If you can learn to use strategic business humor, then you will improve your performance with employees and customers. These are tasteful and focused jokes that serve a higher purpose.
You don’t have to be a comedian, as you make people laugh or smile, conveying some important information. Let’s go through some scenarios where strategic business humor can be effective:
Your Sales Process
Several years ago, I did some mystery shopping in the automotive industry. I must have done a dozen test drives at different dealerships. On every one, when it came time for the salesperson to show me the trunk, they would describe its size by smiling and saying, “You can fit a lot of bodies in there.”
It’s not the best joke but you end up understanding that the trunk is big. Simply stating the dimensions doesn’t get the information across as well, unless we know the exact size of our current car’s trunk.
In your world, while you may not want to describe your processes in terms of movies or TV shows, where people have to dispose of bodies, can you make a joke that shortcuts someone to understanding?
Maybe the joke is more like a simile, where you say something like, “Using this washing machine is like giving your clothes a massage.” This works if you’re trying to say that the washer will clean your clothes, without damaging them.
Increase Comfort
While having a colonoscopy, I heard the doctors and nurses refer to the anesthesiologist as, “the bartender.” I think it was done to make nervous patients feel more comfortable by saying, “Here’s Maria and she’ll be your bartender today.”
Maria would then explain the drug she’d soon administer. She understood most people don’t know exactly what she does and the drugs she uses can be dangerous.
As a result, an unknown process become a little more familiar and your comfort level goes up. You were no longer having powerful drugs given to you by a mysterious stranger.
In your world, is there an important process that makes people nervous? Maybe it’s a new rule that you need employees to follow.
Can you come up with a joke or a funny slogan that can make people feel more comfortable with the change and the challenge? It’s especially good if it can be easily repeatable.
Improve Information
When I worked in TV news, I interviewed hundreds of people. I knew that being interviewed can make some feel nervous. This can hurt the quality of their answers.
To help them relax, just before the interview, I’d sometimes say, “When we get started, you can just look at me. If you look into the camera, then it may look like you’re making a hostage video.”
While the photographer might groan at my repeated use of this joke, the interview subject would relax a little. And that would lead to a better interview.
What are things that you can say that can help focus people who may be feeling nervous or uncomfortable? This is especially important in customer service, when you want to try to solve an issue quickly and thoroughly.
Here the joke could be something like, “I hear problems for a living, so don’t worry about telling me yours. Why don’t we start at the beginning?”
This will likely get you better information than just saying, “What’s wrong?” which may make some feel that you’re treating their problem like an intrusion or a waste of time.
Final Thought
It’s a good idea, before you use strategic business humor to make sure that there’s nothing about your jokes that might offend anyone. Test it out on a few people to make sure it’s working as desired.
There’s always a chance someone might get offended. If they do, then apologize immediately and explain the point you were trying to get across. Keep in mind that you’re after improved communication and not belly laughs.
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