Laughter Yoga can do for you and your business

Why Laughter Yoga in Business
   
      Work place is becoming too serious because of increasing stress levels. The general impression is that serious people are more responsible and more productive. This is not true. More productive people are those who take their work seriously but take themselves lightly.

Scientific research shows us that laughter can help resolve workplace stress and create a happy, energized and motivated workforce.  But, until now there has been no reliable and effective way to induce laughter. Humor has been one of the ways but it seldom leads to continuous hearty laughter.

Laughter Yoga is a breakthrough laughter delivery system that enables a person to laugh continuously for 15 to 20 minutes with short breaks of yogic breathing.
 To get the scientifically proven benefits, laughter has to be:

• Hearty – emanating from the belly (diaphragm)
• It has to be extended for a longer period of time. 

In our daily lives we laugh for barely a few seconds here and there, which is not enough to bring about powerful physiological changes. But Laughter Yoga is an ideal practice, which allows laughter to be extended at will.

What is Laughter Yoga

   Laughter Yoga is a unique exercise routine that has developed and launched as a movement in 1998. According to this concept anyone can laugh without relying on humor, jokes or comedy. Laughter is simulated as an exercise in a group. With eye contact and childlike playfulness, it soon turns into real and contagious laughter. The reason we call it Laughter Yoga is because it combines laughter exercises with yoga-based breathing patterns. This allows more oxygen into the body and the brain, which makes one feel more energetic and healthy.

The concept of Laughter Yoga is based on a scientific fact that the body cannot differentiate between fake and real laughter. One gets the same physiological and psychological benefits.
 This innovative concept has been widely accepted all over the world and has been written about in prestigious publications including the TIME Magazine, National Geographic, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Daily Telegraph (UK) and many others. Laughter clubs were also featured on Oprah Winfrey Show, BBC, CNN, ZDF (Germany ) NHK (Japan ), ABC news ( USA ) and other TV networks.

Corporate Benefits of Laughter Yoga

    Laughter Yoga, which initially started as a social club movement, has now entered the business world, where it provides companies and organizations powerful operational benefits. Companies around the world are starting to introduce Laughter Yoga and employers find that it can have a profound influence on their business even making their company more profitable. By introducing laughter sessions for all staff, companies have reported a happier workplace, increased efficiency, better communication, increase in sales and productivity, increased creativity and better teamwork, decrease in illness and absenteeism, and a reduction in employee turnover.

How Laughter Yoga helps improve business and performance

Workplace stress: While there are many tools available for stress management, Laughter Yoga is a unique practice that helps reduce physical, mental and emotional stress at the same time. It works both at the physical and mental level. A research conducted in December 2006 on 50 information technology professionals in Bangalore found a significant reduction in stress levels as shown by reduction in cortisol levels in saliva.

Improved efficiency: At a given time, performance depends upon mood and Laughter Yoga has the power to change the frame of mind within minutes by releasing neuro-peptides from the brain cells called endorphins. Science tells us that the brain needs 25% more oxygen than other body organs.  Laughter Yoga increases the net supply of oxygen, which helps in optimal performance and boosts energy levels.

Team building: “People who laugh together, work together”. John Cleese, a renowned British comedian, once said during his visit to Mumbai that laughter is a great connector of people. It breaks all hierarchies and is a force for democracy. Laughter Yoga has the ability to change the work environment drastically by making people happy and cheerful, bringing positive mental attitude, hope and optimism in the workforce.  It also increases communication skills to help in teambuilding.

Leadership skills: A good leader is the one who is in touch with his or her emotional being and understand those of others. Laughter Yoga helps connect with people in the workplace and bring an emotional balance. This is greatly helpful in achieving targets and accomplishing goals.

Innovation and creativity: The most creative people in the world are children. The essence of Laughter Yoga is to cultivate child like playfulness. This playfulness stimulates the right brain activity, which is the seat of creativity. This helps in generating new ideas and insights about workplace issues and problems.

Increasing attention span in HR trainings: The human brain cannot concentrate for more than 90 minutes after which the attention span reduces. Even a 5-10 minute Laughter Yoga session can provide a great energy boost during long HR training sessions and conferences. It helps in increasing the attention span, enhancing learning skills and overall concentration.

Positive work environment: Job dissatisfaction and hostile work environment compel people to change jobs more frequently, thus affecting productivity and profitability. Laughter Yoga creates positive energy and improves communication between people. The study on IT companies in Bangalore also confirmed an increase in positive emotions and decrease in negativity, thereby developing an emotional intelligence. This helps in creating a more constructive work environment and ensures loyalty and commitment.

Motivation and communication: For people working in front office and sales and marketing, Laughter Yoga helps to bring a smile on their face and generate an overall feeling of wellbeing. This enhances their communication and motivational skills thus increasing their client base and customer satisfaction.

Health benefits of Laughter Yoga

    The basic objective of every human being is to enjoy life, live in harmony with family and friends. But, one cannot enjoy life if one is stressed out. Laughter Yoga is a single exercise routine which brings physical, mental and social wellbeing in shortest possible time. People can experience benefits of this unique practice from the very first session.
 The two most common causes of ill health are wrong food habits and lack of exercise which leads to heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and many stress-related illnesses.


Executives are very busy and have no time to exercise. Dr. Williams Fry of Stanford University proved that 10 minutes of hearty laughter is equal to 30 minutes on the rowing machine- this is not in terms of muscular movement but a cardio pulmonary endurance. The purpose of all aerobic exercises is to stimulate heart rate, increase blood circulation, supply oxygen and remove toxins.

Employee Engagement in an Organization

  “Thinking is easy, acting is difficult and to put one’s thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.” Goethe

What is engagement?

The first step in our research was to investigate what HR professionals understood or meant when they used the term ‘engagement’. A clear view of the behaviors demonstrated by the engaged employee emerged:

• belief in the organization
• desire to work to make things better
• understanding of business context and the ‘bigger picture’
• respectful of, and helpful to, colleagues
• willingness to ‘go the extra mile’
• keeping up to date with developments in the field.

Engagement has clear overlaps with the more exhaustively researched concepts of commitment and organizational citizenship behavior, but there are also differences. In particular, engagement is two-way: organizations must work to engage the employee, who in turn has a choice about the level of engagement to offer the employer.

‘a positive attitude held by the employee towards the organization and its values. An engaged employee is aware of business context, and works with colleagues to improve performance within the job for the benefit of the organization. The organization must work to develop and nurture engagement, which requires a two-way relationship between employer and employee.’

Measuring engagement

Positive responses to the engagement statements indicate:

• a positive attitude towards, and pride in, the organization
• belief in the organization’s products/services
• a perception that the organization enables the employee to perform well
• a willingness to behave altruistically and be a good team player
• an understanding of the bigger picture and a willingness to go beyond the requirements of the job.

Engagement challenges

Further in-depth analysis of our NHS case study data revealed that engagement levels can vary, in association with a variety of personal and job characteristics and with experiences at work. Some key findings were:

• engagement levels decline as employees get older – until they reach the oldest group (60 plus), where levels suddenly rise, and show this oldest group to be the most engaged of all
• minority ethnic respondents have higher engagement levels than their white colleagues
• managers and professionals tend to have higher engagement levels than their colleagues in supporting roles, although people in the latter group appear to owe greater loyalty to their profession than to the organization in which they practise their craft
• engagement levels decline as length of service increases
• having an accident or an injury at work, or experiencing harassment (particularly if the manager is the source of the harassment) both have a big negative impact on engagement
• employees who have a personal development plan, and who have received a formal performance appraisal within the past year, have significantly higher engagement levels than those who have not.

The above findings show that organizations need to work hard to prevent, and minimize the impact of, bad experiences. They also need to ensure that employees’ development needs (including the special needs of professionals) are taken seriously; pay attention to, and value the roles of, support staff; and to maintain the interest of longer-serving employees. The relatively high levels of engagement of the oldest employees, and of minority ethnic staff, suggest sources of untapped potential within some organizations.

What drives engagement?

Research shows that committed employees perform better. If we accept that engagement, as many believe, is ‘one step up’ from commitment, it is clearly in the organization’s interests to understand the drivers of engagement. Analysis of the NHS case study data indicates that opinions about, and experiences of, many aspects of working life are strongly correlated with engagement levels. However, the strongest driver of all is a sense of feeling valued and involved. This has several key components:

• involvement in decision making
• the extent to which employees feel able to voice their ideas, and managers listen to these views, and value employees’ contributions
• the opportunities employees have to develop their jobs
• the extent to which the organization is concerned for employees’ health and wellbeing.

The line manager clearly has a very important role in fostering employees’ sense of involvement and value – an observation that is completely consistent with IES’ research in many different areas of HR practice and employment, all of which point to the critical importance of the employee-manager relationship.

General lessons

Attempts to raise engagement levels are likely to founder, unless the following ‘building blocks’ are in place:

• good quality line management
• two-way communication
• effective internal co-operation
• a development focus
• commitment to employee wellbeing
• clear, accessible HR policies and practices, to which managers at all levels are committed.

It looks easy, but of course it isn’t; it requires a huge amount of effort and continuing investment to ensure that all of these basics are in place and working well. Embarking on a drive to increase engagement levels should not be undertaken lightly, bearing in mind the ease with which engagement (like the psychological contract) can be shattered.

Employee Motivation

The Challenge of motivating employees is extremely important to managers and supervisors. Despite the important of the topic, several myths persist -- especially among new managers and supervisors. Before looking at what management can do to support the motivation of employees, it's important first to clear up these common myths.

1. Myth #1 -- "I can motivate people"

Not really -- they have to motivate themselves. You can't motivate people anymore than you can empower them. Employees have to motivate and empower themselves. However, you can set up an environment where they best motivate and empower themselves. The key is knowing how to set up the environment for each of your employees.

2. Myth #2 -- "Money is a good motivator"

Not really. Certain things like money, a nice office and job security can help people from becoming less motivated, but they usually don't help people to become more motivated. A key goal is to understand the motivations of each of your employees.

3. Myth #3 -- "Fear is a damn good motivator"

Fear is a great motivator -- for a very short time. That's why a lot of yelling from the boss won't seem to "light a spark under employees" for a very long time.

4. Myth #4 -- "I know what motivates me, so I know what motivates my employees"

Not really. Different people are motivated by different things. I may be greatly motivated by earning time away from my job to spend more time my family. You might be motivated much more by recognition of a job well done. People are not motivated by the same things. Again, a key goal is to understand what motivates each of your employees.

5. Myth #5 -- "Increased job satisfaction means increased job performance"

Research shows this isn't necessarily true at all. Increased job satisfaction does not necessarily mean increased job performance. If the goals of the organization are not aligned with the goals of employees, then employees aren't effectively working toward the mission of the organization.

6. Myth #6 -- "I can't comprehend employee motivation -- it's a science"

Nah. Not true. There are some very basic steps you can take that will go a long way toward supporting your employees to motivate themselves toward increased performance in their jobs. (More about these steps is provided later on in this article.)

Basic Principles to Remember

1. Motivating employees starts with motivating yourself

It's amazing how, if you hate your job, it seems like everyone else does, too. If you are very stressed out, it seems like everyone else is, too. Enthusiasm is contagious. If you're enthusiastic about your job, it's much easier for others to be, too. Also, if you're doing a good job of taking care of yourself and your own job, you'll have much clearer perspective on how others are doing in theirs.

A great place to start learning about motivation is to start understanding your own motivations. The key to helping to motivate your employees is to understand what motivates them. So what motivates you? Consider, for example, time with family, recognition, a job well done, service, learning, etc. How is your job configured to support your own motivations? What can you do to better motivate yourself?

2. Always work to align goals of the organization with goals of employees

As mentioned above, employees can be all fired up about their work and be working very hard. However, if the results of their work don't contribute to the goals of the organization, then the organization is not any better off than if the employees were sitting on their hands -- maybe worse off! Therefore, it's critical that managers and supervisors know what they want from their employees. These preferences should be worded in terms of goals for the organization. Identifying the goals for the organization is usually done during strategic planning. Whatever steps you take to support the motivation of your employees (various steps are suggested below), ensure that employees have strong input to identifying their goals and that these goals are aligned with goals of the organization. (Goals should be worded to be "SMARTER". More about this later on below.)

3. Key to supporting the motivation of your employees is understanding what motivates each of them

Each person is motivated by different things. Whatever steps you take to support the motivation of your employees, they should first include finding out what it is that really motivates each of your employees. You can find this out by asking them, listening to them and observing them. (More about this later on below.)

4. Recognize that supporting employee motivation is a process, not a task

Organizations change all the time, as do people. Indeed, it is an ongoing process to sustain an environment where each employee can strongly motivate themselves. If you look at sustaining employee motivation as an ongoing process, then you'll be much more fulfilled and motivated yourself.

5. Support employee motivation by using organizational systems (for example, policies and procedures) -- don't just count on good intentions

Don't just count on cultivating strong interpersonal relationships with employees to help motivate them. The nature of these relationships can change greatly, for example, during times of stress. Instead, use reliable and comprehensive systems in the workplace to help motivate employees. For example, establish compensation systems, employee performance systems, organizational policies and procedures, etc., to support employee motivation. Also, establishing various systems and structures helps ensure clear understanding and equitable treatment of employees.

Steps You Can Follow

The following specific steps can help you go a long way toward supporting your employees to motivate themselves in your organization.

1. Do more than read this article -- apply what you're reading here

This maxim is true when reading any management publication.

2. Briefly write down the motivational factors that sustain you and what you can do to sustain them

This little bit of "motivation planning" can give you strong perspective on how to think about supporting the motivations of your employees.

3. Make of list of three to five things that motivate each of your employees

Create a checklist of possible motivators. Fill out the list yourself for each of your employees and then have each of your employees fill out the list for themselves. Compare your answers to theirs. Recognize the differences between your impressions of what you think are important to them and what they think is important to them. Then meet with each of your employees to discuss what they think are the most important motivational factors to them. Lastly, take some time alone to write down how you will modify your approaches with each employee to ensure their motivational factors are being met. (NOTE: This may seem like a "soft, touchy-feely exercise" to you. If it does, then talk to a peer or your boss about it. Much of what's important in management is based very much on "soft, touchy-feely exercises". Learn to become more comfortable with them. The place to start is to recognize their importance.)

4. Work with each employee to ensure their motivational factors are taken into consideration in your reward systems

For example, their jobs might be redesigned to be more fulfilling. You might find more means to provide recognition, if that is important to them. You might develop a personnel policy that rewards employees with more family time, etc.

5. Have one-on-one meetings with each employee

Employees are motivated more by your care and concern for them than by your attention to them. Get to know your employees, their families, their favorite foods, names of their children, etc. This can sound manipulative -- and it will be if not done sincerely. However, even if you sincerely want to get to know each of your employees, it may not happen unless you intentionally set aside time to be with each of them.

6. Cultivate strong skills in delegation

Delegation includes conveying responsibility and authority to your employees so they can carry out certain tasks. However, you leave it up to your employees to decide how they will carry out the tasks. Skills in delegation can free up a great deal of time for managers and supervisors. It also allows employees to take a stronger role in their jobs, which usually means more fulfillment and motivation in their jobs, as well.

7. Reward it when you see it

A critical lesson for new managers and supervisors is to learn to focus on employee behaviors, not on employee personalities. Performance in the workplace should be based on behaviors toward goals, not on popularity of employees. You can get in a great deal of trouble (legally, morally and interpersonally) for focusing only on how you feel about your employees rather than on what you're seeing with your eyeballs.

8. Reward it soon after you see it

This helps to reinforce the notion that you highly prefer the behaviors that you're currently seeing from your employees. Often, the shorter the time between an employee's action and your reward for the action, the clearer it is to the employee that you highly prefer that action.

9. Implement at least the basic principles of performance management

Good performance management includes identifying goals, measures to indicate if the goals are being met or not, ongoing attention and feedback about measures toward the goals, and corrective actions to redirect activities back toward achieving the goals when necessary. Performance management can focus on organizations, groups, processes in the organization and employees.

10. Establish goals that are SMARTER

SMARTER goals are: specific, measurable, acceptable, realistic, timely, extending of capabilities, and rewarding to those involved.

11. Clearly convey how employee results contribute to organizational results

Employees often feel strong fulfillment from realizing that they're actually making a difference. This realization often requires clear communication about organizational goals, employee progress toward those goals and celebration when the goals are met.

12. Celebrate achievements

This critical step is often forgotten. New managers and supervisors are often focused on a getting "a lot done". This usually means identifying and solving problems. Experienced managers come to understand that acknowledging and celebrating a solution to a problem can be every bit as important as the solution itself. Without ongoing acknowledgement of success, employees become frustrated, skeptical and even cynical about efforts in the organization.

13. Let employees hear from their customers (internal or external)

Let employees hear customers proclaim the benefits of the efforts of the employee . For example, if the employee is working to keep internal computer systems running for other employees (internal customers) in the organization, then have other employees express their gratitude to the employee. If an employee is providing a product or service to external customers, then bring in a customer to express their appreciation to the employee.

14. Admit to yourself (and to an appropriate someone else) if you don't like an employee --

Managers and supervisors are people. It's not unusual to just not like someone who works for you. That someone could, for example, look like an uncle you don't like. In this case, admit to yourself that you don't like the employee. Then talk to someone else who is appropriate to hear about your distaste for the employee, for example, a peer, your boss, your spouse, etc. Indicate to the appropriate person that you want to explore what it is that you don't like about the employee and would like to come to a clearer perception of how you can accomplish a positive working relationship with the employee. It often helps a great deal just to talk out loud about how you feel and get someone else's opinion about the situation. As noted above, if you continue to focus on what you see about employee performance, you'll go a long way toward ensuring that your treatment of employees remains fair and equitable.