What are some ways to use humor to break down barriers and build bridges between different groups?

Al contar chistes debemos ser cuidadosos para no faltar el respeto a los demás, ni dañar su bienestar emocional. Podemos contar experiencias personales y los aprendizajes que nos dieron esas situaciones. Conocer a la audiencia también ayuda a entender qué tema podría gustarles o que es cotidiano en su vida como para contar ejemplos vivenciales graciosos. El chiste debe dejar un mensaje positivo, que ayude a comprender mejor la idea.

The workplace needs laughter. According to research from institutions as serious as Wharton, MIT, and London Business School, every chuckle or guffaw brings with it a host of business benefits. Laughter relieves stress and boredom, boosts engagement and well-being, and spurs not only creativity and collaboration but also analytic precision and productivity. Working adults are “in the midst of a laughter drought.” Babies laugh, on average, 400 times a day; people over 35, only 15. A recent study of Gallup data for the U.S. found that we laugh significantly less on weekdays than we do on weekends. Work is a sober endeavor. “A priest, a rabbi, and a nun walk into a bar, and the bartender says, ‘What is this, a joke?’”

Laughter existed prior to spoken language, and it was about socialization, not jokes. It took a while for laughter to be associated with something funny. And since that time, humor and laughter have been used both to oppress and to defeat the oppressor - a two-edged sword. There are so many "senses" of humor - and no universal type that works for everyone. One of the ways to share laughter as a social bonding tool, is to set aside the joke, and laugh for the health of it. Practices such as Laughter Yoga and Laughter Wellness teach ways to use laughter as a way to release feel good hormones. Turning a personal mishap into a funny story is - another way to do this - in fact, observational comedians such as Nate Bargatze are master of this.

Transparent examples from professional personal experiences are effective techniques. As a trainer to new organizations, they may be seen as not relatable and perhaps teaching from a theoretical perspective. The audience is looking for a mirror to relate and learn to improve their skills. The objective is to develop rapport and connection. Use humor in the examples to lessen their resistance of not being transparent.

Cracking jokes is fine but with whom its highly important. Its always safe to run a joke on self rather on others no matter how close the relationship is. You never know what may hurt and many a times its not only hurt but some behavioural jokes on someone may be taken too seriously which may change their perspective on self creating self doubts. So its always safe to use humour on self that too with positive mindset

Humor is one of my personal favorite ways to get to know someone. One of the best ways to do it is through a solid metaphor that your audience will get to really draw the parallel from something they know and have seen before (movies/TV shows/memes) to relate it to a situation. When you're able to connect the dots for people to see things from another perspective, it really does help build the bridge some people need. Even if someone doesn't know ALL the details about some well-known pop culture reference, it's easier to get the picture. This does have to be tailored to your audience. We know better than to reference a TikTok trend in a room full of people who might not get it and just create more confusion, having the opposite effect.

Humor is sometimes a double-edged sword, that may bridge or break relationships. It is important to know the 'why' before you use humor - why are you making a joke, is it to lighten the air and encourage connectedness or in a senseless way that can possibly do damage?

Anything can be learnt easily with a pinch of humour. Situation based and time based humour helps a lot to pass a message. There’s a thin line between being sarcastic and being humorous, tonality plays aa crucial role in this.

Adding humour is always the best way to lighten up intense talks. Not to mention, that it effectively helps softly break down hierarchical mental blocks... Better expressed on voice than text, contextual humour is always safer when not in offensive tone... choose the medium to express the humourous content prior to context...

Knowing your limits is self reflection and knowing you might not have all the answer but using resources to assist is knowing your drive and abilities don’t be afraid to ask for help

El humor, aunque puede unir, también tiene su lado delicado. Estoy de acuerdo en que debemos conocer nuestros límites y establecer límites claros al usar el humor. Evitar la ofensa, ser respetuosos y sensibles es clave. El humor debe construir, no destruir; unir, no separar. Utilicémoslo con cuidado, siempre recordando que la empatía y el respeto son fundamentales al tratar con las sensibilidades de los demás.