When did your team last laugh in a meeting?
Oct 28
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The team gathers in the meeting room. The slides go up on the screen, one after the other. Someone asks a question about the third slide and gets a two-word answer back. The meeting ends on time. Not a single laugh was heard.
The psychologists Nale Lehmann-Willenbrock and Joseph Allen wanted to know if humour in meetings affects results. They filmed 54 real team meetings in German industrial companies. Each time someone joked and others laughed, they marked it.
Teams with more of those moments solved more problems and had more new ideas. They also performed better, both straight away and over time.
Yet, laughter is rarely used as a KPI.
Teams with more of those moments solved more problems and had more new ideas. They also performed better, both straight away and over time.
Yet, laughter is rarely used as a KPI.
Dreamy waits for Amy
Think of a good joke. The best ones puts two things side by side that never belonged together. That is the favourite skill of Dreamy, the brain's daydreamer and story teller. It is also the same skill that gives you new ideas.
Think of a good joke. The best ones puts two things side by side that never belonged together. That is the favourite skill of Dreamy, the brain's daydreamer and story teller. It is also the same skill that gives you new ideas.
But Dreamy only gets to play when Amy, the brain's security guard, is relaxed. She scans every meeting for danger, from a suspect frown to a sudden silence. Things that might indicate danger to your place in the group.
We laugh together when we feel at ease with each other. So a shared laugh tells Amy that the group is fine. You are safe. She lowers her guard a little. Dreamy steps forward with the odd idea he would otherwise have kept to himself.
When Amy stays on watch through a whole meeting, a joke feels like a risk. So does the odd idea.
What the survey cannot hear
Most organisations measure psychological safety with a survey once a year. People tick the box that says they feel free to speak up in front of their manager. Nobody writes down how much laughter there was in the meetings.
Most organisations measure psychological safety with a survey once a year. People tick the box that says they feel free to speak up in front of their manager. Nobody writes down how much laughter there was in the meetings.
When I meet a management team where nobody laughs, I usually find a team where nobody disagrees either. Nor a team with a lot of new ideas. The laughing, the arguing and the ideas have moved out of the meetings.
The behavioural scientist Robert Provine studied thousands of laughs in everyday life. Only 10 to 15 percent came after something actually funny was said. We more often laugh at ordinary lines about the coffee machine or the traffic on the way in. So a laugh says more about the group than about the joke.
In my book, laughter sits next to sleep, exercise and food. All four keep the brain strong. We would worry straight away about a team that never got enough sleep. We hardly ever create a plan for team that never laughs.
Many leaders worry that jokes will make them look less serious. I understand that. But a joke lands easily in a team that already trusts your judgement. And the difference in what can be accomplished is huge,
Count the laughs first
Take a notepad to your next three meetings. Make a mark each time more than one person laughs at the same time. Zero marks across three meetings tells you something about Amy. Not as much whether your team has humour. They probably do.
Take a notepad to your next three meetings. Make a mark each time more than one person laughs at the same time. Zero marks across three meetings tells you something about Amy. Not as much whether your team has humour. They probably do.
Then go first. Maybe with a small mistake of your own. Tell the team about the email you sent to the wrong John. Laugh first. Then the others know it is safe to laugh too. Count the laughs again in a month.
A team around a table can share a laugh in two seconds. It costs nothing. It also tells you whether Amy feels safe enough to let Dreamy speak.
Think of the last time your team really laughed together. Was it a starting point for som new ideas?
A team around a table can share a laugh in two seconds. It costs nothing. It also tells you whether Amy feels safe enough to let Dreamy speak.
Think of the last time your team really laughed together. Was it a starting point for som new ideas?
/ Maria