US public relations company Peppercomm has been sending its employees for stand-up comedy training to develop their communication and presentation skills, reported Workforce.com.
Entitled “The Comedy Experience”, the workshop was developed by Peppercomm’s co-founder Steve Cody and comedy expert Clayton Fletcher. It starts off by showing the link between comedy and business performance. Participants then perform their own three to four minute stand-up routine. Lastly, their routines are reviewed by Cody and Fletcher, the report said.
The programme has given team-building a strong boost and helped Peppercomm maintain a low turnover rate, the report said.
"I think it's because [the employees] have all been through this comedy thing and they've heard each other talk about their neurotic moms or their insomniac boyfriends or whatever. And it's a different way of getting to know your cube-mate. It's broken down all sorts of barriers for us," Cody was quoted as saying by Workforce.com.
However, it must be noted that this programme might not work for every corporate culture, warned Fletcher in the report. "I feel like a sense of humour is like a fingerprint: no two are exactly alike. What we try to do is figure out what makes you funny, and then figure out how to use that in the workplace."
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