It’s Only Banter! With the team at Leathewaites 

We’re very excited about our new workshop, ‘It’s Only Banter’, which had one of its first run-outs in December as a public webinar and is now flying off the shelf (so to speak). And there’s no wonder… 

Having chatted to many customers over the last year or so, organisations are keen to ensure that they don’t become ‘beige’; places where no one can have a laugh and a joke. However, there’s an increasing awareness that any workplace humour has to be more carefully navigated than perhaps it was in the past to ensure that people get it right more often than they get it wrong.  

As we know, the stakes can be high when that happens! 

The team at Leathewaite’s has a lot of chats between themselves, as well as with clients and candidates. They wanted a 90-minute online session for their team to build upon ongoing internal EDI training, which gave a nod to the fact that: 

• They have grown as an organisation. Some people have been there since the beginning, 25 years ago, and many are newer. Within the team there are different generations which, we know, brings different behaviours, thoughts and feelings.
• They are a global team, which can bring cultural sensitivities.
• They’re busy people, and that can lead to mainly transactional conversations, rather than spending time building warm connections.

Sound anything like your company? Well, Sarah Creegan answered the call! 

Although the training was mandatory, people wanted to be there as they value the importance of a timely reminder and understand that knowing something to doing it can be a challenge.  

Members of the leadership team were instrumental in supporting the session and sharing their experiences. The person who introduced the session gave a great example of language used in the business historically but isn’t okay now. She talked about how she intends to challenge it from now on.  

This set the perfect tone for others to be open and great discussions to be had.  

As one person said, “Great engaging session with a large group. Accessible and useful”.  

What more could you ask for? 

If you’re interested in having Sarah - or any of our skilled Laughology team - come into your workplace or organisation, contact our Head of Customer Learning and Laughter, Doug Green. You can email him - doug@laughology.co.uk - and he’d be happy to talk you through how we can help.