Laughing on the Rocky Road to Dublin

 

"By starving emotions, we become humorless, rigid, and stereotyped;  by representing them, we become literal, reformatory, exceeders.  They perfume life.  Without them, they poison it" - Joseph Collins

 

"You know how they say that if Life give you lemons, you should make lemonade?  Well, when I do that, I then go out and find someone who has Vodka and sit down and have a party" - Bob White

 

 "A sense of humor is a much needed armor. Joy in the heart and laughter on the lips is a sign that the person deep down has a pretty good grasp on life" - Hugh Sidey

 

Picture this: a team of young men and women behind the front-lines somewhere in a war zone in Africa, walking exposed on uneven dirt paths in a difficult, high-risk area. And if that’s not tough enough, each has their backs weighed down in the oppressive humidity with supplies destined for another village, knowing full well that what they carry is a very tempting prize to the local warlords.  As are the women in the group.  They each know that there is no back up, no evacuation, no rescue, should hostilities break out and they are forced to use what little ammunition they have to defend themselves, their cargo, or their colleagues.

But every night, after they've secured the perimeter and posted sentries, it's the same. The Czech soldier in this group produces a small, toy-like guitar from within his backpack and asks the group (in his thick Eastern European accent). "Please...what song you want hear? Jazz? Rock? Heavy Metal?"

It was all a ruse, we knew, because no matter what is requested, no matter how simple a song (he was tested with "Smoke on the Water" and "Mary had a little Lamb" many, many times) he would nod his head enthusiastically and knowingly, as if to say "I know that one!" and invariably launch into the opening bars of "Rocky Road to Dublin"; the only song he ever learned to play.  The laughter of his colleagues would mingle with the sounds of a dozen accented voices trying to sing the words we all knew by now - even if some of the members of the group who came from non-English speaking countries just knew how to pronounce them rather than what they meant - which admittedly, made it all the more humorous.

"In the merry month of June,

From me home I started,

Left the girls of Tuam,

So sad and brokenhearted,

Saluted father dear,

Kissed me darling mother,

Drank a pint of beer,

Me grief and tears to smother,

Then off to reap the corn,

To leave where I was born,

Cut a stout Blackthorn,

To banish ghosts and goblins,

Bought a pair of brogues,

Battling o'er the bogs,

Frightened all the dogs,

On the Rocky Road to Dublin,

One-Two-Three-Four-Five,

Hunt the hare and turn her down the rocky road,

And all the way to Dublin,

Whack-fo-la-dee-daa"

 

 



"It was our way of keeping up morale," one of the squad leaders would later remark to me. "We were so overwhelmed, so stressed, so burned out. This is how we keep our sanity in and the terror out."

As more and more organizations re-engineer, merge, restructure, down size, right size, and even capsize, employees confront uncertainty on an almost daily basis. The rules keep changing in terms of what they're supposed to do, how they’re supposed to do it, who they do it for, and whether they should do it at all.

And since most have little or no control over the making of these rules, the result is often a sense of powerlessness that translates into increased stress, decreased wellness, demoralization, absenteeism, and lower productivity, all of which affect rates of retaining employees.

And as I have repeatedly pointed out in these pages, people are an organization’s number one asset, and losing them costs money.

So the big question for both individuals and organizations is: how do you keep up spirits, continue to work effectively, and maintain health and sanity in volatile and stressful situations? The team described above chose to laugh.

They could have also chosen despair, cynicism, bitterness, or negativity, but instead team members chose laughter. As one American teammate would tell me years later, "We could either have cried every night when we were together, or we could have laughed.  But when you cry, you cry alone and you can only do that for so long. We had decided somehow that we'd had enough of crying, and it was time to do something else."

So, how do you help employees, who have little or no control over external events, survive such uncertain and stressful situations? Organizations need to encourage employees to take control over the one aspect of the situation they do control - how they choose to respond to it.

And on those days where workers feel overwhelmed, overworked, and have no idea what's going to happen next, the only rational, life-affirming response is to go find some colleagues, and break out the clown noses, kazoos, and Groucho glasses.

Why Laughter?

Why is laughter such a positive choice? We all know that it makes us feel good, but in today’s bottom-line oriented workplace, the term "feel good" is too nebulous to have much impact on how people go about structuring their job interactions and professional relationships.

And most organizations are not going to promote humor as part of their culture because some hierarchy devotee thinks that having the boss come to work dressed as a chicken will create (heaven forbid) a happy afterglow.

So any discussion of the benefits of laughter needs to be more tangible and focused on addressing positive morale, a major factor contributing to retaining valued employees. Remember though, humor is a coping mechanism to aid in retaining employees, not a cure-all for other systemic problems affecting organizations.

Boosting Morale

It's a common theme. An organization keeps cutting staff until the people left feel like they can't cope anymore. Unfortunately, the organization I’m thinking of didn't take into account what this would do to the morale of the "survivors."

Management was unwilling to listen to their concerns, and when anyone did voice them, they were labeled as disloyal. Teamwork plummeted, with employees adopting a "me first" attitude. The office atmosphere was poisonous, rife with gossip, rumors, and backstabbing.

"This feels like hell. I’d never recommend this company to anyone, and I just hope I can survive until I take early retirement," said one long-term employee to me.

Like the team of young people in Africa, this group found themselves in a bad situation over which they had no control. Sadly though, members were not encouraged to make use of humor, the one coping mechanism they had left.

Instead, management saw it as a frivolous waste of time, a sentiment which came to be echoed by the employees. "We're living in hell. We're too busy to laugh, and besides, it won't change anything" was a common refrain among employees with whom I talked.

However, they were wrong.

According to Steve Lipman, who researched the use of humor during the Holocaust, "Wit produced on the precipice of hell was not frivolity but psychological necessity. Humor is one of the greatest gifts God gave mankind to pull itself out of despair."

In today's uncertain work environment, humor isn't an option, it's a necessary way to boost morale.

When employees clown around, they’re not wasting valuable time, they're making use of one of the few tools available to increase and maintain their esprit de corps. Laughter may not change the external reality, but it can certainly help people survive it.

This has been proven in some pretty dire situations. Lipman cites an example of how a group of Auschwitz inmates put on vaudeville shows to provide laughter for the camp population. According to one, "We had to make jokes to save ourselves from deep depression."

Somehow these people, on the brink of death, realized that their morale and survival depended on keeping their ability to laugh alive. As a group, they took the time and energy to make it happen.

Even though nothing could be as horrible as Auschwitz, people in almost all workplaces can learn from this example. Take the time and energy to share humor. Those brave concentration camp inmates proved that humor is a choice, and no matter how much adversity people face, whether at work or in their personal lives, they can still choose laughter. In fact, the worse a situation gets, the more important it becomes to make that choice.

Making Humor Happen In Your Organization

So what can organizations do to encourage the use of humor as a coping mechanism? On a recent trip, I flew on WestJet Airlines, and found that the crew had turned the usually boring safety announcement into a stand-up comedy routine. My favorite line was, "The floor lighting will come on in the event of an emergency landing......or of a Disco revival."

Upon inquiring, I learned that the CEO of WestJet Airlines in Canada believes that work should be fun. He sets precedents through his own behavior, and by encouraging employees to enjoy their jobs. He makes it safe for the people he employs to use humor by leading the way.

And the payoff? All WestJet employees I spoke to said how much they loved working for the company because it was so much fun. And their enjoyment was reflected in great service to the passengers. They expressed their appreciation of the humor and their intention to continue flying WestJet.

On another recent flight on Virgin America, the pilot came on the intercom to thank us for our patronage, but instead of the usual script, he instead said "We really hoped you enjoyed your flight with Virgin America - and if you didn't.....we would appreciate it if you kept that fact to yourself, m'kay? I have 2 ex wives to support. Thanks".

Richard Branson's business model for his airline is as refreshingly irreverent as his disdain for the "suit and tie" culture of most organizations. Much like WestJet, his employees enjoy connecting with the consumer on a more human level, and use humor to reach that goal because "the boss" encourages it.

In order to help employees use humor, organizations can also provide them with the tools and to set an example as well.  A company I visited out west started every training group with an exercise called "the rubber chicken toss." Another provided their AR department with baskets of toys to use as stress-busters, and made it clear that humor was encouraged as part of their organizational culture.

Permitting a harmless sing along by the camp fire did nothing to change the adversity that was faced in Africa, but it did create an atmosphere in which - at least temporarily - being there was fun. Or at least, not so stressful.

I often have had members of that team tell me that despite how much pain and misery they felt and saw, they stayed for their teammates and for the camaraderie.

And if a group of kids that had to regularly deal with those intense levels of stress can find a way to inject some fun into their workplace, so can anyone.

"Well in Mullingar that night,

I rested limbs so weary,

Started by daylight,

Me spirit's bright and cheery,

Took a drop of the pure,

That kept me heart from sinking,

That's the Paddy's cure,

Whenever he's on for drinking,

To see the Lassies smile,

Laughing all the while,

At me curious style,

Would set me heart a-bubbling,

Asked if I was hired,

Wages I required,

Till I was almost tired,

Of the Rocky Road to Dublin,

One-Two-Three-Four-Five,

Hunt the hare and turn her down the rocky road,

And all the way to Dublin,

Whack-fo-la-dee-daa"

If you have any suggestions or topics you'd like to see covered, or if you'd like help with an issue you're currently experiencing, please drop me a line at gbossinakis@live.com
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