As a leader, have you ever thought about using humor to build connections and drive progress within your team? Many of us view humor as something reserved for our personal lives. In reality, however, it can be an effective tool for humanizing our leadership and strengthening team dynamics.
Growing up, my daughter was not a fan of hiking. She’d get (maybe) a quarter of the way and start complaining. I would try my best to motivate her by saying, “How do you climb a mountain?” She would avoid answering, and I would continue, “One step at a time.” It didn’t lessen the whining, and the scenario repeated itself often.
Recently, when reviewing my to-do list, which involved a number of projects that our firm is working on, I shared with my grown-up daughter how overwhelmed (but excited) I felt. The projects included artificial intelligence as a platform, a supply-and-demand strategy to lessen cost while increasing revenues, a systemic innovation system, and other complex problems that require big thinking and focused execution. With a mischievous smile, she looked right at me and deadpanned, “Do you remember how to climb a mountain, Dad? One step at a time.” Wisdom passed from generation to generation, I thought to myself. I burst out laughing and recalibrated my perspective.
"How do you climb a mountain? One step at a time."
When I led a hospital system, our leadership team would host a holiday banquet each December for our physicians. Entertainment was a part of the evening (on a budget), but no matter what famous entertainer we hired or musical genre, a third of the guests would leave early, which frustrated me. I remember brainstorming with my wife about the problem, and she suggested that we hire a comedian for the entertainment. So, we hired Sinbad, and everyone stayed. It was great. The next day, I had even more to appreciate - the doctors were repeating the jokes in the hall, laughing all over again, and building connections with each other and the nurses.
David Collinson, a distinguished professor of leadership and organizational culture, insists, “Jokes that people tell at the workplace can reveal as much or perhaps more about the organization, its management, its culture, and its conflicts than answers to carefully administered surveys.” So, how do we use humor to strengthen and humanize our leadership? And what is its effectiveness? It may feel awkward or uncomfortable when you first start infusing humor in a professional setting. The good news is that humor is a learned skill, not a gift that you either have or don’t. I think learning humor starts with observing and choosing to take small risks.
Driving to one of our three-times-a-year meetings where we gathered our entire leadership, I noticed a series of billboards for Universal Studios, an amusement park in Orlando. The last billboard contained a picture of the Incredible Hulk roller coaster with something like “A Scream a Minute.” We were meeting to talk about our next strategic push to elevate our women’s services with new facilities and an improved patient experience to match the physical structures we were building. I divulged, in a serious tone, that I had a revolutionary ad campaign for our obstetrics program, complete with a billboard that read, “Advent Health (then Florida Hospital), delivering your baby… with a scream a minute.” Slow laughter began building, which erupted when someone from the marketing team yelled out, “Keep your day job!” It seems it was safe to tell the truth, and the rest of the day was energized.
Speaking of babies, they probably have one of the most contagious laughs ever. Hearing that sound or watching that Instagram Reel, you can't help but send it to someone else. It can instantly brighten their day. In my experience, when stress arises, humor plays a critical role in giving others the benefit of the doubt, keeping us focused on problem-solving and solution-creating, instead of placing blame. It reminds me of the time the Joint Commission Surveyors arrived at our hospital on a Monday morning for our every-three-year survey at 8:30 am, and our entire clinical computer systems crashed around 10:00 am (staying down for over two days). But that is a story for another day.
The point is when leaders foster laughter, it's one step towards an 'aha' moment. It's been said that it's a short step from 'ha ha' to 'aha' And 'aha's' are where performance, resiliency and innovations live.
