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Humour Works Headlines
Optimism and humour - bedfellows with business productivity
Simple humour has great rewards
Optimists better all round
What made you sing over Christmas?
Stop burnout
Light humour lifts bottom line
Announcing an engagement
Identifying strengths
Staying attuned to the moment
What makes people great?
Humour Works
Simple humour has great rewards
Thursday, 03 May 2007
They laughed when I said I could find no record of Cinderella having blisters.
And when I told them the full story, they laughed even louder.
You see, last week I took my car for its warrant and went for a coffee as I waited. Of course I was wearing ridiculous high heeled shoes and quickly generated a blister on one foot as I walked a couple of blocks downtown.
The first café was a welcome sight so I went in and as I ordered coffee, asked discreetly over the counter if I could have a Band Aid. The barista said yes and I promptly sat at a nearby table and applied the plaster.
Then, dear reader, as I stood and went back near the counter to collect my shoe…a funny thing happened.
Standing in front of me was a distinguished looking gentleman, some 10 years my senior…cradling my shoe gently in two hands and holding it out for me.
He leaned forward and said quietly, “Do you know the last time we did this the slipper was glass…and we know how that story ended, don’t we?”
Then of course his wife arrived in the pumpkin…rats!…and the story ends there.
However, he could have entered the Humour Awards easily in my view!
What perfect impromptu timing and what a moment he made in my day. You see, using humour in business or life is so about creating an opportunity to connect and make someone’s day: an opportune use of puns or some banter at the water cooler, or an advertising ploy to attract customers.
Humour can be incorporated in business by making a concerted effort to add value by using humour in the sales process, or using good-humoured acknowledgements.
Last year’s supreme winner of the Humour in Business Awards, New Zealand Window Shades in Mt Wellington, successfully integrated humour into their quality control processes with their ‘Captain Quality’ character who reduced the anxiety levels of staff around performance measurement. Another category winner, ITmaniacs, based in Grey Lynn, subsequently expanded its business offshore, bringing outlandish humour into IT and other industry recruitment advertising in Australia, as well as New Zealand.
People told [Walt] Disney he would never build a business out of making people laugh.
One timeless story is that of Cinderella, overburdened with endless chores and holding fast to dreams of something better. We Cinderellas and Cinderfellas are acting out the modern version of the tale.
When we affirm the good in others and honour their contribution, we pave the way to communing at a deeper level and to increasing productivity.
• Pat Armitstead, joyologist, based in Auckland.
