In Search of Excellence: Face Painters

We had a company party a few months ago.  The company did a great job.  They thought of all the kids that were going to be there and rented a couple blow up houses to play on.  One even had a ball pit.  They were a hit.  There was lots of food, of all different varieties for every kind of taste.  They even had a cupcake truck.  Yes, that's right!  Think of an ice cream truck but instead of ice cream, lots of cupcakes!  Fun!

There was a lot that was awesome, but the best thing was the face painting and balloon tying.  The planners had a hired a company that performs for parties.  You'll find their link below.  They were excellent at their jobs.  They were personable, friendly, and engaging.  You can imagine that it might be tedious to paint faces for a never ending line of little kids or have to tie balloon after balloon, but there was none of that and we weren't even close to being the first group that came through.  They were professional and genuine entertainers.  The work they did and the gentle way the did it for kid after kid was amazing.  Can you tell I was impressed?

http://www.happilyeverlaughterparties.com/

It got me thinking about excellence again.  Do you strive for excellence in anything you do?  That question shouldn't sound accusatory, I'm sure there are things you do excellently.  There are some things that I strive to do excellently.  But there are other things at which I don't try as hard.  We have to make trade offs because we only have finite time (one of the only things we really do have), but could we do what we do a little better?

In my occupation, we call that extra striving "plussing".  Recently watching a documentary about Walt Disney, I found that he used it with his staff.  You can only do so much and the project has to go out the door, but plussing means doing just a little more than what was expected.  You meet the deadline, you finish the work, and then you do just a little bit more just to make it that much sweeter.

It's amazing what that last little bit does for whatever you're working on.  Thinking about it, that might be all that separates "really good" from "excellent".  The face painters and people tying balloons, certainly would have been really good if they had just practiced their craft.  But it was that little extra, the way they engaged the kids, the way they entertained that made them excellent.

Why should someone strive to be excellent?  It's rewarding, internally and externally.  If we were setting up a big party for kids and I was looking for entertainment, who do you think I'd check out?  That's right.  Because they were excellent.

"What-e'er Thou Art, Act Well Thy Part."