The PD approach was developed by Jerry and Monique Sternin with the charity Save the Children in Vietnam in the 1990s. They worked in villages where 64% of children were malnourished. They observed that some villagers, though no better off than their peers, had children who were well-nourished. These families had developed different behaviours and tactics including gathering foods which others disdained (e.g. sweet potato greens, snails and crabs).
It is known that rural communities often react badly to external experts telling them what to do. These people prefer to learn from each other. So Jerry and Monique developed a nutrition program based on the practices of the positive deviants. Participants were encouraged to come to classes with the new foods and were shown how to cook them by fellow villagers. After two years of the programme malnutrition had declined by 85%.
The PD approach has been applied in countries around the world. There is a list of examples on the Positive Deviance Initiative site.
In every large organisation there are some people who find more effective ways of getting things done.
In every large organisation there are some people who find more effective ways of getting things done – often by bypassing rules and obstacles that impede the majority. The trick is to find these people and then use PD approaches to roll out the innovations. The process generally looks like this:
A core principle of PD is that the best way to change behaviour is by actions. ‘It is easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than think your way into a new way of acting’. So giving lectures and papers on how people should change is much less effective than finding a way to persuade them to try the change.
Every business has challenges and problems – including some chronic issues that the executive team has struggled to solve. But according to Monique Sternin, ‘the solutions to seemingly intractable problems already exist – probably in plain sight.’ You just have to find the positive deviants.
By Paul Sloane
Paul Sloane is the author of The Leader’s Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills and The Innovative Leader. He writes, talks and runs workshops on lateral thinking, creativity and the leadership of innovation.
Pascale, Sternin, & Sternin. (2010) The Power of Positive Deviance: How Unlikely Innovators Solve the World’s Toughest Problems. Harvard Business Press.