Who benefits from this article? Admins, Devs, and anyone who understands the universal language of “The Struggle.”
Article Summary: Laughter isn’t a luxury; it’s a metric for your well-being. For Mental Health Awareness Month, I’m bridging the worlds of comedy, psychology, and technology to explain why a “silent” Salesforce team is often a sign of unmet professional needs. Read on to discover the “Law of Laughter” formula and where to find the resources to check your own “laugh meter” this May.
The Formula for a Healthy Salesforce Career
Living near Branson, Missouri my entire life, I’ve seen Yakov Smirnoff’s show more times than I can count. But my most recent encounter last Fall was an intentional collision of often disjointed worlds: Tech, Comedy, and Psychology.
Most people know Yakov as the legendary comedian who escaped the Soviet Union. But I had just learned that he held a PhD in Psychology, who solved a specific mystery:
What happens when the laughter dies in relationships?
Yakov’s research led to a simple, yet profound formula:
Needs Being Met + Shared Sense of Humor = Laughter
His main argument was that laughter is a gauge for happiness in a relationship.
The Making of a Salesforce Comedy
Just 10 weeks before being introduced to Yakov’s dissertation, my book “Why, Salesforce? WHY?” was published on Amazon.
I wrote the book because I had been collecting frustrating, flabbergasting, and quite frankly, ridiculous stories about the Salesforce platform – and its ecosystem – for nearly a decade.
I’m not a natural comedian, nor am I quick-witted. So, this book was a big stretch for me. But I’d had these pop-culture themed stories about the wild world of the Salesforce ecosystem ruminating in my head, and I had to find a way to share them.
I wanted to turn the frustrations into a shared therapy session. I wanted to make people laugh…literally out loud! I wasn’t writing this to be a field guide on how to be a better Admin. Nor was I writing it to teach you how to write better code or create amazing flows. My sole purpose in writing the book was to make people laugh and bring a smile to their day.
Connecting the Dots: The Formula for Professional Engagement
As I read Yakov’s work, I realized something: His dissertation didn’t just pertain to marriages. His research could also be applied to our careers, our teams, and our companies.
Yakov’s thesis can be easily modified for the corporate setting:
Professional Needs Met + Shared Culture = Laughter (Engagement & Retention)
Think about it.
If your team has stopped laughing, it’s not because they’ve lost their sense of humor. It’s because their needs aren’t being met.
- The need for psychological safety.
- The need for clear and unchanging requirements.
- The need for a platform that doesn’t break at 4:55 PM on a Friday before a holiday weekend.
The same formula Yakov used to save marriages is often what’s missing in the high-pressure world of technology.
Laughter as a Metric
After the show, I stood in line to meet Yakov. I handed him a copy of my book, explained that it was a comedy about technology, and that I wanted to ask him a few questions about his dissertation.
“An audience member is reading my dissertation?!” he laughed, in his thick Russian accent.
What did I glean from him for the Salesforce ecosystem? Laughter isn’t a luxury. It should be a metric.
If you and your teams aren’t spontaneously laughing at work, something in your “Professional Needs” bucket is broken or missing.
It’s time to start checking your “laugh meter” when you check in with your manager, your teams, and your stakeholders.
The Universal Language of “The Struggle”
One of the biggest surprises I’ve had over the past six months is how many people have purchased my book who have no idea what Salesforce is but have found immense humor within the pages and connected the stories to their own non-tech careers and lives.
What I heard repeatedly is that “the struggle” is real – no matter what your line of work is.
It led me to a realization: comedy, just like math, is a universal language.
Whether you are a developer or an 82-year-old grandma on the shoreline of Table Rock Lake, we all share the same need for levity when life and work get complicated.
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Your Mission: Retain or Restore Laughter
My hope is that when work is frustrating, life seems to be against you, or your deployment fails for the TWENTY-SEVENTH time, you can find something that will restore a few moments of laughter to your world.
Check your laughter gauge often. If it’s dying out, find out which “professional need” is missing and work with your management team to address it.
If you notice a co-worker is laughing less frequently, take the time to find out what might be causing it. Sometimes, the best medicine is a shared moment with a teammate who understands the struggle.
Mental Health Awareness: Checking the Real Gauge
As we enter Mental Health Awareness Month this May, it’s important to remember that while laughter is a great metric for team health, it isn’t a substitute for professional support.
Sometimes, a “low laugh meter” is a sign of something deeper than just a bad deployment. If you find that the humor has vanished and frustration has turned into chronic stress or burnout, please know that you don’t have to navigate that “sandbox” alone.
Resources for the Journey:
- For the Salesforce Ecosystem: Salesforce has a dedicated “Well-being” trail on Trailhead. I highly recommend the Manage Your Well-Being module. It provides practical tools for building resilience and managing workplace stress.
- For Navigating Workplace Frustration: If you are struggling with how to talk to your manager about your needs, the Harvard Business Review and Mental Health America offer great guides on How to Talk to Your Boss About Your Mental Health.
- Immediate Support: If you or a teammate is in a crisis, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (in the U.S. and Canada) is available 24/7 by calling or texting 988.
Laughter is a universal language, but so is asking for help. Let’s make sure we are doing both.
About the Author
Kimberlee Behling is the Supervisor of Salesforce Platform at Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores and a dedicated leader in the Salesforce Trailblazer Community. With over a decade of experience navigating the complexities of the ecosystem, she is a self-described “battle-hardened B/Admin-eloper” who believes that the best solutions are often found with a sense of humor.
When she isn’t managing platforms or pursuing her master’s degree at UAB, you can find her on the lakeshore near Branson, Missouri, proving that Salesforce frustrations are a universal language.
Connect with Kimberlee:
- LinkedIn: Kimberlee Behling
- Read the Book: Why, Salesforce? WHY? – A comedy guide for those living life “off the trail.”
- Deep Dive into the Science: Read Yakov Smirnoff’s full dissertation, Law of Laughter (LOL), via the Pepperdine Digital Commons.
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