Humor Minus Credibility Equals Doofus
By Lonnie Pacelli, Sat Dec 10th

From the book Humor Minus Credibility Equals Doofus athttp://www.leadingonedge.com/doofus_one_pager.htm

Ed was just appointed team leader in a public works organizationof the federal government. In preparing for his first meetingwith his new team, Ed thought long and hard about some of hisprior managers' leadership styles. One characteristic that heparticularly admired in several of his managers was the abilityto connect with the team through humor. He decided on a strategythat would help the team accept him as a leader--he would showhis human side and use humor to connect with them.

Ed had his first meeting with the team and was very satisfiedwith the results. The team seemed to really like him. Themeeting was filled with laughter and both the team and Ed seemedto really be enjoying themselves. Ed was very happy and believedthings were getting off to a great start.

With each passing meeting, though, there seemed to be a growingconcern among the team. While Ed seemed to connect with theteam, he didn't see the cooperation on getting things done as hehad hoped. There were also a couple of team members who askedfor permission to interview for positions outside of the group.Ed was growing concerned over the trend and asked Betty, one ofthe team members, what she thought was the problem. Betty'scounsel hit Ed right between the eyes: "Ed, you're a great guyand people really like you, but I just don't know if you've gotwhat it takes to lead this group. We're kind of feeling like youmay not have the skills needed to lead us, which is creating alot of concern among the team." While Ed's focus on using humorto connect with the team is great, he didn't take the time toestablish the necessary credibility with the team.

Any one of us can think about an influential figure we've had inour lives, whether a parent, boss, or religious leader, who usedhumor to build camaraderie and inspire people. Leaders who havea sense of humor motivate those around him to want toparticipate in the journey. The problem arises, though, when aleader tries to connect with a team of people prior toestablishing himself as worthy of being followed. If a leaderfails to establish his worthiness by gaining credibility withthe team, the team may only stick with the leader when thingsare going well and there are no problems on the horizon. Themoment that problems start cropping up, team members will bemore apt to defect because they won't have faith in the leaderto navigate the storm. Credibility breeds acceptance, humorfosters inspiration.

So why is the failure to establish credibility such a massiveissue? Here are the biggies:

Team members need to trust that the leader can get from originto destination - Being a leader means knowing the plan andleading the team down the field. The leader not only needs toknow the plan and how to execute, she needs to communicate theplan to the team and ensure the team understands and believes inthe plan.

Team members need to feel secure that the leader will navigatewell through stormy issues - Think of an airline flight you'vebeen on where some unexpected turbulence hit. While the plane isrockin' and rollin,' the pilot speaks to the passengers withincredible calmness and control. His job is to make you feelthat things are well in hand. Imagine if turbulence hit and youheard the pilot scream "HHHEEELLLPPP!!!" I'd be heading for theexits. Having credibility with the team gives the team greatersecurity that the leader will get them through sticky issues.

Use of humor by a credibility-starved leader will exacerbate thecredibility issue - When leaders continually use humor as ameans to connect with a team without establishing credibilityup-front, the use of humor itself becomes a credibilityinhibitor. Teams will tend to see the use of humor as the leadertrying to "cover up" the fact that he may not know what

he isdoing. Thus, each time the credibility-starved leader cracks ajoke, he is actually reinforcing this lack of credibility issuewith the team. Rather than seizing the opportunity to gaincredibility, the leader uses it to brush up on his lounge act.Appropriate use of humor is a great means to inspire a team toperform, so long as the credibility has already beenestablished. Use the following tips to help you get over thecredibility hump:

Start with listening - Gaining credibility doesn't mean you haveall the answers before you understand the questions. In fact,not taking the time to listen can actually hurt your credibilitycampaign and brand you as arrogant (we'll talk more about thisin lesson #2). Demonstrating a clear understanding of teamconcerns and issues is a great credibility builder in that theteam learns to trust you as a leader.

Use humor sparingly up front - The team first and foremost wantsto know why they should be following you. Use those initialopportunities with the team to connect through understanding theissues they are facing and gaining an understanding of the mostimportant things for you as a leader to focus on. As you buildthe credibility, feel free to introduce more humor to move theteam from accepting you to being inspired to follow you.

Don't be so gun-shy of using humor that you are viewed as astick-in-the-mud - Being cautious about using humor shouldn'tgive you a reputation as stern, mean, or stoic. By all means, bepleasant, approachable, and engaged in your interaction. Theteam will find it easier to talk to you and will get a morecomfortable feeling that you understand their problems.

Use a bit of self-deprecating humor - I use this technique a lotparticularly when I am doing presentations. I will frequentlytell of a situation where I did something really foolish orwhere I publicly embarrassed myself in front of a group ofpeople. This demonstrates that you're secure enough with yourown abilities to share them with other people. It also showsthat you are able to laugh at yourself and not take yourself tooseriously. One note of caution here: don't be self-deprecatingto a point that the team sees you as having a self-esteem issue.

Avoid humor which tarnishes the credibility of others - Usinghumor which trashes other people or competitors creates problemsin a couple of ways for you as a leader. The first has to dowith the trustworthiness of the leader. While team members maysee destructive jokes as funny, they can develop a viewpoint of"so what does this person say about me when I'm not in theroom?" The second has to do with the questionability of yourmotivations. When you trash talk others for a laugh, you can beviewed as attempting to build your credibility at the expense ofsomeone else through your own insight and wit. For credibilityto be well entrenched in the team it needs to be absolute, notrelative. Otherwise, you're only demonstrating that you areworthy to lead a team until someone better or smarter comesalong. Not a good foundation to establish credibility.

Look, none of us wants to follow a leader with all thepersonality of cottage cheese. Having a leader who is able toshare an occasional joke and laugh with a team is huge in movinga team from acceptance to inspiration. Just ensure that you as aleader take the first step to establish credibility with theteam and garner their trust in you before you get too liberalwith the funny stuff.

Get all 12 Back to Basics Leadership Principles Anyone CanFollow at http://www.leadingonedge.com/doofus_one_pager.htm

About the author:Lonnie Pacelli has over 20 years' experience with Accenture andMicrosoft and is currently president of Leading on the Edge™International. Lonnie's books include "The Project ManagementAdvisor: 18 Major Project Screw-Ups and How to Cut Them Off atthe Pass" and "The Truth About Getting Your Point Across". Getthe books, leadership products, other articles, MP3 seminars andfree email mini seminars at http://www.leadingonedge.com