Laughter…
Are you ‘allowed’ to be seen laughing at your workplace?
Birds connect with each other through singing. And laughter has a similar role among humans. Isn’t it fascinating?
And yet in so many corporate cultures, seeing people laughing will be immediately associated with poor work ethic, or not taking your job seriously. At best, laughter is accepted in very small amounts, and in very specific occasions.
So how do we foster a different type of environment? one that is laughter-ready?
Let’s take a step back…
If leadership was a staircase, the first step would be to build rapport with your people. And rapport is best built when the stakes are low.
Laughter then becomes that magical thing that connects people and helps you in your efforts to let your people have a great day at work. Because, when people feel affinity, they will also strive to do a better job.
And when they strive to do a better job, they will advance in their project and feel like they are making progress. And that is one of the key factors that MAKES A GOOD DAY AT WORK!
You want to make something meaningful in your job. You want to feel your job matters to the company
You want to make progress, to feel you are advancing and evolving.
What are the barriers to progress then?too big goals fear
And, in times of uncertainty and remote work, fear can really take over and fill the lack of communication that we experience when we are away from our peers and managers.
Studies prove in fact that working remotely increases productivity but significantly decreases interactions: these are down to 1/5 compared to when we sit in the same office with our teams. And not only this results in an overall sense of isolation, but it also reduces the amount of feedback from line manager, which can result in increased anxiety.
So much we can do as individuals, as managers and as peers to ensure we all have more good days at work, and being aware of the impact that additional call can have on us and on the receiver could be a good enough motivator to pick up the phone, shut down the voice in our brain that tries to talk us out of it and ring or ping that colleague.
The future of work is not about technology – AI will replace so many of our current jobs and activities.
The future of work is about humanity: human connection and creativity.
If you are finding yourself having a bad day at work, reconnect with your job’s why and connect with your line manager and other colleagues.
There is no shame in being vulnerable. It is liberating instead.