Leading difficult people: Excited Eddie

I love spending time with enthusiastic people. I’m pretty high-energy myself. An enthusiastic follower can be a joy to work with. His excitement about his work has the potential to energize the entire team.
With one exception.

Let’s talk about Excited Eddie. He’s got loads of enthusiasm for his work, but only to a point. You see, his excitement only lasts for as long as the project is new. Eddie is a fantastic starter, but his ability to finish projects is lacking.

Just like Fearful Fred and Slumped Susan, you need to lead Excited Eddie in a way that works with his personality. If you understand, listen to, and lead him appropriately, you can harness his startup enthusiasm and help him to finish well.

Understanding Excited Eddie:

1. Behavior:            High Enthusiasm
2. Motivated by:       New Challenges
3. Strength:              Starts Strong
4. Weakness:           Seldom Finishes

Listening to Excited Eddie:

1. Privately sit down and listen to Eddie’s exciting startup stories.
2. Ask him for the “rest of the story.”
3. Take into account how his emotion may cause him to exaggerate.
4. Let him see what he lost by not seeing things through.
5. If he desires to finish well, develop a game plan.

Leading Excited Eddie:

1. Give him a new challenge.
2. Keep him focused.
3. Reward him for finishing well.
4. If he’s a good starter, assign a steady and detailed person to assist him.

Growth plan:

Read Today Matters together.

Do you lead an Excited Eddie? Or are you personally more likely to start strong than to finish strong? Through guidance and effective rewards, you can channel Eddie’s enthusiasm so that it carries his work through to completion.