S5E1: Tony Kong - Balancing Humor, Gratitude and Appreciation at Work

Welcome back to Season 5 of the Leeds Business Insights podcast! This season, we welcome Claire Stewart to the hosting chair as she continues to bring you conversations with some of Leeds and Colorado’s brightest voices.Today, Claire sits down with Tony Kong, professor of organizational leadership and information analytics at the Leeds School of Business. His research examines how we can enable people to take actions intended to benefit others. How can humor factor into today’s workplace productively? How can the effects of appreciation and gratitude multiply in a workplace? How do you identify opportunities in business for creativity and innovation?Tony and Claire discuss Tony’s background and academic journey, as well as his personal journey moving from China to the United States, and navigating the differences between the two cultures. Tony explains how his research has led to his understanding of humor, and how it can function both in and of itself, and within the workplace. Tony also shares his findings on how appreciation can be shown to employees in meaningful ways and lets us in on his musical side, and history with singing, revealing his go-to karaoke songs. Take a listen and join us back here for a new episode every month.Leeds Business Insights Podcast is a production of Leeds School of Business and is produced by University FM.EPISODE QUOTES:The role of humor in trust03:34: Humor can build trust between two individuals or build high-quality relationships among people. Humor can also trigger positive emotions. So people actually feel happy. All of that can lead to a range of benefits in the workplace, such as job performance, organizational citizenship behaviors, creativity, commitment, et cetera.On establishing trust in the workplace10:12: One thing managers always assume is, more trust is better. So, my research actually shows that before building trust, people actually need to think about their self-esteem at work. If a manager gives a lot of trust toward an employee, and the employee does not have really high self-esteem at work, then that trust becomes heavy. It can become a psychological burden.  It actually disengage the  person who received the trust. Humility as a habit for professional growth15:37: One habit I would recommend every professional to have is being humble and expressing humility. Like, express your humility. Listen to other people, appreciate other people's strengths and contributions. Of course, everybody has weaknesses, but let us take a look at other people's bright side, like, what they can do for the organization and then for other folks.SHOW LINKS:Tony Kong | Leeds School of Business ProfileFunny business | CU Boulder Today ArticleSaying ‘thank you’ | CU Boulder Today ArticleWhen trust goes bust | Leeds ArticleTony Kong | Google Scholar Page