Can the 'Power of Laughter' transform your organisation?

Laughter has a transformative power, whilst it is not a factor that we take into account when interviewing 'would be' Interim Managers! The laughter factor is certainly something to take into account in this high pressure and frenetic world that many of us live in and whilst the current Spring weather is a real boost following the mild but very wet Winter… Laughter as they say is the best medicine.

'People who laugh together, work well together'. This may seem obvious, but evidence shows that this vital behaviour is both beneficial and in short supply in today's high-pressure existence. Recently, across the world, companies have been noticing this and have started to invest in laughter training. They have been finding, for example, that it boosts sales. A Danish company, Four Systems, raised its sales by a massive 40%. After a recent programme we ran, a participant reported 100% results from his sales calls that day. Companies also find that it boosts communication and teamworking. It is hard to be in conflict with someone you laugh with. Laughter has big EQ connotations: to laugh means to drop your barriers, to let go of a bad mood, to shift anxiety, to change a perspective, to feel less stressed. As it is a right-brained function, the brain is able to tap into enhanced creativity and innovation.

We might think this is obvious, but many do not realise how little laughter actually goes on. Most people can probably remember times when having a good laugh can lift your spirits, shake off the blues and make you feel a whole lot better. It can also change the atmosphere in a room and with groups of people. So we probably instinctively know it is good for us. The harsh fact is though, as German psychologist Dr Michael Titze has found, in the 1950s people used to laugh on average 18 minutes a day, but today we laugh no more than 6 minutes a day despite the huge rise in the standard of living. Small children can laugh up to 300 to 400 times a day, but when we grow up to be adults this frequency comes down to less than 15 times a day, if at all. People, it seems are less happy and it shows in the decline in laughter. The reasons are not hard to find and most people's list would probably include old favourites like the high pressure nature of modern living, the decline of the family, increased divorce rates, more people living on their own, the emphasis on the pursuit of material goals, the availability through mass communication of instant bad news, crowded transport, insecure employment, high debt levels, and so on. Last year the BBC ran a series on the decline of happiness and you can still read about it at happiness formula.

Laughter training has been showing, along with a recent interest in Positive Psychology, that it is perfectly possible to change this situation. One factor is our perception. Laughter is usually seen as dependent on a 'sense of humour': we believe we must have a reason to laugh, that laughter is about laughing 'at' something or somebody else, that it only happens on certain occasions and that it depends on 'one's sense of humour' i.e. it is dependent on external stimuli or a belief you have about your personality.

The recent explosion of interest in Indian techniques of laughter training however, has put a different light on the issue. Dr Madan Kataria, a Indian physician, discovered that through the use of laughter exercises that tap into one's childlike playfulness, it was very easy to help a whole group of people to dissolve into peels of laughter that had lasting benefits. Madan showed, in his 'Laughter Yoga' (see www.laughteryoga.org) that one can laugh for no good reason, that laughter was something that can be spontaneously generated from within oneself. One just needed to discover it and this could be done through simple laughter exercises, done in groups because laughter is infectious. It was supported by breathing exercises - hence the Yoga bit. As a result of Kataria's work, laughter clubs have been springing up around the world - there are now over 5,000.

This activity is supported by scientific research, which has noted that laughter has immense physiological and psychological benefits. Even if you pretend to laugh or act happy, your body produces 'happiness' chemicals. Our bodies do not know the difference between thinking about doing something and actually doing it. Whatever the source of laughter, it leads to the same set of physiological changes in the body.

Laughter generates the release of positive chemicals, which:

· Enrich the blood with plentiful supplies of oxygen

· Boost the immune system and bring relaxation

· Counteract harmful stress chemicals

· Release endorphins, the body's pain-killer hormone, and give a sense of wellbeing

· Counteract depression, anxiety and psychosomatic problems

· Ensure good sleep

· Bring a happy glow to your face and make your eyes shine.

In the 1970s, Norman Cousins, author of The Anatomy of an Illness, found that a large part of what cured him of a potentially fatal illness was watching funny films. This sparked serious scientific interest. Subsequently Dr William Fry of Stanford University, California, showed that laughter stimulated the heart rate, provided good cardio-vascular exercise and decreased the chances of respiratory infections. Dr Lee Berk of Loma Linda University Medical Centre, California, proved that laughter produced fewer arrhythmias, lowered blood pressure, lowered the levels of stress hormones (particularly cortisol), reduced the need for medication and ultimately resulted in fewer heart attacks. Laughter has been so beneficial physiologically, that it's sometimes called 'internal jogging'.

This has been mirrored by the psychological benefits that underpin the benefits that business has been seeing. If you feel good in your body, you are likely to start feeling good in yourself. As we saw at the start of this article, the transforming power of laughter really shows itself in people's ability to build their EQ, to shift their state, to feel less stressed, to feel better in themselves and to feel more connected to others. Hence laughter fosters our relationships and helps us bond. It enhances our capacity to feel we can achieve more. Laughter enhances our creative potential. We let go of our egos! Business people often say that they want fun in the workplace. Now it is possible to create that. Laughter training is fundamentally about us getting in touch with our fun side, accessing part of our hidden potential. Hence it is truly transformative.

Thank you to John Gloster-Smith for the inspiration behind this posting:

You can learn more about the work of John Gloster-Smith and his wife Akasha Lonsdale at www.thelaughterschool.com.