In the early 90’s when I first moved to LA I worked as a paralegal. This was back when you needed real people to redline legal documents to catch errors. The “office” I reported to was a house with very large dining and living rooms. Each had long tables running from one end to the other with folding chairs on both sides. A very thin woman in her early 50’s with long red nails and bleached blonde bob was in perpetual motion. She was never without a personalized ceramic mug: Boss Lady. Which she was, the owner of what was basically a paralegal sweatshop.
The place was teeming with young actors, musicians and comics sitting shoulder to shoulder gripping red Bic pens. We nodded at each other at the start of our shifts, but otherwise kept our heads down, focused on dense legal documents in search of mistakes. There was no talking, and definitely no laughing. We were paid in cash.
I don’t remember one person from that job. Not true, there was a hot drummer with sleek, long hair. Pretty sure I went to one of his gigs on the Sunset Strip.
Laughter was verboten in this office. Despite all the talent in the room, we were not there to express ourselves or create anything, including community. In retrospect, the amount of control this woman asserted over this environment was frightening. In this deceptively domestic setting, we were her paralegal Zombies. But we were paid under the table so we accepted the terms.
Turns out the Evita of legal support staff was onto something! Studies now show that if you want to minimize the chance of employees building relationships with each other, creating trust and community, or thinking creatively, sucking all possibilities for connection and humor out of the room is highly effective.
This Forbes article outlines ten reasons why encouraging laughter is the key to success at work. According to Michael Kerr, president of Humor at Work, and author of The Humor Advantage: Why Some Businesses are Laughing all the Way to the Bank, nurturing a sense of humor at work builds trust, creates connections and “often reveals the authentic person lurking under the professional mask.” Another good reason for her to have people check their sense of humor at the door.
I don’t know what happened to that place but I’m thinking the IRS might have been a player in its demise. So much has been written about the value of creating a culture where all people bring their authentic selves to work and where maintaining a sense of humor is proven to positively affect innovation and productivity.
So if you like to limit your zombie engagement at work to Halloween, take heed. If what you want is a feeling of belonging, a place where people look forward to working together, even if it’s in a ZOOM room, and a place where innovation happens, enter laughing. That’s not just the title of Carl Reiner’s book, it’s actually true.
Next week I’ll talk about knowing where to draw the line with humor at work, but here’s a line that made me very curious.
No joke is funny if you’re the only one laughing.
Scary but true.
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