You know what they used to say: Laugh and the world laughs with you; cry and you cry alone.

Not today. Today, everybody is crying, and the world is not laughing with you; it's laughing at you.

Who can blame it?

Whether your workplace is a massive corner office or the crowded corner of a wobbly kitchen table, the future looks bleak, and the present isn't too hot either.

Who could see all this and laugh?

J. Stewart Black, that's who. The extremely serious Harvard Business Review recently published Black's "Laughter Will Keep Your Team Connected — Even While You're Apart." In all honesty, I can't say it kept me in stitches, but the good professor does make sense. In a nutshell, Black believes that despite frequent Zoom meetings, not physically sharing workspace with co-workers has an isolating effect. Because we are "30 times more likely to laugh with others than to laugh alone," even highly populated virtual meetings are likely to be laugh-free.

(This is somewhat surprising since "research shows that 80% of what people laugh at is really not that funny." On Zoom or off, I can't think of a better description of a typical business meeting than "not that funny.")

So, what does make people laugh? "They laugh in order to laugh with others," in Black's opinion. It's like what happens when someone yawns; everybody yawns, especially if your manager is talking.

A lack of laughter can be a business problem. A chemical problem is the reason. When we laugh, our pituitary gland releases endorphins. As we learned from multiple episodes of "Temptation Island," endorphins "help relieve pain and trigger feelings of pleasure." So much pleasure that "studies show that people can endure 15% more pain simply by laughing for a few minutes beforehand."

This is major. It should be a legal requirement that managers start every meeting with a "Looney Tunes" cartoon. This should ameliorate some of the pain when the meeting goes "Looney Tunes."

Laughter also causes our brain to release dopamine. "Dopamine can enhance learning, motivation, and attention." Together with the endorphins described above, these two good chemicals counteract the effects of an evil chemical, cortisol. Cortisol can cause "weight gain, headaches, irritability, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, and high blood pressure." In other words, the same effects as a phone call from the HR department.

The learning for managers from this chemistry lesson is obvious: "For your team members to stay healthy and productive, you need to get them to laugh more and stress less." If there are more sour onions than Carrot Tops in your management team, share this advice.

No. 1: Slow down.

Meetings that are fast and furious may seem productive, but they don't allow the time and space required to "keep a team emotionally connected." In order to make room for laughs in the virtual meeting room, Black believes managers need to "give it time and space, even if you have to put off some of the actual work."

I suggest putting the work off until 2023. Heck, I feel like laughing already.

No. 2: Get the video working.

Video in meetings "increase the cue-flow for laughter." For morning meetings, managers should start the video feed an hour or two before the official starting time. Seeing your manager in their skivvies, preening in front of the mirror, is sure to evoke a tsunami of laughter from even the glummest attendees.

No. 3: Smile a lot, and talk in a slightly higher voice.

"A slightly higher pitch in your voice signals that you want to set a lighter rather than more serious tone for your group." If your managers are so old-school that they think that only a deep, sonorous voice befits a leader, introduce them to the character whose voice is perfectly pitched for a laugh-filled meeting. Just think how much funnier it will be to learn about your company's plans to furlough your entire department if your manager delivered the news in the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants.

No. 4: Set the example.

If the manager is laughing at the start of a meeting, "It's easier to keep laughter (and its neurochemicals) going than it is to start cold." Your managers could try tickling themselves or reading a few of the most hilarious pages of the employee manual, or they could simply start the meeting wearing a clown suit and talking gibberish.

That would be really funny, assuming anyone noticed.

Bob Goldman was an advertising executive at a Fortune 500 company. He offers a virtual shoulder to cry on at bob@bgplanning.com. To find out more about Bob Goldman and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: Pexels at Pixabay