Workplace humour is an important key to outstanding leadership. As business leaders and managers, using humour in the workplace can build trust, strengthen employee engagement, unleash more creativity in the team, and build a more resilient company culture.
While a sense of humour can be an effective leadership tool, it depends on how that humour is used. Humour, when used right, can strengthen your leadership. But it can also go the wrong way.
Did you know there is a type of humour, when used in a leadership context, could damage your credibility or, worse… the reputation of your whole career?
If You Want To Be “Funny” Use Self-Deprecating Humour
As a humour coach, I often hear, “if you want to be funny, use self-deprecating humour.”
And I totally agree!
Being able to laugh at yourself and not take yourself too seriously is a great way to get a laugh.
IF A LAUGH IS ALL YOU CARE ABOUT!
But from a Leadership point of view, “being funny” is probably a misguided use of humour. Humour used strategically in the workplace can alter people’s moods, help with connection and employee engagement.
Humour also makes you much more approachable and helps build trust with others.
When we look at self-deprecating humour through this lens, all of a sudden, it’s not quite as appealing or necessary to get the “laugh”, when we could be focusing on using humour as the ACE up our sleeve – Alter, Connect, Engage.
Why Self-Deprecating Humour Doesn’t Work Well for Leaders
Self-deprecating humour is all about having a go at yourself, pointing out your inadequacies or attacking yourself so that others get a laugh.
However, if you are a leader, using self-deprecating humour is the wrong focus.
Removes your authority
What self-deprecating humour does in a leadership context is it removes your authority. I don’t mean from a power context, but a respected leadership context.
If you are tearing yourself down for the sake of a laugh, it permits others to do the same. It doesn’t position you as a respected leader and is a slippery slope to disrespect.
Feeds the impostor syndrome
When you start using self-deprecating syndrome, this feeds all the stories that you are talking about with impostor syndrome. If there is any doubt in your mind that you are meant to be where you are, or doing what you are doing, then self-deprecating humour is just going to feed that insecurity and doubt and will grow rampant in your mind.
If you tell others that you aren’t good enough or capable enough as a leader, just to get some laughs, your impostor syndrome will kick in, and your inner critic will agree with these stories.
Remember, what you tell yourself is as important as what you tell your team. So please make sure that you have all of these things aligned.
A Better Way To Use Humour
A better way to use humour is to use “Comic Intelligence”. Where the humour you use is relevant to the purpose of your role and the outcomes you want to achieve, and it engages your people.
