Using the buzz

Yesterday's post talked (or maybe rambled) about enthusiasm curves, the natural way enthusiasm waxes and wains for a project. But what do you do with the enthusiasm when you have it and how do you create it when you don't?

Messaging Times talks about encouraging enthusiasm:
"Enthusiasm can’t be faked. You can’t expect your team to create buzz about your new project, product or service simply because you held a staff meeting and told them that it is something that matters to you or the business. It has to matter to them."

Spread the buzz
When you're enthusiastic, talk about it; when you're not, shut up. Talk to people early on, even if they are not going to be involved with the project until a distant point in the future, enthuse at them while you can. If you spread your excitement to people that aren't going to get caught up in the inevitable slump, you can use their enthusiasm as a sort of emergency stock-pile.

Make the most of it
When you're feeling positive about the project you will do a better job selling it to other people. So near the beginning of the project write everything down, any ideas you have, snippets of copy, concepts for advertising; they can all be looked at later.

Smooth the curve
While you're enthusiastic get some of the boring tasks out the way, any of the nitty gritty stuff that can be cleared early. This may well bring you down a bit, but hopefully it will make your slump either shorter or less slumpy.

Get on with it
If your project has moved into development, just get on with it. Create a todo list and tick things off, I can motivate myself to do boring tasks using the simple reward of crossing something off a list. Make sure you share the list with other people, maybe the task you're dreading is straight-forward to someone else. Try to avoid going backwards and rethinking your original ideas and decisions unless there's unassailable practical problems.

Go towards the light
At some point, your enthusiasm is going to lapse (unless you're some kind of chirpy, optimistic freak) but even in the darkest moments you should have something to look forward to. Keep your initial ideas visible, put up pictures of designs and targets. Reward yourself and your colleagues when mile-stones are reached, the light at the end of the tunnel may be an usherette with an ice-cream tray.

Know when to quit
If your enthusiasm is low and the light at the end of the tunnel turns out to be someone with a torch running away from you, it may be that you need to give up. There's no point in chasing him for ever until he eventually disappears leaving you in the dark (to stretch the metaphor to death). Talk to the people you initially shared your enthusiasm with and try to re-ignite it. Think hard about whether the project is salvageable by taking a step backwards and rethinking it, or whether it's just a bad lot altogether.

(That photo is one of mine so... © All rights reserved)