The Pumpkin Hour

What happens to the staff physically and emotionally at the end of the event? How do your teammates process the energy and adrenaline they feel after having poured out, what feels like, their blood, sweat, and tears, for others? Not everybody handles the “let down” in the same way. As a leader, the best thing you can do is understand and respect the different personalities on your team.

Everyone rides a high after an event in one way or another but once the attendees start to go home, knowing how each individual on your staff works through it will greatly increase your chance for survival. The team should actually talk this through before the event so they can support each other in the most helpful way afterward.

There are a variety of factors contributing to the team’s responses like age, experience, personality, longevity with the team, how they perceive success or failure, etc. Consider these different reactions from people after an event and who on your team may fit into these categories:

• The Partier – this person rides that adrenaline for days. After the event is over, this person wants to go out on the town and celebrate in a big way. They will continue to be awake and energized. These people need to be empowered to go and “run-it-off.” Watch out, however, that they don’t crash and burn in the most unusual places.
• The Questioner – this person wants to talk through their experience and ask a myriad of questions to settle their mind. Putting questioners in a room together may satisfy them both and save some of the other types from torture. This is definitely a talker who may stay up all night after the event is over. Don’t, however, let them “what-if” themselves, or others, to death.
• The Sleeper – these people are ones who pour their heart and soul into an event and run on pure adrenaline for days. They ultimately need peace and quiet. They want to be left alone, mindlessly watch their favorite movie, eat comfort foods, and sit in solitude. They will verbally process later. They’re tired and can’t possibly make one more decision. Feed these people and leave them alone. By all means, don’t ask them anything and don’t put them in a room with a Questioner. 
• The Morose – this person is incredibly sad the event is over, the attendees are leaving, the staff is dissipating, and they have no one with whom to verbally process what they are thinking. They don’t understand how to handle the adrenaline or their emotions. Watch out for them. They can be volatile and unhealthy. They shouldn’t be put in a room with the Sleeper. They need someone like the Partier to pull them out of their funk or the Questioner to ask them things and walk them through what they are feeling.  

Which one are you? Who on your team fits into one of these categories?
Are there other categories you would add? Send me an email and let me know!

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