How to Make Humor Work for You: IG Live with Drew Tarvin

We all know that laughter is the best medicine.. But did you know it could also be good for bu$ine$$?!

Studies show that around 70% of the workforce in the United States is disengaged, which results in an estimated $500 billion loss in productivity. The use of humor in the workplace, especially in management, is proven to improve engagement, lower turnover rate and ultimately increase productivity.

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Thank you to Humor Engineer Drew Tarvin for joining me for an IG Live this week, where we explored strategies for using humor in dark times, how to be funny amid the awkwardness that is Zoom, and all of the benefits of using humor at work!⁣⁣⁣

Here are some of Drew's top tips for bringing humor into the workplace:

• Humor can translate to all mediums. Humor in the workplace isn’t just about water cooler banter. If Zoom has become a major communication tool recently, have no fear! Encourage others to unmute and turn their cameras on. Laugh out loud and be seen and heard doing so. On email, attempts at sarcasm or satire might be tricky to translate. In these situations, you don’t always have to be the creator of humor, but you can be the curator. Try including a relevant, funny video of a sketch or a funny quote from a comedian at the bottom of your email to encourage a smile. Remember to always be appropriate and give proper credit to the creator!

• Err on the side of awesome. Want to be funny, but nervous you’ll flop? Making a joke on Zoom, but can’t hear laughter behind the mute button? Assume you’re crushing it. Use humor with absolute confidence. Don’t make an apology face or try to confirm that your joke landed. When in doubt, err on the side of awesome. You’re doing great.

• Beware of self-degrading humor. Studies have found that men’s humor is met with a positive response 90% of the time, while women’s only 20% of the time. A big reason for this being that 70% of the time, those women were using self-deprecating humor.

• If no one laughs, don’t worry. Remember a plain and simple truth: People don’t care. People are so worried about what they are doing that they probably won’t notice the thing you’re embarrassed about unless you draw attention to it. Stand up comedians test out material in small clubs before bringing it to the big stage. Keep testing your humor with confidence to learn from what works and doesn’t work.

Tap here to watch the whole chat!

Interested in joining for an IG Live? Email nicole@nataliezfat.com to book!