Don’t solve problems – copy success

Another fine article on Positive Deviance and Solution Focus (two approaches that are closely related to Appreciative Inquiry), this time from Fast Company magazine. The article is an extract from a new book, Switch: How To Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. On this evidence, the book is well worth buying.

The Power of Positive Deviants – great article in the Boston Globe

Jerry and Monique Sternin, Positive Deviance pioneers

Following on from our recent posting about the Positive Deviancy approach, we were pleased to see another good article on this method, this time by Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow in the Boston Globe. The article gives some great examples of how Positive Deviancy is being used to reduce MRSA in American hospitals, and improving academic performance in schools.

One of the wonderful things about this approach is how it recognises ordinary people as the experts at what they do:

At Albert Einstein, for example, a patient transporter named Jasper Palmer had a technique for removing his gown, balling it up into a small package, and stuffing it inside his inverted gloves for disposal. A highly effective way of thwarting germs, it has since been deemed the Palmer method and widely adopted.”

There’s also a wonderful quote from Positive Deviance pioneer Monique Sternin:

It’s easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than to think your way into a new way of acting.”

Who do you know who is a good example of Positive Deviance? For example, I’m privileged to know Andy Jackson, chief executive of the Manchester-based charity Dreamcatchers, who consistently gets great results in the youth work field by doing what works. He is definitely worth talking to if you want to improve outcomes in youth work, secondary education, or engaging young people.