Positive Deviance

A few years ago, a particularly interesting colleague and I were taking a coffee break to escape the mundanity of our inboxes.

He had been reading an article about the emergence of a phenomenon known as Positive Deviance, and was keen to talk about it.

Positive Deviance, he explained, is about people who defy the odds.

A community is faced with adversity, everyone has access to the same resources and information, but some manage to thrive where most others do not.

They have applied creative thinking, and in some cases (such as staving off malnutrition), it might just mean the difference between life and death. 

According to the article, researchers were now travelling to remote regions across the world in search of uncommon, successful behaviours. Once identified, they could help others to replicate them for the ultimate good of mankind.

Who are these people?

Once I had heard this story, it lodged somewhere deep in my brain. Fascinated by the idea that there were positive deviants among us, I began to search them out.

Very soon, I started to spot them. In my communities, in the office, there were people around me who thought differently and acted differently, despite facing the same limitations and accessing the same information as everybody else.

Some were leaders of organisations, others were simply colleagues, but each of them worked with a certain fluidity, originality and clarity.  

As a result, they were successful where others were not.

My blog is dedicated to the deviants.

Positive Deviance is so powerful because solutions are developed by the people on the ground. They face the challenge, pilot untried solutions, and find what works.

It does not rely on the ingenuity of everyone, but of a few key outliers. However, we can be smart enough to identify them, observe their unique behaviour and strategies, and replicate.

I research over coffee. 

Thus brings me to my role in all of this. As I began this article, I will continue to drink coffee and chat to interesting individuals in order to escape the mundanity of my inbox.

My coffee-drinking companions will be people that I’ve identified as deviants. I will quiz them on their successes, and share with you insights into their thinking and behaviour.

In doing so, I will learn what makes them tick, so that I can then share this information with you. I will also be encouraged to think more creatively when addressing my own business challenges. 

It might help you to discover your inner deviant too.

* Do you consider yourself a (positive) deviant, or need help implementing innovative business practices? Contact Soli Projects.*