Survey: Humor a manager must

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Aug 10, 2007 by Brian Brus

Everyone loves a good laugh, especially during what is often the most stressful part of the day - dealing with the boss - a recent study by Robert Half International suggests.

A majority 65 percent of office workers surveyed by the staffing services firm said it is "very important" for their managers to have a sense of humor, while 32 percent said it was "somewhat important," the company reported. The remainder of the nearly 500 respondents, 3 percent, said it was not important at all.

Unfortunately, only 87 percent could state with conviction that their bosses actually did have a sense of humor. About 10 percent said their bosses definitely did not have a sense of humor, and 3 percent didn't answer or didn't know.

Yvonne Rainwater, Robert Half's Oklahoma branch manager, said workplace humor is serious business.

"No matter what type of industry you're in, no matter what type of company, coming to work every day and having co-workers and managers who have a sense of humor makes it more enjoyable," she said. "It's important to want to come to work every day."

Rainwater, who oversees the company's Tulsa and Oklahoma City offices, does have a funny bone of her own.

"My employees think and know that I have a good sense of humor," she said.

Rainwater's staff could not be reached for confirmation.

"I always try to demonstrate that I can laugh at myself and any shortcomings I may have," she said. "But more importantly for the team, I think that humor-wise, I do different things, whether it's just forwarding a funny joke or comic strip, or things like that to make them laugh."

Max Messmer, Robert Half's chief executive and author of Human Resource Kit for Dummies, agreed that a humble boss can make a big difference.

"Managers who can laugh at themselves or difficult situations are often seen as more approachable and in touch with the challenges their teams face," he said. "Levity also can be used to build rapport among staff and ease stressful situations."

But Messmer also cautioned against the dark side of humor. Too much clowning around can turn the office upside down, he said. And an unproductive work environment is no fun for anyone.

"To be taken seriously, supervisors must balance their desire to keep the mood light with the need to accomplish business objectives, inspire great performance and maintain professionalism," he said.

And slapstick to some is a slap in the face to others.

"There's a fine line you walk with humor," Rainwater said. "You definitely want to stay away from sarcasm or humor that may be viewed as insulting other people, or anything related to race, gender, religion and things like that - politically incorrect humor."

As for the minority of survey respondents who said humor wasn't important or couldn't decide if their bosses were truly funny, Rainwater was nonplussed.

"I'm not really worried about them," she said. "There are a lot of people that that's not important to them. It's not a motivator. ... People are different."