You remember those “snakes in a can of peanuts” novelty items from years back? They’ve been around forever–the basic premise is you offer some nuts to an unsuspecting victim and when they open the can three tightly sprung, leopard-skin “snakes” leap out, scaring the poor schlub who falls dead of a heart attack. Classic humor.

You can’t find the cans of nuts anymore. Well, maybe you can, but I’m not willing to try very hard. So during one lunch a few days back I went over to the mall and visited Spencer Gifts. The 12-year-old working the counter was eager to prove he knew what I was talking about and gleefully led me to my targeted prize.  With an upcoming “Levity Effect” presentation, I was hopeful to spring my retro-joke on an audience member.  I paid 8 bucks for the smallish can of “Fancy Salted Mixed Nuts” anxiously awaiting the reaction of whatever innocent co-worker I decided would be the guinea pig.

I got to my desk, quietly tore open the packaging and then cheerfully announced, “I brought some mixed nuts from lunch, if anybody wants any, come on over.” A younger, Gen Y type worker responded to the invite and immediately came over and took the can. I braced myself for the explosion of fear, shock, and subsequent howler monkey laughter.  Errr, right. Didn’t happen. Check the video below and see what pops out of the can.

snake-can3

They sure don’t make them like they used to.

Ya, Ya! It’s true! Vee haff vays uff mayking you tauck!

Check it: The Levity Effect is now available to our former mortal enemies, the people of Germany.

The Smiley Principle? nice.

So if you happen to shprekenzee doytch (sic) go buy a copy…they’re moving like German Pancakes over in Dusseldorf..so don’t delay!
Yah-vul, Herr Comandant!

This morning a few brave souls weathered the crisp, windy Salt Lake spring weather to take a walk around our building and a few surrounding streets. Hey, it’s National Start Walking Day after all. Human Resources offered a free “casual day” to anyone who agreed to do the walk.
A few of us from the Carrot Culture department hit the pavement for a whole 8 minutes. The beauty of it is, you never know what kind LEVITY you might encounter just by getting out and exploring your local city streets. We passed a few small brick, post-war homes untouched by development and seemingly frozen in time.
One featured a USMC flag waving proudly and a curious sign posted on the house near the driveway. I have the feeling they didn’t use these euphemisms in boot camp, but I appreciate the tastefulness.

The marine that lives here clearly is showing discipline and restraint.

Monday I was in Kamloops, British Columbia to train a group of managers on lightening up their workplace with employee recognition. As an employee of the Carrot Culture at OC Tanner Company, I’m out doing this A LOT. This particular group of leaders represented all sorts of departments at BCLC (BC Lotteries), the Crown Company responsible for all gambling in BC (casinos, lotteries, gaming machines, et al.).

Typically when we come in and launch a new recognition program, the IT department is the last to adopt/use/care about it. To my great surprise and pleasure I found quite the opposite at BCLC. Dan Lacey heads up their IT department and he is a rabid recognition champion. The rest of the departments look to him for ideas and inspiration on how to celebrate and praise their workforces.

Details on exactly HOW he does it will come shortly, but for now just know that Dan’s department’s engagement scores are typically 20-30 points higher than the next highest department in the company! Retention, satisfaction and productivity all follow the same pattern. Dan understands that building a culture where people can just be people, where fun is regularly had, and where employees’ contributions are acknowledged is the fastest and most sustaining way to achieve success.

Shortly, I will post some video of Dan explaining a few of the things he’s done over the years to gain such ridiculous engagement scores. Check back in a day or two.

Yesterday was a good day.  I was able/allowed to work from home. This is an occasional perk that Road Warriors like me are afforded because we don’t get a lot of time with our peeps. I spent the entire day in my Homer Simpson fleece pajama bottoms, with my laptop literally on my lap, my feet up and muted Champions League soccer on the telly.

And you know what? I got so much more accomplished than had I actually gone in and sat at my desk. The distractions, the fatigue, the “I’d rather be home in my Homer jammies” would have prevented me from at least half of the productivity I conjured up yesterday.  All of this is the result of great leadership. You see, my boss understands Levity–lightening up the “rules” enough to know he’ll likely get more out of me if my basic needs are met: decompression time with my family, a quiet atmosphere to work in, and a rousing footy match on ESPN Deportes.

And because I wasn’t stuck fighting evening traffic, I was also able to attend my fourth son’s Cub Scout banquet/awards meeting. It was great to see other dads there as well, who understand how important these types of events are for their kids. Watch the video here:

Yes, it’s true, I have FIVE sons. No daughters. And, I must admit, each of them is riotously funny in their own unique way. Christian (16) has an eclectic, Woody Allen wit about him. Joshua (14) chooses obnoxious wrong place/right time humor, Matt (11) has a more subtle, less physical humor. Scott (9) has razor sharp sarcasm down pat.  And John (6), well, he…just does whatever it takes to get someone smiling or laughing.

But most of the time, they just ENJOY life. A brother in law of mine has forever commented–I think he has said it every single time he’s seen us since we started having children–that our boys are always smiling. They just seem to be always happy.

Of course, that’s not exactly true, but there is a connection between smiling and at least “seeming” happy. The challenge is to find joy in the journey, even when life throws you crudballs.  And remember, you don’t have to tell jokes or sling puns to make mirth. Levity means lightening up. We can all do that.

Here’s a quick example of six-year-old John enjoying the journey. (Remember, he’s a little boy just having fun, who doesn’t even know I’m taping him.  He wouldn’t get two seconds past Simon Cowell.) Click on the link below and enjoy!

Little John Screeches \”New York, New York\”

I just got back from Hong Kong where I was honored to be the keynote speaker (they call it “guru speaker”—“come, gather ‘round; Guru Scotty wishes to share great wisdom!”) at a large HR conference. After enlightening my eager disciples on improving the workplace with employee recognition and more levity, one woman asked, “Can you teach us to be funny? The Chinese don’t have a sense of humor.”  Ignoring the obvious slight to the great Chinese comedy masters Margaret Cho, Jet Li, and the late Freddie Prinze, I agreed that China is known for its humor much like Iceland is known for its urban gang violence.

But the point I made to her, and the same is true for all of us, is that being funny is not critical to a more satisfying work environment. (see The Levity Effect: Why It Pays to Lighten Up) While laughter and jocularity do impact productivity and creativity they are not always generated by humor. Sometimes FUN is easier and more practical than FUNNY, while still providing the desired results of eased tension, higher morale, healthier employees, and of course reaching Nirvana. So, just for now, try to smile more and think “levity”…i.e., lighten up.

The other day at work—I’m director of The Carrot Culture at OC Tanner—a company-wide e-mail came around from the folks in HR. The subject line that popped up in the corner of my screen was too good to ignore: “Please Stop Feeding the Cats.” The mere title itself was enough to raise an informally unanimous chorus of snickers among the cubicle plains tenants, especially given the message’s sender. Here’s what the email said:

FYI…
The County Animal Services has requested that we ask our employees to stop feeding the feral cats that are hanging around the campus. There is an ordinance prohibiting feeding cats without licensing them, apparently feeding them is claiming some sort of ownership, so please refrain from feeding these feral cats or catch them and take them home.

Human Resources

It wasn’t long before actual laughs began emanating from across the office. CATS?! Apparently our “campus” is in danger of being overrun and possibly overtaken by a gang of hooligan kitties. I was reminded of the post-apocalyptic Washington DC depicted in the 70s Sci-Fi classic “Logan’s Run.” Remember Peter Ustinov living among the ruins of our nation’s capital along with a million cats? In my informal poll, consisting of three others, nobody could remember ever seeing a cat around the building, much less cracking open a can of Chicken of the Sea for it.

An associate of mine almost immediately emailed me a photo from the popular site www.lolcats.com  (here is the link to the actual photo) When viewed immediately after reading the original HR edict, you cannot help but wet yourself from laughter.

I found myself powerless to resist what I did next: I hit ‘reply all’ to HR’s email and pasted the photo of “fatty fatty cheezeburger catty” into the message. I hit ‘send’—meaning all 1900 employees with email were going to receive my reply. To my company’s levity credit, I only received one somewhat negative response. Most were grateful for how good the laugh felt. Wherever I wandered on campus the next few days I was lauded for my heroism. (I just looked at the photo again, for the 20th time, and it STILL made me laugh out loud.)

To be honest, I am a fervent objector to “reply all” emails. And I’ve not been shy in sharing that view. But every so often, when it feels like it’s really going to be funny, I pull the trigger. And though most people call me on it, when it really hits the mark, I am quickly forgiven the breach of office etiquette.

Fabio Sala has done some research on the importance of levity and in fact we used some of his results in the book (The Levity Effect: Why It Pays to Lighten Up). Most notably we cited the work he published a few years back in the Harvard Business Review which essentially said that leaders with a sense of humor move up the corporate ladder faster than their peers. Astute Levity disciple Max Brown, himself a world class speaker/lecturer/trainer recently forwarded me more “heady” (the pun will make sense shortly) data in support of workplace levity from the Sept. 08 HBR including some Sala research:

(Speaking of the human brain) “There’s a subset of mirror neurons whose only job is to detect other people’s smiles and laughter, prompting smiles and laughter in return.  A boss who is self-controlled and humorless will rarely engage those neurons in his team members, but a boss who laughs and sets an easygoing tone puts those neurons to work, triggering spontaneous laughter and knitting his team together in the process.  A bonded group is one that performs well, as our colleague Fabio Sala has shown in his research.  He found that top-performing leaders elicited laughter from their subordinates three times as often, on average, as did midperforming leaders.  Being in a good mood, other research finds, helps people take in information effectively and respond nimbly and creatively.  In other words, laughter is serious business.”
Harvard Business Review, Sep. 08

Isn’t it a great feeling when everything you believe/know to be true gets another shot of academic validation?

The fact is, people need to laugh. When they do, they’re at their best. It’s as if a good laugh shakes out the dust, shakes off the rust, and cleans out the pipes, resetting our mind and energy. If you lead people, laugh with them. Bond your team together with levity and laughter and watch how performance improves.