When I learned on the Radio-Canada website that CHUM offered National School of Humor (ENH) training for establishment executives, I told myself it was a fish. April to November. So let’s see! As if the healthcare system had the opportunity to laugh in the middle of a crisis. As if healthcare managers had to learn to laugh! However, I became really disillusioned when I saw the title of the training: “AT-CHUM: Because Humor is Contagious.” Atchum? Are you grabbing it? Misery, the CHUM paid $60,000 of your money for it? Humor at CEGEP level? But who is kidding us here?
THERE IS NOTHING FUNNY!
Yesterday we learned that “Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé’s office considers an issue from the University of Montreal Hospital Center (CHUM) to be ‘very questionable.'” Radio-Canada’s Thomas Gerbet had revealed the day before that with ENH a $60,000 contract had been secured for a training course titled “Humor Skills for Managers.”
The minister’s office wrote to Rad-Can in an email: “All orders awarded by companies must be justified and in accordance with the rules and ensure that they are relevant.” Is it suitable for humor training?
To find out if it was “relevant”, I visited the CHUM website where you can find all the details about this training. I swear this is no laughing matter. The training takes place in person and extends over three half days of two and a half hours each. Humor, we take it seriously. The training is led by Louise Richer (Director of ENH) and Benoit Pelletier (humor writer).
“Sense of humor, skill. Target group: All CHUM managers. As part of the development of its managers and in connection with the new management competence “sense of humor”, the CHUM, in collaboration with the ENH (National School of Humor), offers a development plan around humor and fun in the workplace. This plan consists of 3 levels: Each level is a prerequisite for the next level. Level 1 Theme: Awakening and Empowerment / the Individual. The three Level 1 sessions focus on the individual and their relationship to humor and pleasure. This characterization leads to the participant potentially positioning themselves as a moderator in their group and in the organization. Commitment to attend all three meetings. Some goals of this level: Define and articulate the basic functions of humor. Identify your personal approach to humor in the workplace. Distinguish the roles of sender and receiver: intention, perception and effect. Incorporate the 4 Humor Styles: Identify your humorous style. Sharpen your critical judgment. Experiment with the strategies you have learned. Take responsibility for the act of humor.”
Infectious humor
Does it make you laugh when you learn that managers in our healthcare system take seven and a half hours to learn to “recognize their humorous style”? Are you more like Martin Matte, Guy Nantel Team or Rosalie Vaillancourt? Even in his craziest scenarios, Denys Arcand couldn’t have imagined that healthy bosses would pay for laugh sessions. This kind of humor makes me sick.
