Are You a Fairy Princess?

Remember my daughter?

She is five, all blonde curly hair, giggles and she thinks she is a fairy princess.

This weekend she went to a birthday party.  A five-year-old girl’s birthday party.

It was a fancy dress party with a fairy princess theme — this is called knowing your audience.

The local church hall was packed full of fairy princesses, all resplendent in their pink dresses and fake wings. Nineteen little girls and a riot of pointed hats, magic wands and sparkly makeup.  Each little girl was fulfilling her dream, each little girl convinced that she was a real princess.

Until the competition began.

You can’t have a fancy dress party without a fancy dress competition

The girls paraded around the ring skipping and dancing, laughing and casting spells.

Of course choosing a winner was all a bit arbitrary, after all they were all wearing the same outfits from the same Disney store.  But you can’t have a fancy dress competition without a winner.

• One little girl was delighted.
• Sixteen more were silent.
• Two were in tears.

One winner and eighteen  losers.  A fabulous way to end the party.

Not all competition is helpful

You might well have to compete against your competitors — the clue is in the name.

But arbitrary internal competition between departments and staff for status, pay rises and bonuses can have a whole host of unintended consequences.

After all, we all still like to think we are fairy princesses, even if we’re not.  Does criticism help?