The Lewis Institute

Globally, private and public institutions spend $50 billion annually on change efforts, yet 70 percent of these efforts fail. How do you even begin to find solutions?

Positive Deviance is based on the observation that in every community there are certain individuals or groups whose uncommon behaviors and strategies enable them to find better solutions to problems than their peers, while having access to the same resources and facing similar or worse challenges. Positive deviants see solutions where others don't. And they're the key to spreading and sustaining needed change.

Positive Deviance is a strength-based, problem-solving approach for behavior and social change that enables the community to discover existing solutions to complex problems.

The PD approach thus differs from traditional problem-solving approaches in that it does not focus primarily on identification of needs and the external inputs necessary to meet those needs or solve problems. A unique process invites the community to identify and optimize existing, sustainable solutions from within the community, which speeds up innovation.

The PD approach has been used to address issues as diverse as childhood malnutrition, neo-natal mortality, girl trafficking, school drop-out, female genital cutting (FGC), hospital acquired infections (HAI) and HIV/AIDS and corporate human relations challenges.

Monique Sternin co- founder of The Positive Deviance Approach and Randa Wilkinson, lead trainer of Positive Deviance from the Positive Deviance Initiative at Tufts University will share stories on how Positive Deviance has changed seemingly intractable problems in multiple sectors. 

To learn more about Positive Deviance, visit:

http://www.powerofpositivedeviance.com

Conversations about Innovation

What I like about The Power of Positive Deviance is that it stipulates that unlikely people solve tough problems. I was reminded of this recently when we learned that one of the first winners of an Innocentive challenge was a person who worked out a solution in his garage. Often the best innovators are "deviants" who don't fit comfortably in the corporate world but their very nature, perspectives and insights are what is missing to solve important, intractable problems.

Another lesson and one of my favorite statements in the book is: "It's easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than to think your way into a new way of acting". From an innovation point of view, experimenting constantly and innovating regularly leads to new strategies and new processes, when "top down" strategic direction often fails.

 --Reviewer Robert Nersesian has spent his career in public relations, working for or advising Fortune 500 companies. He is currently president of the consulting firm Public Advocacy Associates, LLC.

BIOS

Monique Sternin: Co-Founder of the Positive Deviance Approach

 Monique and her husband Jerry developed the Positive Deviance approach over the last two decades. In addition to using the PD approach to fight childhood malnutrition in the developing world, Monique has promoted the use of the PD approach in various sectors, such as advocacy against female genital mutilation (FGM) in Egypt, condom usage for commercial sex workers in Myanmar, and maternal & newborn care in Pakistan. Monique’s passion for the PD approach stems from its successful impact in improving lives of thousands of women and children throughout the world and providing a powerful tool for communities to solve seemingly intractable problems.