Humor at Work |
ISSUE 682 - June 7, 2017 |
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Do You Need a Director of Last Impressions? |
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It's another low-fat, high-fiber edition of random ideas, inspiration and insights...
- Feeling anti-social? A little levity is a proven way to pull you out of your shell - several studies show that when people experience humor they tend to make more eye contact, talk more, listen better, and touch other people more often (in entirely appropriately ways of course!)
- A study at Dalhousie University found that 39% of Canadians eat lunch at their desk. Check out 14 Things You Should Do During Your Lunch Break (instead of eating at your desk!)
- Research by Dr. David Abramis at California State University found that when humor was incorporated into several workplace environments during an extended trial period, absenteeism rates dropped by 38% and employee turnover fell by 21% (Psst...does your senior management team know this?)
- A study looking at the most effective texts in terms of soliciting a positive response to a date request found three common factors: They referenced something specific they had learned about the other person, they had a specific call to action, and they used humor - pretty good rules to follow for more effective e-mails, sales pitches, or business presentations.
- Disney has a VP of Parking. Why? Because they want to effectively manage the first impressions and the last impressions of their guests. (I've written about the importance of having Directors of First Impressions, but maybe your company could also use a Director of Last Impressions?)
- Here's a great idea to adapt in your workplace: A workplace in Sweden has created a mentoring/partner/buddy system program based solely on the idea of the partners helping each other manage their stress and work/life balance more effectively.

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Mike's Fun at Work Tip |
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A group of scientists from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden have been sneaking Bob Dylan quotes into research papers as part of a long-running bet. Two stars of the soap opera The Young and the Restless (playing the characters of Nick and Phyllis) had a running bet as to who could seamlessly weave a certain word of the day into their lines. Someone else told me how they'd select a word of the day randomly from a dictionary and then all the front line retail staff
where they worked were challenged to weave it into conversations with customers. So why not adapt these ideas for your workplace - challenge everyone to weave a word or phrase into business presentations, e-mails, reports, meetings, or everyday conversation with colleagues. It could be a daily or weekly challenge, a one-off at a meeting, or a word or phrase of the month.
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Quote of the Week |
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“There are no rules here. We’re trying to accomplish something!” Thomas Edison
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It's a Wacky World |
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That longstanding Dylan bet prompted some researchers to dig deeper into the use of Bob Dylan lyrics in scientific papers. Here's what they found: 727 Dylan citations in science journals, the first of which appeared in 1970 in The Journal of Practical Nursing. The most cited song was "The Times They Are a-Changin"
with 135 citations, while "Blowin' in the Wind" was referenced 26 times. One paper in Review on Epigenetics had the delightful title "Like a Rolling Histone" (I'm sure it slayed them at the annual epigenetics convention).
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Cost-Savings to Bring Mike in to Speak
"Need to See Mom Special": Kelowna or Penticton, B.C. on-going
Toronto: Sept. 7-12
Cleveland: Sept. 24-25
Montreal: Nov. 23 or 25
Ottawa: Dec. 11-13
New Zealand: Feb. 20 - Mar. 5, 2018
Leading Words
Mike is quoted in the Business Insider article 30 Things the Best Bosses Always Say
Psst...You Really Don't Want to Miss This! Seriously! Even if you're in Winnipeg (it's a quick flight to Calgary). This being the Customer Service Leadership Summit featuring four outstanding speakers and a panel of industry leaders - November 15, Calgary. For details hop over to Customer Service Leadership Summit
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mike@mikekerr.com
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