Humor in the Workplace, continued
One project team worked extra hours to produce a series of schedules that represented a major program. When the schedules were completed another group labeled the schedules as their product. There was nothing that I could do to correct the situation, so I made the statement that “I was very proud of my team for producing such a fine product that someone would steal the credit for their work.”
The message was sent to the group pilfering the work so that everyone understood who did the work and who should have gotten credit for it.
As a consultant to a project team, I was asked to review the project plan for feasibility because there was a severe penalty for late delivery. My review showed that 27 subcontractors could not meet the time allotted to perform all work and there were indications that the final delivery would be at least three months late with a more likely completion of six or seven months. In spite of my best efforts, the project was started with the flawed schedule and three months later interrupted by an earthquake.
The client called the project manager to determine how much more time it would take to complete the work because of the earthquake’s effects. By this time, the project was two months behind schedule (or performing at one-third the productivity), so the project manager quickly stated that he needed two more months.
Criticism came my way because I was unable to convince the project manager to adjust the original schedule. My only response was, “If an act of God [the earthquake] cannot help the project, how could you expect a poor mortal such as me to do anything?”
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Reflections on Humor in Summary
Humor plays an important role in getting team members to relax and not dwell on the negative side of project challenges. A team member cannot laugh and still be angry or have negative feelings about what is happening. Obtaining a laugh should be a goal to change how a situation looks.
The Chinese are masters at criticism with humor, which causes the person to recognize the bad situation without losing face. Presidents and prime ministers have effectively used humor to defuse situations through laughter. In all cultures, perhaps, humor at the right time and right place can lead to better relationships among team members as long as the humor is not demeaning or off color.
Properly used humor can build on relationships in projects, smooth over rough edges, and promote productivity. The wrong type of humor, however, can work to the detriment of the project team by isolating an individual through criticism. Humor should not be used as a substitute for coaching or mentoring, but as a way of getting individuals to look at challenges through a different prism.
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