Hi Laughter Lovers!
Well, it’s a scandal that could wipe the smile from your face. During a recent Senate Estimates hearing Australian Senator Mitch Fifield was not amused when he learned that Centrelink (the Government organization that looks after the unemployed in Australia) had spent 2660 taxpayer dollars on a staff workshop that focused on, wait for it folks, laughter.
Fifield demanded to know who was responsible for this frivolous squandering of public coffers. Wilting under the full frowning force of Senatorial interrogation Department Deputy Secretary of Enabling Services, Barbara Bennett, admitted to the committee that, yes, this instance of organized jocularity had indeed taken place on her watch.
Bennett pleaded her case that the laughter workshop served as an ice-breaker for a two day Centrelink program on leadership and was “designed as a way to have an informal moment to get to know each other better.”
Fifield would have none of it and, perhaps recalling his days in the armed forces, countered by saying that this objective could have been achieved by having the staff do jumping jacks for free. Bennett, doubtless grateful that the Senator had not asked her to “drop and give me 50”, said she would consider his suggestion for future programs.
Closure was brought to the Laughgate controversy when Department of Human Services secretary Kathryn Campbell assured the hearing that no workshop encouraging laughter at the taxpayers’ expense would ever take place again.
And so it seems Senator Fifield’s vision of a Centrelink staffed by people with straight faces and powerful quadriceps may come to pass. Which is a pity because Jumping Jack Fifield has got it completely wrong.
Over a twenty-year period I have taught thousands of people in the corporate world how to increase their ability to create and enjoy laughter. I have no connection with the group who delivered the Centrelink workshop but if they succeeded in helping staff connect with the power of laughter then those taxpayer dollars were well spent.
A burgeoning body of research proves that laughter not only feels good, it is good for business. If you’re thinking humour and laughter are all very well if you want a bit of touchy-feely but they don’t pay the bills, think again.
For a start sharing laughter simply leads to people being in good moods. And studies by the distinguished members of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organisations demonstrate that good mood produces better service, and moreover that every 1 percent improvement in service climate results in a 2 percent increase in revenue.
So come on Senator Mitch don’t get mad, get merry. Laughter will even keep taxpayer funded public servants fit and reduce the cost of sick days. Dr. William Fry of Stanford University found that the effect of one minute of laughter is equivalent to 10 minutes on a rowing machine, and that must surely equate to a whole lot of jumping jacks.
Thanks for reading, guys. If you are not a LaughBites member I hope you go to my homepage www.anthonyackroyd.com and join the fun. And please share this blog so we can help put the entire world into a better mood!
Your comments are very welcome below. Talk soon!
Laughingly yours, Anthony :)
Learn more about my seminar The Laughter Advantage at http://www.anthonyackroyd.com/corporate
© Anthony Ackroyd 2011
Comments
what had happened at this govt body to make such a cultural shift? It must be the laughter Anthony. Telstra could really do with your help my dear. They need a double shot of it. Stat.
as it would show us just how true my comment is :p I have not been to a Centrelink in over six years and would like to keep it that way as I don't ever remember laughing unless it was sarcastic and aimed at the service back then. Australian Senator Mitch Fifield
sounds like a bit of a blow hard and with very good reason, with over two thirds of the Australian population on one payment or another, every cent wasted is a big deal, so his solution is to complain about staff increasing productivity. I think catching cheats
by paying huge amounts of money to private investigators to catch the criminals may have to be questioned as well as those clients who say they are eligible and are being interviewed through the window of their +$50,000 car (Alarm bells ringing) should be
looked at carefully, when would the dole or sickness benefit pay enough to cover rent, food and fifty thousand dollars for new car, the payments are not much more than fourteen thousand a year, so that said you would have to save for quite some time and not
pay rent or by food or spend any money for four years and you could have that new car... Now I'm having a laugh and hope you are to, if not then telling you my mother ate my coin collection today and ended up in emergency, I called the hospital to see how
she was and the nurses said there was No Change!! More Blow Less Dough Big John Adelaide