Humour has been proven to improve employee health, productivity, and leader effectiveness in the workplace. The benefits of laughter and humour are indisputable, however, humour remains a very underutilised tool in the workplace. Why?
I have had many conversations about the use of humour over the years, and I believe the reason humour is not used to its full potential in the workplace is that it is misunderstood and people are scared to use it. They are scared because they don’t want to be embarrassed if it doesn’t work, and because they don’t know how to use it safely and don’t want to offend anyone or lose their job. Which is fair enough, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
With over 15 years in the Comedy Industry, I have learnt a lot about how to generate laughter, use humour and the positive impact it can have on the people around me. Now I help people develop their Comic Intelligence which is the skill to combine the power of LAUGHTER AND HUMOUR to improve outcomes for oneself and others.
“Comic Intelligence is the skill to combine the power of LAUGHTER AND HUMOUR to improve outcomes for oneself and others.”
If you want to start using more humour but don’t know where to start, the safest way is to use Comic Intelligence. Comic Intelligence is not about being funny, cracking jokes and getting laughs. It’s the skilful use of generating laughter and using humour for the purposes of connection, engagement and making people feel good.
To develop your Comic Intelligence, it requires focus in 3 key areas:
- Skills – improving your ability to safely generate laughter through the use of humour
- Situation – being able to navigate any situation or interaction successfully
- Self – having the ability, confidence and certainty within yourself to utilise your skills in any situation
ABOVE: Areas of Focus for Developing Your Comic Intelligence
If you think about a Stand Up Comedian, obviously they need to have skills in getting their audience to laugh, and they have to be ok with themselves to the point where they can get on stage in the first place. But the outstanding comedians can adapt, change and tailor their performance depending on the audience. They can manage any audience and hold the space for them, so their audience receives a great experience.
And that’s what Comic Intelligence is all about. Having the skills to generate laughter and use humour to connect and engage with others, being able to lead a situation or interaction with an employee, customer, client or supplier. And being ok with yourself that you can be confident and certain in each interaction (be it one-on-one or in a group setting) that you can hold the space and not let personal emotions and reactions get in the way of providing a great outcome.
If you’d like to find out more about how you can develop your Comic Intelligence, be sure to sign up to my weekly email updates and join me on my upcoming training webinar. For more details, CLICK HERE.
COMIC INTELLIGENCE IS RELEVANT FOR:
Leadership, Marketing, Sales, Retail, Customer Service, CX
CATEGORIES COMIC INTELLIGENCE CAN HELP YOUR ORGANISATION WITH:
Leadership, Change Management, Corporate Culture, Communication, Creative Thinking, Team Building, Mental Health, Adversity, Change Management, Health/Lifestyle/Wellbeing, Motivation, Inspiration, Wellness & Health, Presentation Skills, Comedy & Humour.
Would you like Kate to help your organisation develop it’s Comic Intelligence?
Download Kate’s Speaker Kit now for information on her training programs.
