Tuesday we talked about how to make levity a part of your MAP, but left the final one, how easily do you laugh at yourself for today.

Many people have trouble laughing at themselves and some who do so easily in one arena, are up tight in another—especially if it’s business related.

If you want to implement your own version of The Levity Effect you need to recognize that it’s almost impossible if you can’t lighten up yourself.

We’re not talking about telling jokes, but about accepting your own humanity.

When you stand on your dignity or take yourself too seriously you become unapproachable; your team and colleagues can’t be sure where the lines are or what might offend you, so they shut down.

The first thing you need to do is identify why you feel that way; once you do you can either change it or just learn to work around it; it doesn’t matter which as long as you get results.

I have a client who, when something happened that was embarrassing or didn’t match his self-image, had a tendency to tense up or even take offense and strike out, instead of laughing or shrugging it off.

I had him spend some quiet time one evening replaying many of the incidents and letting them play out using worst case analysis. It turned out that in his mind the worst thing that could happen was being laughed at, which would cause his people would lose respect for him. (I’ve found ‘losing respect’ to be on of the most common reasons for maintaining dignity in people at all levels, but often worse the more senior they are.)

When I suggested he try laughing first, he said I was nuts (I hear that a lot) and dismissed the idea. I said that he should do it just to prove me wrong and also that if it didn’t work I would refund a portion of what he had paid for coaching.

Money always gets people’s attention as does the chance to say ‘I told you so…’, so he took me up on it.

We agreed he would do it consistently for a month, record the results and then discuss them.

30 days later he was a different guy. He said that work had never been so much fun, not a word he had previously used; his team had been cautious when he started responding differently, but after a couple of weeks they seemed to be accepting the change. The office atmosphere was considerably better, attitudes had improved as had productivity and one candidate had accepted the offer in part because “everyone in the group was smiling and it seemed like a fun place to work.”

It may sound simplistic, but often solutions to these types of problems are simple, although they take great strength of character to implement.

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Before you can implement any of the ideas in The Levity Effect you need to take inventory and be sure that your MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™) is in tune with the idea. Being in tune with levity is much more a matter of how you think than how well your sense of humor works.

1. Do you smile more often than you frown?
2. Do you think about work in terms of enjoyment and fun?
3. Are you glad when a colleague succeeds?
4. Are you happy most of the time?
5. How easily you laugh at yourself?

I know you are smart enough to figure out what the answers should be, but to have any benefit you need to answer honestly’ after all, no one else will see them.

The correct pro-levity responses are ‘yes’ to the first four and ‘easily’ to number five. If your responses are different you need to sit down and have a long talk with yourself.

How do you adjust your MAP? Part of it is awareness, but there is things you can do while working on the deeper changes.

1. Make it a point to smile, or at least not frown.
2. Look for what is good at work, what you enjoy, and the specific things that do make you smile.
3. Whether you’re jealous or just don’t care be positive and congratulate your colleagues when they do well; not just the big things, but all the little stuff that goes on every day. Be sure that the congratulations/recognition/appreciation fit the event. If you have a problem being sincere think about how you feel if a colleague snubbed your accomplishments.
4. Follow Napoleon Hill’s advice and “think, act, walk and talk like the person you want to become and you will become that person.”
5. This one is more involved, so we’ll examine it in depth on Thursday.

See you then!

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As I said Saturday, this is levity week at MAPping Company Success, starting with a review of The Levity Effect by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton.

Last spring I reviewed The Carrot Principle, also written by Gostick and Elton.

In their new book they spell out with great examples why lightening up boosts all the metrics you want to go up—productivity, creativity, innovation, retention and happiness.

Understand that ‘levity’ is not about telling jokes any more than ‘happy’ and ‘fun’ are about goofing off. That’s especially true about jokes that start with ‘Now, don’t be offended…’ or end with ‘just kidding’. As one manager, who is deep into levity as a management tool, said to me, “If they want jokes they should watch Leno or Letterman.”

Levity is about lightening up and recognizing that trust, communication, and creativity are all increased when people spend their time with people whose company they enjoy.

It is about having fun because you are challenged, encouraged to grow and given multiple opportunities to make a difference.

The information in the book is the product of ten years of extensive research proving that traditional ‘wipe that smile off your face’ attitudes are counterproductive. The research is backed up with case studies of recognized leading companies whose numbers can’t be argued with and whose top brass are vocal in their belief that a happy workforce produces happy customers—and that levity is a major component of happy.

Of course, the problem with a book such as The Levity Effect is that the people who will be quick to ‘get it’ are the ones who already believe in the basic concept, whereas the ones who really need it will be resistant—it’s always questionable how well any book can sell a foreign concept to what may be a hostile buyer.

We’ll talk more about how to do that this week, as well as things you can do no matter your level in an organization and how to incorporate levity into your MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™) to make life better for you and those around you.

See you tomorrow.

Image credit: The Levity Effect

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Levity (not joke telling) increases happiness and happy employees are more productive, innovative and less likely to leave.

Today we’ll take a look at some fascinating “happy” research.

The NY Times runs an opinion column called Happy Days that posts thoughts, research and comments from professionals and regular folks. A recent post by Paul Bloom, a Yale professor of psychology caught my eye. In it he considers whether it is necessary to choose between being a “happy pig or sad Socrates,” in other words, is it necessary to choose between indulging yourself and being a good person. Be sure to check out the comments; they add some excellent thoughts.

Second is a long article, but well worth the time to read it, especially if you are interested in the research being done on social networks.

Social scientists Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler are analyzing data from a study that has followed more than 15,000 Framingham residents and their descendants since it was 1948.

Their finding is that “good behaviors — like quitting smoking or staying slender or being happy — pass from friend to friend almost as if they were contagious viruses,” although not all experts agree.

Next week we’ll explore levity here at MAPpingCompanySuccess starting Monday with a review of the Levity Effect.

Please join us and add your thoughts on the subject.

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