September 18, 2025

Laughter Can Be a Powerful Tool for Leading and Learning

Education is serious work, but it does not have to be humorless. In fact, humor and its companion—laughter—can be powerful tools for leading a school staff, an instructional team or task force, a group of colleagues, or class of students.

What makes humor so powerful? When we laugh, we activate dopamine, a feel-good brain chemical. Dopamine can stimulate learning and extend recall. Dopamine is self-reinforcing. It leaves us wanting more; thus, it builds engagement. Further, dopamine fosters connections when it is part of shared experiences. Laughter also can be a signal that we are in a safe place and can be ourselves. Humor can lighten the mood and the load. It can lessen feelings of stress and stimulate creativity.

Some of us might think that we are not naturally funny. However, finding humor does not mean that we must be a comedian. In fact, laughter can come from many sources. We can start by not taking ourselves too seriously. We also need to be open to seeing and enjoying humor when it reveals itself. Here are five places where we can find and generate a smile, a chuckle, a full-blown belly laugh, or maybe just an appreciative eye roll:

Tap low risk sources of humor such as cartoons, jokes, and funny stories. The combination of what we find humorous and what we know about our audience— whether staff or students—can be our guide. It is often best to search for humor that relates to the work we are doing or the learning we are nurturing. Not being the original source of humor does not mean it is less effective.
Share short videos or clips. We can look for content related to a topic, challenge, or goal that also features a humorous approach. A brief, appropriate video clip can stimulate interest and spark ideas while also lightening the atmosphere and creating a readiness for what lies ahead.
Share our experiences, missteps, misunderstandings, and foibles. Self-effacing stories and reflections can break tension and lighten the mood. Our willingness to share something about ourselves can make us more relatable and allow others to relax and be themselves.
Recognize, pause, and enjoy the unexpected and ironic things that happen or are said. Finding something funny in real time can make work more enjoyable and learning more meaningful. A statement of the obvious, a surprising insight that explains, or an unintended pun can be the stimulus for new ideas, launch a new line of thinking, or open the door to new learning.
Delegate the search for humor to a team member or student. As noted earlier, we do not always have to be the source of humor. We might ask a particularly funny team member or creative student to come up with a joke or story to kick off a meeting or class. However, we may need to provide some guidance and boundaries to avoid misapplication of the assignment.

Like any powerful tool, humor must be handled with care and utilized with thought and purpose. When employing humor, we do well to:

Consider the context
Think of the impact
Stay away from stereotypes
Avoid embarrassing or humiliating anyone
Stay away from off-color innuendos or double meanings

Humor, when used with care and discretion, can add an important dimension to our leadership and assist with learning. We can introduce levity, lessen stress, and create community through the humor we borrow, create, and recognize.