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Comedy – An unlikely tool to deliver powerful compliance and ethics awareness

By Admin | 09 April 2021 | Blog

One of the biggest issues faced by leaders in compliance and fraud prevention is how to engage employees. The Holy Grail of any investment in training, whatever the size of the company or organization, must surely be to effect a permanent change in behaviour on an individual human level.

I had been working in the Creative Industries since the mid 1980’s and my work as a Producer and Director has always run alongside a healthy side-line in performing – musical theatre mostly. However, it was when I took a course in stand-up Comedy in Canada I felt the power of holding an audience, being able to surprise and delight them. In short, make them laugh and make them think. Flash forward to 2013 and my communications company Twist and Shout Media is making training and awareness films for business. We are carving out a niche in Information security and compliance and ethics comedy. No – really…The feedback is off the scale. Comedy works. Comedy enhances learning. There is science behind this. Humour and storytelling creates a number of physiological responses in humans that can be harnessed to deliver the most sought-after of learning outcomes. First there’s the connection to the brain’s dopamine reward system. And dopamine is intimately linked with ‘goal oriented motivation and long-term memory’.

Since then we have come more and more to realize humour creates a ‘fan base’ of people who are emotionally invested. This is evidenced in our two sitcoms – ‘Tuesdays with Bernie’ for the finance industries, and ‘Restricted Intelligence’ which covers information security and privacy. We are now into our 6th Season of ‘Bernie’ and our 7th Season of ‘Restricted Intelligence’. People love the characters, they are ‘stars’, people want selfies with them when we go walkabout at events or at clients’ businesses. In our small way, we have ‘changed the game’. Tuesdays with Bernie, as adopted by Phillips 66’ won a game-changer award at some recent B2B awards.

So take courage. If you’re trying to persuade a reluctant CSuite or HR department, you can take it from us, done well, comedy isn’t the risky choice after all. No, quite the opposite actually, it’s the preferred, scientifically endorsed choice.