Sarcasm, Self-Deprecation, and Inside Jokes: A User’s Guide to Humor at Work

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Humor at work

Being funny can have both positive and negative consequences, in your personal as well as your professional life. And context is always important: when making a joke, for instance, you should definitely make sure the moment is appropriate for such a behavior.

Making the good jokes at the proper moment can help you become everybody's favorite at the workplace. However, making a bad joke can lead even to being fired: so make sure to choose your attitude appropriately.

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Humor and its effects on the status

Humor and status have always been tightly linked: good leaders seem to often use humor in order to motivate their team members' actions. As individuals, we tend to prefer, researchers claim, jokes that make us laugh while feeling slightly uncomfortable.

Furthermore, we perceive the joke teller as a self-confident person, who could easily become a leader due to his or her courage to make such a joke. The key point here is that the joke should be appropriate and match the context.

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Inside jokes

Making inside jokes usually shows how bounded a team or a group is: their jokes can understood the best by themselves.

However, the moment an outsider integrates the group, it is better to avoid the inside jokes, as this will most probably make him or her feel out of place.

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Sarcasm and its use

Sarcasm has often been associated with creative thinking by numerous researchers.

Used when exchanging information with persons who know you well, it can easily lead to an improved communication level. On the contrary, when used in an exchange with persons you do not know well, can actually result in an unpleasant start. Therefore, better avoid it until it is safe to use.

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Self-deprecating humor

Self-deprecating humor can be extremely useful when neutralizing negative information about oneself.

However, it should by all means be avoided when talking about core competencies. Knowing when and how to use it can make all the difference during a job interview, for instance.

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Humor as a weapon

We have all found ourselves, at some point in our life, feeling uncomfortable due to a question that was asked to us.

The way we answer to these questions is what makes us stand out in fact: showing self-confidence and humor makes the people around us feel happier and trust us more.

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Humor and feedbacks

When delivering negative feedbacks, a good way to do it is by engaging humor.

This has two main consequences: on one hand, it makes criticism more memorable and on the other, it softens negative feedbacks.

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Humor as tool to cope with negative feelings

Whenever you deal with negative emotions, humor can prove extremely useful. It does not only ease your pain, but it can also
help you cope with tough situations overall. This is mainly because humor makes you focus less on the negative information. However, it is worth mentioning that only positive humor makes people feel better, while dark humor makes them feel even worse. Therefore, when thinking to use humor, take a second to decide on the proper one to engage with.

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Making jokes properly

Making jokes properly is actually an art, which can easily lead to solving or creating issues. A particular situation is the leader's one: mastering the art of joking often results in more popularity and trust from the side of your employees.

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