Workshop: Humour as Resilience - and How to Use It in Your Working Life

Humour as Resilience - and How to Use it in Your Working Life

The ancient Greeks, Shakespeare and other playwrights took comedy very seriously! They realized that comedy is not a "break" from the real world; rather, it offers a different perspective on the world. Comedy expresses a stubborn refusal to give tragedy the final word! From this point of view, humour is not just an "ingredient" of life, but a fundamental way of living that literally enhances our work, relationships, and day-to-day encounters.

This interactive course will give participants the opportunity to discover, share and apply the tools of humour in their working lives. The course is designed to explore the possibilities of using humour and creativity at work… and to have fun doing this!

Note: This course will be held in English, whereby it is not necessary to be perfect in that language. A good understanding and the ability to take part in discussions is sufficient.

Workshop Goals
 

• To attain new perspectives, especially in challenging situations
• To develop and maintain humour and reduce stress
• To strengthen resilience
• To recognize personal potential and use it creatively
• To discover and implement new options for behaviour

Workshop Content

• Humour as a change of perspective: How we can learn to see things in different ways and develop new solutions.
• Humour as a motivational force and a binding tool in communication
• Activation of our potential for humour and creativity
• Flexibility, spontaneity and enjoyment; "Improvisation in everyday life”
• Humour as support for a culture in which one is allowed to make mistakes. Humour allows us to make mistakes without becoming ashamed or stressed. In this sense, it is an important contribution to reducing stress and tolerating mistakes - our own and those of our colleagues.
• The various forms of humorous interventions (e.g. the joke, the anecdote, “improvisation” and “quick-wittedness”) and their use in presentations, client service, leadership and teamwork
• To find the humour in challenging situations and use this to reduce stress
• To discover and develop their own humorous style

Method

Inputs will be theoretical and practical. Participants will have the chance to discuss the various aspects of humour and the possibilities as well as the challenges of including humour in their working life. In numerous examples and exercises they will explore various methods of humorous interventions and how they can use them.

Location, Date and Time

Tuesday, 12 May 2020, 9.30 am - 3.30 pm

All registered participants will be informed of the location by email one week before the event.

Fees and Registration

This workshop is open to a limited number of participants. The registration deadline is 28 April 2020.

Please note that you should notify us before the registration deadline if you are unable to attend the workshop. Otherwise the full fee will be charged. Please let the Personnel Development and Planning Office know if you will not be attending. There are often waiting lists for the workshops, and this will give one of your colleagues the chance to attend. In addition, if we can fill the vacancy with someone from the waiting list, no cancellation charges will apply for you.

To sign up for this workshop, please click "Register" at the bottom of this page. By registration for this workshop, you accept our terms and conditions “Workshop and Event Registration Information Sheet”. Further information on the collection of personal data can be found in the document “Information obligations pursuant to Art. 13 and 14 of the GDPR”.

For any further information please contact Nina Rath (Nina.Rath@wu.ac.at, Ext. 6173).

The course fee is €20.

Trainer

Jenny Simanowitz, B.A., Lit.Hons. L.T.C.L.     Jenny Simanowitz is an international communication trainer, author and performer in German and English. She studied literature and drama at the University of Cape Town and at Trinity College, Cambridge. She is known in Austria as a pioneer of the now widely accepted idea that laughter increases the ability to learn. She is well-known for her positive attitude to life and her sense of humor. Jenny Simanowitz also developed the "Communication Cabaret" - a mixture of knowledge transfer, social message and comedy. For her current play "Who's Afraid of the Jewish Mother?" she researched intensively into the role of humor as resilience. This led to her developing this topic for lectures and seminars. Her book "100 ungewöhliche Stimmungsmacher”" (Ökotopia Verlag, 2008) has become a bestseller. Her second book, Performance Coaching: creative roles and status games at work "(Beltz Verlag, 2016) is a guide to more creativity and optimism in everyday life. In her work, she transmits both general knowledge about communication as well as precise and concrete tips on how we can expand our behaviour patterns  to create a happy, interesting and successful working life.