People who have friends at work have been proven to be more productive employees. The more enjoyment you can bring to your workplace, the more willing employees will be to come to work and commit to fulfilling company goals. Try the two following techniques from Grace McGartland’s book on building a more innovative workplace, Thunderbolt Thinking.

Corporate Portraits

Buy an instant camera or bring in your digital and snap pictures of co-workers in meetings, at their desks, in the kitchen, anywhere! Encourage people to goof it up and be silly. Distribute copies to everyone and display them where people can see them regularly as a reminder of how they laughed together. This is especially useful for bosses/managers/supervisors that have reputations of being overbearing or "all business, all the time."

Develop a Sense of Humour

McGartland says that it is important to take your work seriously, but not yourself. People are better team members when they are loose and stress-free. A well-developed sense of humour keeps everyone flexible. She recommends creating your own humour library by bookmarking sites online and visiting them for a few minutes each day, surrounding yourself with people who make you laugh, taking situations to the extreme (when appropriate) and even imagining people naked to reduce tension and intimidation.

Check out these sites for some good giggles:

• Cake Wrecks
• JibJab
• Comedy Central
• Good ol’ YouTube