According to a recent survey conducted by Gallup in the United States, adults laugh much more at weekends than on work days. While children laugh as many as 400 times a day, adults over 35 only laugh 15 times. Prestigious business schools like Wharton, Sloan, Harvard and the London Business School say that every "guffaw" brings a host of benefits for the company. Laughter relieves stress and boredom, boosts interpersonal relations in the workplace, enhances creativity and even improves productivity.

But how do we reinforce humor at work? How can leaders include a portion of this vital ingredient in their messages? Should each meeting begin with a joke? In the context of an organization, people usually laugh when they discover that something they momentarily thought was correct turns out to be the opposite. Obviously, people laugh for other reasons as well, and in moderation this can have a positive effect. For example, leaders sharing funny anecdotes, especially if they involve a mistake they have made, work well. Or a little good-natured leg-pulling among co-workers who have known each other for a long time. Even jokes about people outside organization who prompt the same reaction from the group can help to strengthen ties. Of course, all of this has to be done with extreme care and sensitivity. After all, humor is subjective, and what some people find funny isn't necessarily the case for others. Even in our modern times, where cultural diversity is a must, this dimension should also be taken into account. For example, in Japan joking in the office is simply not done. Such recklessness could have the opposite effect from the one intended. But as Alison Beard, editor of the Harvard Business Review, points out, humor also arises when something goes wrong, or when someone is faced with a threatening situation, as long as the risk is contained and the outcome can be managed. Joel Warner, author of the book The Humor Code, argues that it is easier to fail with humor than to succeed. Failure is "cushioned" with a reasonable amount of humor, he says.

These are the main recommendations for using this important dimension of human psychology:

-         As a business leader it's not about how funny you are, but about the type of humor you use. You have to be honest and authentic.

-         If you just aren't a funny type of person, at least show your sense of humor. Everybody has one.

-         Don't be frightened to laugh at yourself. This shows trust and a sense of what is real while minimizing the arrogance and sensation of fear that every leader conveys to one extent or another.

-         Activities or celebrations organized by the company are ideal occasions to include group dynamics that contain an element of humor.

Perhaps the most powerful message about this important topic is summed up by the anthropologist Edward Hall: “If you can learn the humor of a people and really control it, you know that you are also in control of nearly everything else."