How can you use humor to create a positive and engaging work environment as a servant leader?

Humor can add, lightness and make the environment more empathetic and creative. it will help in exchange of ideas without any hesitation of rejection; humor will be taken up passionately and not as a mockery.

Using humor effectively in social interactions demonstrates emotional intelligence by showcasing the ability to navigate and alleviate tense situations while empathetically connecting with others through laughter. I prefer using humor to de-escalate tense situations.

From my personal experience, I can say that leader humor has proved to have a positive influence on employee’s emotions, attitudes, performance, and other positive behaviors. Humor is a very appreciated tool for Leadership purposes. The process of making humor depicts the creative rational mode and serves as a signal to subordinates to break routine habits and procedures. It initiates innovative behaviors among employees and creates self-confidence. This creates a bond between the leader and its employees based on trust, and a friendly working relationship which in turn, results in generating new ideas and improving effectiveness and efficiency at workplaces.

I would like to add that it is extremely important to clearly define what forms of humour are acceptable in the workplace. Not only from your team but from yourself as well - ensure that you're never ‘punching down’ and lead by example.

Here's my story: In a very fast paced, high volume production environment, I need another department's leadership to temporarily share some of their employees to get my department 'caught up.' Regularly, I would go to those managers - who I knew were a motley crew - with associated vocabulary, and I would politely explain my case and ask for help and this was like pulling teeth daily. One day, I was in a real pickle and at my wits end and went over to those managers and said verbatim 'I need some fnckin' help!!' All at once everyone shut up... until some brave soul said 'Jon curses!' We all broke out laughing and I immediately became a 'brother' and never had trouble getting help again

Stories that are authentic to you and take the sting out of mistakes can create role modeling that breeds trust, humanity, and role modeling. When we share the "whoops" moments with humor and grace, it can create "whoa" moments of insight and learning.

In lead-up to the Christmas holidays and the new year, my entire team dedicated extra hours, even sacrificing our weekends, to ensure the timely delivery of the last few training sessions. Personally, I've been on a no-weekend streak for the past three weeks, and the stress is quite evident, manifesting as classical panda eyes. Every meeting during this intense period, We begin by openly acknowledging and discussing the challenges we're facing, allowing room for complaints, lighthearted jokes, and even sharing humorous anecdotes. This collective approach, or now becoming a ritual, creates a psychological safe space where we can vent our frustrations without negatively impacting team morale or productivity and having a good laugh about it

I would definitely lead by example. This sets the tone for the team to feel comfortable doing the same. It’s always important to adapt our humor to suit the people we’re interacting with. I usually use humor as an icebreaker to share funny stories. Noz in high-stress situations, well-placed humor can help diffuse tension and reduce anxiety. But we always have to be cautious how to use and with who as long as it can boost morale, motivation, and enhance creativity. I would mention lastly to keep an open line of communication with our team to ensure that humor is positively received.