In-Person

Using Humour as a Leadership Tool: The Secret to Happier, More Engaged Employees

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Length
2 days
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Networking cocktail on the last day, in the evening.
Rate
$2,195
$2,195
Language

French

Formations sur mesure pour les organisations

Program can be

Customized for

your organization
Formations internationales

Delivered anywhere

in the world
Contact an advisor
Émilie Mazet
Émilie Mazet
Program Manager

Email | Phone

Humour in the workplace, particularly in the context of management and leadership, is the subject of much research all over the world. It has been shown to be a powerful tool that organizations can harness to create healthy, people-centred environments that attract talent and reduce turnover.

In addition to improving interpersonal relationships and communication in the workplace, humour increases positivity, engagement, satisfaction, openness, creativity, team cohesion and resilience. Not only that but it decreases absenteeism, fosters a sense of belonging and helps ease the return to the office.

In this course, you will learn about your personal approach to humour and how to employ it strategically to build authentic relationships and enhance collaboration, productivity and well-being within your team and your organization.

In partnership with École nationale de l’humour

“Laugh together to live well together.”
- Louise Richer

“Where there is no humour, there is no humanity.”
- Eugène Ionesco

Read an interesting article on the subject: Executive Education HEC Montréal and the École nationale de l’humour (ENH): the serious value of being funny.

GOALS

  • Identify your and your organization’s attitudes to humour in the workplace: openness versus resistance.
  • Define and frame the main functions of humour in a professional context.
  • Explore humour-related strategies for the workplace.
  • Discover and boost your potential for humour, both as a sender and a receiver.
  • Use humour as a managerial tool.
  • Learn and experiment while having fun.

IS THIS FOR YOU?

  • Professionals
  • Managers
  • Leaders

SPECIAL FEATURES

  • This unique course is taught jointly by experts in management and humour from HEC Montréal and the École nationale de l’humour (ÉNH).
  • Participants will acquire skills that will enable them to use humour to manage their teams and their own work more effectively.

Participants will receive a certificate of completion from Executive Education HEC Montréal.

Networking cocktail on the last day, in the evening.

What do we mean by “humour in the workplace”?

  • Approach to humour: Attitudes and objections
  • Main functions and appropriate contexts
  • Pros and cons
  • Humour as an enabler of social cohesion

All about humour

  • Roles: Senders and receivers = laughing together
  • Four styles of humour and their effect
  • Using humour responsibly: Intention, perception, acceptability and impact
  • Identifying your style of humour

Strategies for using humour in the workplace

  • Exploring strategies
  • Team cohesion: Encouraging self-referential humour
  • Personalizing written and oral communication (storytelling)

Implementing humour in the workplace and opportunities

  • Using humour in the recruitment process to build trust and encourage openness
  • Role-playing exercises based on real-life situations
  • Reinforcing affiliative humour to promote self-regulation
  • Discussing learned material and sharing thoughts on implementation

TRAINING APPROACH

  • Active participation
  • Presentation of theoretical framework
  • Modules involving sharing, introspection, questioning and observation
  • Role-playing exercises to empower participants to use humour strategically in the workplace
Louise Richer

EMBA, MCGILL-HEC MONTRÉAL

Founder and Executive Director, École nationale de l’humour (ÉNH)

Benoit Pelletier

Comedy writer, screenwriter, organizational and corporate trainer, teacher in screenwriting, ENH

François Rioux

EMBA, GRADUATE FROM THE ÉNH

Investor and Lecturer, HEC Montréal

Presentation

Program

Instructors

GOALS

  • Identify your and your organization’s attitudes to humour in the workplace: openness versus resistance.
  • Define and frame the main functions of humour in a professional context.
  • Explore humour-related strategies for the workplace.
  • Discover and boost your potential for humour, both as a sender and a receiver.
  • Use humour as a managerial tool.
  • Learn and experiment while having fun.

IS THIS FOR YOU?

  • Professionals
  • Managers
  • Leaders

SPECIAL FEATURES

  • This unique course is taught jointly by experts in management and humour from HEC Montréal and the École nationale de l’humour (ÉNH).
  • Participants will acquire skills that will enable them to use humour to manage their teams and their own work more effectively.

Participants will receive a certificate of completion from Executive Education HEC Montréal.

Networking cocktail on the last day, in the evening.

What do we mean by “humour in the workplace”?

  • Approach to humour: Attitudes and objections
  • Main functions and appropriate contexts
  • Pros and cons
  • Humour as an enabler of social cohesion

All about humour

  • Roles: Senders and receivers = laughing together
  • Four styles of humour and their effect
  • Using humour responsibly: Intention, perception, acceptability and impact
  • Identifying your style of humour

Strategies for using humour in the workplace

  • Exploring strategies
  • Team cohesion: Encouraging self-referential humour
  • Personalizing written and oral communication (storytelling)

Implementing humour in the workplace and opportunities

  • Using humour in the recruitment process to build trust and encourage openness
  • Role-playing exercises based on real-life situations
  • Reinforcing affiliative humour to promote self-regulation
  • Discussing learned material and sharing thoughts on implementation

TRAINING APPROACH

  • Active participation
  • Presentation of theoretical framework
  • Modules involving sharing, introspection, questioning and observation
  • Role-playing exercises to empower participants to use humour strategically in the workplace
Louise Richer

EMBA, MCGILL-HEC MONTRÉAL

Founder and Executive Director, École nationale de l’humour (ÉNH)

Benoit Pelletier

Comedy writer, screenwriter, organizational and corporate trainer, teacher in screenwriting, ENH

François Rioux

EMBA, GRADUATE FROM THE ÉNH

Investor and Lecturer, HEC Montréal

TESTIMONIAL(S)

“A seriously great course on humour and management, with a group of real pros at the helm. It showed me how powerful empathy can be and helped me get a better handle on some of the mechanisms of humour that people sometimes throw around a little too cavalierly when trying to get a specific message across. After you’ve broken down these mechanisms, it’s easier to work them organically and professionally into the conversation. What I learned will go a long way in connecting with my staff and my clients at a deeper level.”

- Patrice Brunet, Managing Partner, Lawyer

“During the ‘Using Humour as a Leadership Tool’ program, I learned a lot. I’ve reassessed how I go about things and I make sure that smiling is a more regular part of my day. Now I see that fun, which is such a powerful tool for motivating and mobilizing people, can easily live side by side with professionalism and a strong work ethic. And I will let myself experiment with that as a woman in a management role.”

- Isabelle Samuel, Senior Director Personal lines and New Brunswick partnerships, Promutuel Assurance

“This course showed us that humour definitely has a place in the office and encouraged us to reflect on its importance and value as a communication tool. I thought the three instructors did a great job. They came at the subject from different but complementary angles. I laughed until I had tears in my eyes. I came to realize that humour is a seriously powerful tool that you should never underestimate!”

- Pierre-Olivier Bertrand, Pharmacist Owner

“Using Humour as a Leadership Tool’ is up there in my Top 5 professional development programs of all time. I found out how to inject humour into my workday and do it naturally, and I learned why it can help build better workplace relationships, defuse stressful situations and so much more. The three instructors were very good at drawing on their own expertise and providing concrete, real-world solutions for making things fun, but in a way that still fits with our corporate culture.”

- Douniazed Henouda, Senior Business Advisor, Investissement Québec

“There’s a strong participatory element, which helps open up a dialogue with the other participants and nudges everyone outside of their comfort zone. Beyond all the belly laughs, I’m leaving with a whole bunch of easy-to-use tools and techniques to make humour an integral part of the way I work. I enjoyed myself thoroughly. Everyone should sign up for this program and learn how to incorporate humour into their management style.”

- Audrey Lavoie, Project Manager, Télé-Québec
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