Are You Positively Deviant?

What do Michael Jordon, Dr. Martin Seligman, Rosa Parks, Tony Hsieh (the late CEO of Zappos), Lady Gaga and families with healthy children in West Bengal India all have in common?

Positive Deviance.

They’ve all done or are doing something that puts them at the far right end of the “bell curve” of normal distribution.?They are “deviant.”

While that word has usually been associated with negative behavior, it doesn’t have to be. After reading this I think you’ll feel some pride in being “Positively Deviant”

Deviant comes from two Latin words. “De” means “from” and “Via” means “Road.” Deviate means “Off the beaten path.” People that demonstrate unconventional or uncommon behavior can be called positive deviants.

I kind of like the term myself and consider myself one of that group. Do you?

One of the first things I teach in my #positiveleadership workshops is this concept. It’s fun to watch people’s reactions when I ask “Are YOU Positively Deviant?"

I ask the question and then stay quiet for a moment or two as it lands. It’s interesting to see as people are calibrating in their minds – “Is this a good thing?” As my eyes travel from leader to leader I start to see smiles break out on the faces of those who identify with being positively deviant. They "get it" and like it!

People who depart from the norm, walk to the beat of a different drum, think outside the box, go with their gut and otherwise step off the path of how-everyone-else-is-doing-things-around-here and are more successful because of it, ought to be watched. (And perhaps even imitated.)

Positive deviants are solution focused. They seek to identify what’s working well within a specific context (rather focusing on what’s broken.

They recognize (as you’ll read below) that sometimes the solution to the problem lies within their own community and so tap into the collective intelligence of the group.

They embrace diversity, unique perspectives and seek to leverage strengths.

They are into experimentation and learning from failures, not only successes.

They build learning networks and communities of practice.

Although I’d seen this kind of deviance in my consulting practice, I didn’t have a name for it until I learned about two very special people.

In 1990, Jerry and Monique Sternin worked with Save the Children in Vietnam. For years, the-way-things-were-done when it came to malnutrition, was to diagnose the nutritional deficiencies and then supplement the children’s rice based diet with foods that were not native to the local environment.

That worked fine until the outside organizations left and the children quickly became malnourished again. When the Sternin’s arrived they found some pockets of deviance, where the children were healthy and well fed, even though they were in the same kinds of villages as the sickly kids.

What were these parents doing differently? What were they doing right?

Turns out some of the families were feeding their kids small freshwater shrimps and crabs they pulled from the grasses. Some fed them sweet potato leaves which are vitamin rich. Workshops began in the villages where each was encouraged to develop similar and unique solutions based on finding more vitamin and protein rich food right in their areas. It worked. After the foreigners moved out, the villagers were now able to take care of themselves using local resources.

In the last year or two have you found unique and inventive solutions where there were none before? Especially during the darker days of Covid, it was easy to see. Now that we are getting settled into a “new normal” it’s possible you might be missing some opportunities for creating Positive Deviance.

What are you doing that’s working? What could you be doing more of? What departments rock? What places are doing cool things? Who’s getting outrageous results? Who’s engaged, passionate and purposeful? What can you learn from them?

Are You Deviant? Go on a deviance hunt. Who’s doing it right? Perhaps people right inside your own company or people in the company down the block – go find out.?Make sure to share your findings in the comment section below.

Here’s to spreading positivity wherever you can! Spread the word about this newsletter to 3 friends or colleagues! Let's cause a BIG wave of positivity to happen in the workplace! ?

JoAnna

PS July is my Birthday Month – Please be sure to reach out to find out about the positivity deviant discounts you can take advantage of with my yummy Lunch and Learn programs! ?? [email protected]

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