Injecting humor into tense work situations can be risky because it can backfire, leading to loss of face and hurt feelings. It also became evident that the majority of Extension staff were using humor by laughing easily with themselves and others. There are many good reasons to encourage humor in the Extension workplace. To begin with, it relieves tension. More relaxed Extension workers, like surgeons, athletes, and politicians, will consistently outperform uptight counterparts.
Laughter is also the shortest distance between two people.
Human differences can be mediated by mirth and play. Jealousy, bickering, turf and status differences between county and state staff, home economics and agriculture, or just in our own offices can become less burdensome over a joke or good laugh. Laughter loosens fixed positions in the mind. In both humor and creative thinking, a person's intellect is confronted with something beyond the ordinary which is seen as an amusing or unique idea. Playfulness and laughter will condition our minds to perceive ordinary information in unusual patterns and connections.