he says.
Under acute stress, the two hemispheres of the brain become disconnected. For instance, if you're late to work or an event, you'll fumble, drop things and make mistakes. Laughter works as a relaxation response and calms the system. "One of the myths is that laughter is trivial," he says. "It's very powerful." Merely smiling can be healing and reassuring..
Robert Harris, a real-estate agent with Troop Real Estate in Simi Valley, Calif., attributes much of his success to using humor in his job.
"I take what I do very seriously, but buying a house is one of the most stressful acts a person can participate in," says Mr. Harris, who expects to close more than $30 million in sales in 2001. "Introducing some humor or lighthearted moments helps relieve stress for all parties."
For example, Mr. Harris took a couple to see a home, but it was dark, and, unbeknownst to him, the electricity had been turned off. He turned a potentially awkward and embarrassing situation into a lighthearted one with such comments as, "If you could see the dining room, you would notice a lovely chandelier, " and "Since you can't see the carpet, perhaps you might feel the plush with your feet."
In a field that lends itself to frustration and delays, Mr. Harris tries to make buyers and sellers more comfortable by interjecting humor. "Most of my business is from referrals. I think that people come back to me both from the smoothness of the transaction and because they enjoyed being with me," he says.
The first time a new employee laughs with new co-workers is usually the first time he or she feels part of the team in a new environment. Says Mr. Wilson, "You know you have an 'inside joke' when everybody at work laughs, but nobody at home does." Ironic or "black humor" can even have a place. "It doesn't mean we aren't compassionate," he says. "We're discharging tension."
Richard Jacobson, a news anchor with a Los Angeles radio station, says having an ironic sense of humor helps him and, sometimes, his listeners. "As a journalist, you encounter the rough edges of society much like firefighters, policemen and physicians. A certain amount of humor allows you to keep your emotional equilibrium," says Mr. Jacobson.
He likes to end newscasts with back-of-the-book stories. He might introduce police-blotter items by saying, "And now for another chapter of stupid criminal tricks." After telling the story of a man who was trapped unhurt in a sewer overnight, Mr. Jacobson played Art Carney's "The Sewer Song" from "The Honeymooners." Another story described a criminal who ordered pizza and then robbed the deliveryman. Talk about leaving a trail!
Making the Effort
It isn't always easy to find humor in business. Daniel Saintjean, a Montreal publisher and professional speaker, says it takes effort to incorporate humor into presentations, e-mails and letters, but using a funny quote, cartoon or other humor "has the effect of loosening someone's tie or shoelaces. It relaxes them for a moment."
President Bush used this technique at a ceremony commemorating National Hispanic Heritage month on Sept. 28, 2001. It was an emotional event that included Latin singers and representatives from the Hispanic community. When Mr. Bush stood to speak, he said, "Mi Casa Blanca, es su Casa Blanca." This light joke visibly lifted the heavy mood.
In his workshops and speeches, Mr. Heckler promotes finding humor in the workplace. "Humor is what's obvious, but we have been trained to be too polite to mention it," he says. He hunts for mirth in posted signs. At one meeting, he noticed a sign that read: "For restrooms: Use stairs." He once saw this notice in a tattoo parlor: "All work done while you wait." He asks: What's the alternative?
He's mentioned Sept. 11 in all his speeches since the attack, but still preaches the benefits of humor. While it may seem rude or unfeeling to inject humor during this time in U.S. history, he notes that humor is needed more than ever now "to maintain our equilibrium, indeed, our souls."
