Trust between leaders and teams is on the decline, and it’s a problem that’s impacting performance in every industry. Managers are overworked, and the impact is being felt by the workers, with the likes of hybrid working, economic uncertainty and constant digital pressures taking their toll. Globally, the Gallup State of the Global Workplace 2024 showed that just about 27% of managers are truly engaged at their job, making it crucial for organisations to count on leaders to create connection and commitment.
This lack of engagement doesn’t stay isolated. It spreads through teams, impacting productivity, innovation, and employee retention. Companies put a lot of money into technology and change programs and frequently leave out of their thinking one of the most powerful leadership strategies for regaining trust humour. Quips and jibes are not meant for the purpose, but real, human humour that helps to connect.
Table of Contents
Why Humour is Now Executive Capital
Traditionally, humour has been viewed as a light, somewhat fringe art form but it is now emerging as a leadership tool. A recent review of various studies in the workplace published on Frontiers in Psychology (2021) revealed that using humour in leadership improves relationship quality, psychological safety, and communication.
A more relaxed and emotionally safe atmosphere will encourage employees to be more open, more cooperative and more creative. Humour makes everyone feel at ease, lowers the status gap and says to the listener, “You can be yourself here. With employees today being more interested in authenticity than in authority, this is particularly important.
The Chemistry of Credibility
This insight is supported by recent empirical research as well. Professor Yi Cao from Nanjing University discovered in 2023 that the use of humour by the leader had a positive impact on employee creativity, a creativity that can be achieved by increasing the tension and allowing for “free” communication. In the same year, a study was released in the journal “Psychology Research and Behaviour Management” that found self-deprecating humour increases leader-member exchange, which helps employees share their thoughts and concerns. The process is simple: Humour reduces perceived power distance. Self-disclosure of vulnerability through the use of humour on the part of leaders creates reciprocity and trust.
Neuroscience is also important. Laughing together releases chemicals like dopamine and oxytocin that are known to produce bonds and motivation. So, in other words, humour has a feel good factor, and it’s scientifically known to build bonds.
The Double-Edged Smile
But when it comes to humour, it is not always positive. One study in 2023 highlighted the double-edged sword aspect of humour. Trust is earned when affiliative and self-enhancing humour is used. It is destroyed by violent or scornful humour. Any form of sarcasm, teasing or jokes at another person’s expense can quickly lose one’s sense of safety and can lead to disengagement.
Today’s leaders need to be emotionally intelligent, they need to know when to be funny, when to be serious. There must be respect in humour. This is more than ever important in multicultural and multiracial settings where the context is key to how humour is interpreted.
The Craft of Connection
High-quality leaders do not have to be born with humorous bones. They see humour as a talent. Timing, empathy, self-awareness and sensitivity to the audience are key leadership communication skills that bring out the effectiveness of humour in a 2024 qualitative study. Teams can function more safely with the use of humour to humanize rather than to control. When accompanied by competence and clarity, it is never diminished.
In practice, this means that learners are normalised when discussing failure, the use of light observations at the beginning of meetings to defuse tension, and the use of light observations at the end of meetings to defuse conflict and redirect focus to solutions. It is also a good practice not to make jokes at the expense of any person or group of people. Humour can humanize and connect when used appropriately.
Why Humour Delivers Real ROI
In times of low engagement and high burnout, leaders must find a way to inject energy and openness. Gallup has always correlated manager engagement with team performance, customer satisfaction, and profitability. If you trust, it will multiply.
Humour fosters trust. Motivation is a function of confidence, which is required to make results possible. Organisations that promote emotionally intelligent leadership – such as through the use of appropriate humour – experience higher rates of employee voice, improved team working and lower turnover. The outcomes directly impact on innovation and resilience, particularly in volatile markets. To the C-suite today, it would just be to be human and non-entertaining.
The Softest Advantage, the Strongest Impact
One of the least used strategic benefits in the world of dashboards and KPIs is humour. Based on the data, the Frontiers in Psychology review (2021) and several studies from 2023, authentic humour has a definite impact on team relationships and trust within teams for leaders. There is no substitute for strategies, and certainly no substitute for humour.
Leaders that stand out in today’s increasingly complex and emotionally charged environments are not always the strongest or the best technically. They tend to be the ones who can be competent and friendly, when to take things seriously and when a genuine smile can open doors which no order ever could. Trust is currency in today’s leadership context, and humour is her coin.
