Humour and laughter in the workplace are important. Incorporating humour more effectively into your leadership strategy means you can defuse difficult situations, help reduce stress, build rapport, and be more approachable.

Humour is vital when virtual team-building which is why we’ve put together some tips for how we best incorporate it into our leadership style. Have a read and try them out with your team!

Tip 1: Creating your own comedic material

There’s a gentle balance when it comes to humour in the workplace, as you don’t want to be offensive. Personal experiences often provide the most genuine sources of humour. Look for humour in situations in your own life such as funny things you have said or been told, embarrassing moments, or unexpected happenings. Connect with difficult life events that have some humour in them. Humour comes from surprise. Tell a story that involves a surprise.

Tip 2: Be a Storyteller

Storytelling is a crucial skill as a leader. If you want to engage your team, whether it be to inspire them or have them reeling around in laughter then storytelling is the way to do it. 

“But I’m not a good storyteller/I don’t have any stories”, is a common rebuttal. It is also completely wrong. We tell stories all the time, whether it be about our weekend, the jerk that cut you off on the way to work, or that time your team won the grand final. Storytelling is simply the act of recounting events that show personal growth. This method will have your team hanging off your every word.

Think about a time recently in which you learned something new. It could be a new Zoom feature or something you picked up while watching a true crime documentary. You can tell a story about learning this by being cognizant of who you were before the knowledge, and who you are now. For example:

“I was in a Zoom call the other day and was sharing my screen for a presentation, I wanted it to be really engaging so I played an upbeat dance anthem to gee everyone up. It was an early morning and no one was vibing it. So I turned up the music louder. Tough crowd, everyone was staring back at me with blank faces. So I started dancing, saying to everyone “come on, dance with me”. It was at the moment that someone in the chat told me about the “share audio” feature that needed to be selected during screen share. And that’s how I learnt how to include audio during screen share”

Tell a story by setting the scene and explaining how you learned something new. 

You can also use storytelling to paint a picture about what goals you want to achieve:

“Imagine us sitting back after our next big event, smiles on our faces, uber eats on the way, and a handful of brand new clients that are now our best and most loyal customers, let’s make this a reality”

Tip 3: Know your audience

If you are going to use humour in a leadership position, understanding boundaries for its proper use is crucial. 

Understand your audience by:

• Paying attention to higher management’s attitudes toward humour
• Know the audience’s composition
• Love your audience as much as you poke fun at them
• Invite others into humour and do not assume they share your same humour sensibilities

This is all particularly important when using ad lib humour; completely knowing your audience is even more vital. Ad-libs can go horribly wrong if audience sensibilities have been misjudged. 

Do activities that lend themselves to humorous situations 

We have the perfect way to create humorous situations with your team via our virtual team-building events. They’re perfect for remote teams that are spread over multiple locations. Unlike Zoom or Teams, our platforms have been built for fun. Get a proposal today and check out our brand new Virtual Escape Room

I hope you enjoyed this article and found something useful in it. If you did drop us a line at hello@bananalife.com.au