We all know that safety is no laughing matter, but our Safety Training Tips editor says humor can be a valuable tool in getting your safety training messages across.
Laugh and the whole world laughs with you. TV comedian/pianist Victor Borge used to say that laughter is the shortest distance between two people. Laughing together brings people closer. That’s because laughter is a shared experience, and laughter truly is infectious. When you see someone laughing, it brings a smile to your face, and you want to laugh, too.
In addition to the social and psychological effects of laughter, there are also major physical effects. After a good belly laugh, the body produces endorphins. Your pulse rate drops, your muscles relax, and your internal organs, including your brain, are stimulated, making them work better.
What does all this have to do with safety training? Training experts agree that working humor into a training presentation and getting trainees laughing can make them more relaxed, attentive, receptive, and willing to participate. Laughter also promotes team spirit and makes your training group more cohesive, cooperative, and interactive. And that can improve the quality and effectiveness of your training.
Think you’ve got no time to train? Think again. BLR’s 7-Minute Safety Trainer lets you fulfill all key OSHA required training tasks in as little as 7 minutes. Try it at no cost and see! Click to learn more.
Overdo it, though, and you’ll be laughing alone. Or worse, trainees will be laughing at you. To introduce just the right amount and right kind of humor into your training sessions, remember these do’s and don’ts:
Do:
- What feels comfortable to you. Trying to be someone you’re not, probably won’t work, and could just end up making everyone uncomfortable.
- Try to relate humor to the topic of the training and to what’s going on during the session.
- Make sure humor is appropriate. That means clean, nonsexist, etc., and appropriate to the particular training group. For example, telling office-related humorous stories or jokes to a group of production workers could fall flat.
- Use humor at the right time and in the right amount. Some laughter and fun is very good. But if trainees are laughing all the time, they may not actually be learning enough.
- Use self-deprecating humor whenever possible. For example, if you’re illustrating a safety point with a story about a hypothetical employee who is acting carelessly, give the employee your own name. Or if you make a mistake during your presentation, acknowledge it with a joke. Making fun of yourself makes you “human” and helps build trust.
- Work laughter in at key points during the presentation—for instance, to introduce a new point, to wake up a drowsy audience, or to refocus the attention of a restless audience.
- Use exaggeration and silliness when appropriate (and if you’re comfortable with it) to perk things up and get people laughing. Some trainers bring along rubber chickens or silly hats. Others ask multiple-choice questions, with one of the choices being obviously silly or bizarre.
- Give trainees a chance to adjust if you’re using humor in your presentations for the first time. They might not react the way you want them to at first. They might think that they’re not supposed to laugh in a training session, or they might not have seen your lighter side before.
Try 7-Minute Safety Trainer at no cost or risk. Click for details.
Don’t:
- Feel obligated to start the session with a joke. Lots of trainers do it, but not many do it well. A false start can make trainees immediately roll their eyes and tune you out.
- Just tell jokes. Use humor with a specific purpose, whether that’s to emphasize a point, relieve stress, or keep people involved in what’s going on. Remember, your primary role is as a trainer, not a stand-up comic.
- Force it or overdo it. Humor has to be natural to promote laughter.
- Laugh at people, but do laugh with them. Never use humor that could be interpreted as ridiculing specific persons or groups of people, and never embarrass anyone with your humor.
- Lose control of the group. Give laughter a few moments to die down and then go on with the business of the session. Otherwise, the session could turn rowdy, and nothing useful will be accomplished.
Why It Matters…
- Using humor and promoting some laughter and fun in safety training sessions helps trainees relax, interact more with you and other trainees, and be more open to new ideas.
- Laughter can also help perk up a training group and refocus attention on the serious side of safety training.
- Used appropriately and in proportion, humor and laughter can make safety and health information more memorable, which means it’s more likely to show up in trainees’ performance on the job.