I do love to laugh.

Laughing lifts me and makes me feel alive and I realise I have to nurture the relationships, both personal and professional, that create the opportunity to laugh.

Even hearing others laugh sets me off, and as I write this I’m thinking of my daughter (and laughing as I do so), who has acquired a sort of Sid James in Carry On Camping uncontrollable giggle which never fails to get me started.

It’s also fair to say that there are times when I don’t want to laugh anymore.  Maybe it’s the way I am feeling personally or the timing and context of what’s being shared.

So I know there’s a balance to be had, and that when that balance is right, it’s awesome. We feel nourished, energised and even more connected to the people we’re with.

Which suggests that surely there’s no place better than a training room to bring laughter to life and see it play-out in increased learning and engagement?

Much research has been done around the relative merits of bringing laughter into the classroom. LA Garner discussed this in his 2006 book, ‘How Ha Ha Can Lead To Aha!’

He conducted a study on a group of students, asking them to watch 3 different 40-minute recorded lectures on research methods and statistics. Within each lecture were 3 humorous stories or metaphors.

There was a control group and an experimental group and both watched the same 3 lectures, but the control group’s lectures had the humorous stories and metaphors seamlessly edited out.

After the lectures the students were assessed on their retention of the information as well as being asked to rate the presentations. What resulted was a clear link between the retention of information and the humorous lectures for the experimental group. They also rated the presenter higher than in the control group who had the humorous stories removed.

There are many other studies which Garner cites which demonstrate that when laughter occurs in the classroom, there is a lowering of defences – so much so that we’re able to focus more on the topic being discussed and our increased interest follows.

But as we know, an overplayed strength becomes our weakness and so how can we as facilitators and trainers ensure that this doesn’t become the case? How can we avoid our delegates becoming disengaged?

Garner guides us towards some underlying criteria which humour needs to meet if it’s to be effective:

1. It should be specific to the teaching topic:

For me the use of humorous metaphor is a great tool.

When delivering sessions on effective communication, Albert Mehrabian’s pie chart which highlights that communication is made up of words; tone and inflection and body language can result in some yawns from participants less inspired by pie charts and statistics. When discussing the impact of the words we choose I love the story of the North American manager who asked his team leader in Chile to generate “a list of all employees; broken down by sex”. The Chilean team leader sent back an email explaining that “we have 250 in the warehouse; non broken down by sex, if you must know, our problem here is with alcohol”. Scroll down to point 3 if you cringed a little there.

2. Targeted to enhance learning:

Humour is either targeted towards the teaching topic or used to help lower defences and create rapport – sometimes it will do both.

So it might not need to be about the topic above – it might be an insight into the facilitator, which provides an opportunity for others to connect with their human, self effacing side.

I often use the example of my first job as a sales consultant within the fitness industry. Suffice to say it was peppered with marketing blunders and customer facing disasters – especially the time when I accused a customer of using someone else’s membership card as they were female and the photo was of a man. Just minimal exploration on my part (showing her the photo I was so appalled by) proved very swiftly that it was her card and her photo. Ouch!

3. Appropriate for the audience:

This is about using it at the right time and for the right audience. One man’s punch line is another man considering how much he’d like to punch you for saying it. As facilitators, we use our observation and listening skills with a valuing mindset to assess when the time is right to use humour.

To support this, I would also add that high levels of self-awareness are critical to using humour to maximise learning. This means seeking every opportunity possible to gain feedback on our performance, not just from end of workshop evaluation forms but also from our peers and colleagues. Asking for specific feedback around authenticity, delivery and impact of humour means we can start, stop or keep doing what’s working.

“But I’m not funny!”

Should this be your current contemplation regarding all things humorous in the training room, it’s worth remembering that humour doesn’t have to originate from the facilitator or trainer.

How many times have delegates themselves brought unique insights and funny experiences to the room?

Laughter can originate within the room when we create an environment of trust, openness and of valuing others and when we remember to build ‘having fun’ into our contract at the start of the day.

In a corporate climate that so often feels incredibly serious (and for which I don’t argue there isn’t a place) as facilitators and trainers it is crucial to our own personal resilience, as well as those we help to learn, that we bring light, laughter and (I can’t help this bit) a bit of love wherever we go. The unique way in which we do this can make a significant impact on what is taken away, long after the training session ends.

So in my very best Sid James voice “Carry on laughing…”