How Stand-Up Skills Boost Workplace Performance

I’d like to gift you the first line, the set-up, to a brilliant joke/story.

‘I got food poisoning last week.’

There you go. For now.

The simple pay-off is coming up.

Now, some savvy insights for non-comedians, aka, Grockles.

To become truly hilarious and able to make a living as a stand-up comedian, well, it takes years.

It is the tough and admirable starting destiny for every wannabe comedian to commence their journey as, at best, mildly amusing. Then their comedy skills slowly build and so do the laughs…

Alternatively, there are those who wish to use humour, levity, to boost their non-stand-up career. Some folk merely thirst to make their world, business and beyond, a better place. 

In the workplace, being ‘‘mildly amusing’ is typically more than good enough. In fact, it’s often ideal.

The perks to ‘mildly amusing’ are legion.

Levity. Raising a smile, a chuckle, memorable goodwill…

Stand-up comedians aim for the brilliant, hard-to-reach, high bar of hilarity.

Levity? It’s easy reach. Fun and effective.

Essential notions of stand-up and storytelling can be priceless when applied appropriately.

Quality research demonstrates that they improve social bonds, boost creativity and elevate perceived status.

When telling a story, we can set a tone, deliver information that we want to share, pre-empt questions we'll be asked anyway. We can delight, connect and engage.

Further opportunities to apply some levity are all around us. 

• An email sign off
• Working a negotiation 
• Asking a question
• Answering a question
• Writing an Out-of-Office Auto Reply… and so very much more.

Once a few comedy tactics are understood, almost anyone can give the impression of being witty and fast thinking. Simple stand-up skills make this fun, easy and highly rewarding.

Fostering levity in the workplace isn’t just about having fun. To quote an especially flat, charmless and permanently red-faced parent of an old school friend, 'Fun is over-rated!'

Having fun may not be enough. In a professional for-profit world, it probably isn't. Thankfully, we can enjoy the seamless overlap in creating an environment where people feel engaged, connected, and empowered to do their best work. 

Here are some deeply researched key benefits for businesses that embrace levity:

• Increased creativity: A light-hearted atmosphere encourages out-of-the-box thinking. You know, like comedians, who traffic in original thinking and engaging delivery.
• Establishing fast rapport: You only get one opportunity to make a first impression. Every stand-up knows this, and they work high-stakes every time. Which is why they employ powerful techniques to get along, and get on, quickly.
• Enhanced collaboration: Teams work better together when they share moments of humour and connection. Teams that share laughter when times are good, are considerably more resilient when times are tough.
• Improved stress management: Levity helps employees navigate high-pressure situations with greater ease. Team members who laugh frequently actually experience lower stress and blood pressure.
• Stronger client relationships: Humour builds rapport and trust not only within teams, but also with clients and prospects.
• Higher employee engagement: A positive workplace culture leads to greater job satisfaction and retention.
• Boosted productivity: Happy employees are more motivated and productive. Let's not forget, there is immense value in the simple fact that employees are happier.
• Better problem-solving: Humour helps reframe challenges, making them easier to tackle. Identifying amusing concepts, recognizing patterns are more transferable skills.
• Memorable presentations: Hooking attention at the beginning of any creative endeavour, be it a meeting, a pitch or a campaign tends to be a real positive. An appropriate sprinkling of humour makes any presentation stand out.
• Approachable leadership: Leaders who use humour are seen as more relatable and inspiring.

Cultures of levity build confidence, creativity, resilience, and enhanced abilities to connect meaningfully with others.

Naturally, such soft skills work pretty much everywhere, with everyone. This includes friends, family and of course, our tardy sworn enemies.

Just ask any stand-up comedian if raising laughter does wonders for their self-esteem and confidence (IMHO that’s why at least half of them do comedy at all).

The research is crystal clear. We attain positive social points for simply trying to raise a laugh. 

Take reassurance, however, that laughs aren’t really the target. They're entirely likely, but not our hard objective.

A chuckle, a friendly snort, a smile… These are all big wins on our levity-o-meter. Remember, the levity bar is a low one. Yet the upside is higher than a hippie in a hot-air balloon.

Better still, if those around you apply a few of their lessons in levity, your work world is ever more enhanced.

Any comedian will tell you that chuckles, laughs, good vibes, are contagious. This understanding is precisely why comedy club promoters seat audiences as close together as possible.

Professional funny folk have so many more skills and insights that benefit business…

• Understanding ways of identifying the perfect word, or wording
• Powerful and efficient drafting and redrafting techniques
• Recognizing patterns and creating fascinating ‘wonky’ versions  
• (Mis)directing the expectations of any audience and delighting with surprise 

Wonderfully, the exact same comedy technique could be employed by two different people, and get two utterly different, and equally pleasing, outcomes.

Since we'll spend around a third of our adult life at work. Where better to inject, and enjoy, some more gentle wit and playfulness?

Earlier I gave you the set-up for a joke. In my opinion, a wonderful gag, written by the American comedy genius, Steven Wright.

The case can be made that, on some level, it’s also a story.

After all, mental pictures are being painted in our mind, a journey, of sorts, takes place. Character is developed.

‘I got food poisoning last week. (Pause) I haven’t yet decided who to use it on.’

Fifteen words!

If nothing else, it’s efficient use of language.

Which is, by any metric, a core skill, and especially effective with comedy.

No joke ever became funnier through it being explained. So, please do excuse me, Mr Wright.

The set-up drives the audience into a mood of sympathy. Fast switch into perceiving a psycho, when the punch lands.

In the same microsecond, the audience perform mental contortions as they realise logic prevails. Their assumption is wrong. They have gone from here to there… surprise, amusement and delight.

It’s a reflex action. Cue laughter.

The results can be potent. It could be a smile. Sometimes a chuckle. Perhaps enjoying the company of another person so much that a new friendship is born. Cards on the table, in extreme cases, thigh-slapping has been recorded (one's own thigh, for clarity).

If you smile when you say it… you can get away with a lot more.

Yet, using sarcasm in the written form is riven with risk. God created emojis for a reason!

Real people are going to be around you, one way or another.

It makes sense that you offer them, if even just occasionally, a more fun version of yourself. Perhaps with a pleasing ‘take’ on our shared world of work?

The likely result is that these good people will tend to like you a little more. Heck, we’ll probably end up liking ourselves more. Making other people happier will have that effect.

If they like us, they are listening to us… and then, just how much easier is it to get our message across?

In an increasingly digital and AI-driven world, the ability to connect on a human level has never been more important.

Simple levity techniques can be learned and opportunities to apply them surround us all.