Humour, team dynamics, and creativity
Young professionals have expectations and a great sense of humour. Well, that’s easy to digest because we all have hidden gems working in the background. In a highly competitive global economy, it makes sense. A mild combo of factors like flexibility, creativity and collaborative problem solving is definitely highly valued.
Photo by Darius Bashar on Unsplash
What about a positive group atmosphere?
It is my strong belief that fostering a culture that rewards distinct initiatives becomes a prerequisite for leadership structures. Humour strikes again? No, because in order to generate effects, management should start thinking of building a framework that would help teams and encourage people to use their creative potential.
What happens otherwise?
There’s a high probability that talents will leave. Here’s one reason why dysfunctional turnover appears and groups that were originally built to support performance fail to reach an optimum cohesion point.
How do I help my team become distinct?
For a team to provide a feasible pattern of activities or perhaps develop a product which at the end is objectively assessed as creative members should feel psychologically comfortable working with their colleagues.
OK, but how?
The answer is humour. Yes, that’s right! There’s no joke about it. Actually…
Humour has the potential to promote and build social relationships at work. In addition, humour facilitates a positive group atmosphere, provides support in developing team cohesion, increases employee job satisfaction and cuts down stress levels.
Yes, humour serves as a social lubricant and when it’s used suitably people experience positive dispositional states which are conducive to strong interpersonal connections.
How can humour provide a boost of creativity for my team?
For teams to generate new, useful and original ideas a climate of group psychological safety should be nourished and collectively perceived by members. This setting is created when people feel comfortable expressing their opinions because there is a high level of trust that the group they belong to will not reject or punish them for the ideas supported.
Group psychological safety is strongly influenced by the development of trust, open communication, and positive relationships between members of a team
The proper use of humour increases cohesion by creating a space for personal links between members of a group and by facilitating positive emotions. Correspondingly…
…positive emotional states are likely to be shared at a group level as a result of a phenomenon called emotional contagion in which emotional states of one person can be transferred to those nearby.
In addition, humour promotes openness to generating new ideas by facilitating a relaxing working atmosphere and predisposing individuals in less criticism for mistakes or new ideas generated by peers. This ultimately leads to risk-taking behaviours which are the visible foundation of creative thinking.
You can use humour as a tool to play a decisive role in boosting your team’s synergy and creativity.
Be careful! Many forms of humour can do more harm than good. Delight yourself with my new article on The styles of humour and how we can use them to build and nurture a feeling of psychological safety inside our teams.
5 useful ideas to take home:
#1 Creativity, collaborative problem-solving and a positive working atmosphere. The frames of reference for an organizational culture that is likely to be nominated for an Oscar this year.
#2 The proper use of humour promotes openness to generate new ideas by facilitating a relaxing environment and by predisposing individuals to use less criticism when colleagues make a mistake or articulate a new idea.
#3 Working in a psychological safety climate ultimately leads to risk-taking which is a behaviour underlying creative thinking.
#4 Humour can be used as a tool to boost any team’s creativity only if the focus is on promoting healthy emotions and a positive group atmosphere.
#5 Using humour in a functional manner will facilitate interpersonal relationships development and a safe environment for people to take risks in expressing their points of view.
About the author
