Practice, Practice, Practice

Praxis of the Positive Deviance Approach

            In 1990 Dr. Jerry Sternin and his wife Monique developed from an ideological concept of Positive Deviance as a practical theory they dubbed “amplifying positive deviance.”[1] It is from their amplifying positive deviance that the praxis of positive deviance is derived. During the 1990’s the Sternin’s were working as staff members for Save the Children. Their job was to create an operational branch of Save the Children in Vietnam at the request of the Vietnamese government in order to help deal with childhood malnutrition. In Vietnam they developed eight practices and strategies of applying the Positive Deviance praxis in the area of child malnutrition. It is my thesis that these same Positive Deviant practices and strategies are translatable to the ecclesial context.

            In the December 19, 2007 magazine Fast Company, David Dorsey interviewed Dr. Jerry and Monique Sternin concerning their theory of “amplifying positive deviance.” The following is a summarization of the eight practices and strategies of Positive Deviance. The eight practices and strategies form the foundation of the praxis of Positive Deviance. The practices and strategies are each delineated as steps:

“Step one: Don’t presume that you have the answer.”[2] There were no preconceived solutions or answers. When the Sternin’s embarked upon this experience they were open to the culture and not imposing their culture upon another. This removes the assumption of cultural superiority (cultural imperialism) from the environment. The only assumption is that the answers they sought would come from within the culture itself. The Sternin’s sought to “identify the positive deviants within” the culture itself.[3]

“Step two: Don’t think of it as a dinner party.”[4] The approach taken was a grass roots level endeavor. It was not an over the top coming in and trying to impose ideas or methods from outside through a combined effort of teams, educating from another cultural perspective, but instead focuses upon the resources available within the culture itself. Group identification and cohesion must be from the tribal level maintaining the cultural identity as homogeneous.[5]

“Step Three: Let them do it themselves.”[6] The idea behind this step is to allow for the discovery factor to work into the culture of the community without upsetting the cultural equilibrium. This allows the community to take ownership of the practices and strategies. Therefore the practices and strategies become their own due to the perspective that they were sourced from within themselves. Sternin says, “Raise questions, but let the group come up with the answers on its own.”[7]

“Step four: Identify conventional wisdom.”[8] In order to identify positive deviants the conventional wisdom, the culturally accepted practices and strategies, of any given group must be understood. Understanding and identifying with a culture helps outsiders to grasp what it means to be one of the tribe. This allows for differentiation of positive deviants to be established easier. The premise is that the conventional wisdom of any given group identifies the limiting factors of the group. Identifying the positive deviants becomes possible through examining practices and strategies that go against conventional wisdom, but bring about superior conditions. The premise identifies conventional wisdom as source of stagnation within a community or culture and maybe a contributor to the negative results within a culture or society.[9] The premise reflects Durkheim’s “. . . deviance can contribute to social change. In short, what is deviant and stigmatized in one era may become normal in another era.”[10] The implication is deviance can act as a positive change agent within human culture and society.

“Step Five: Identify and analyze the deviants.”[11] This step involves identifying the various practices and strategies that emerge within the cultural group. This naturally leads to the positive deviants’ identification. In order to qualify as a positive deviant the practices and strategies of the deviant must be recognized as honorable and caring even when conventional wisdom would prohibit such activities.[12] This is a critical indicator of a cultures’ compassion toward the marginalized of the society. If members are willing to engage in practices and strategies that are not accepted, but care for the weak, poor and otherwise invisible population it is considered positive deviance.

“Step Six: Let deviants adopt deviations of their own.”[13] This is critical according to Sternin. Positive Deviance is about learning new practices and strategies. In order to maximize adherence to positive deviant behavior it must be discovered within the group in order for the practices and strategies to be effective and transferable creating new sociological norms. Sternin says, “It’s not a transfer of knowledge. It’s not about importing best practices from somewhere else. It’s about changing behavior. . . . You enable people to practice a new behavior, not to sit in a class learning about it.”[14] The implication being that it is easier to behave oneself into change than to think oneself into change.

“Step Seven: Track results and publicize them.”[15] Sternin’s premise for taking this action is to allow an opportunity to break the hold of conventional wisdom in the group. Sternin suggests that this is how a culture of change is developed from within a culture. Dorsey summarizes Sternin’s seventh step, he writes, “. . . tracking the results quantitatively to show how positive deviance works. Chips away at conventional wisdom, and gradually alter low expectations by showing, in indisputable terms, the results that come with doing things differently.”[16] Change does not come easy, but it is possible if continuity is maintained with the practices and strategies.

“Step Eight: Repeat steps one through seven.”[17] Not everyone buys in initially, but the persistence of using behavioral modification through exceptional results viewed within a specific culture or context allows for greater buy in with each cycle. Stakeholders become willing to release their entrenched positions as the benefits of the new practices and strategies are demonstrated. Sternin says, “Make the whole process cyclical. Once people discover effective ways to deviate from the norm and once those methods have become common practice, it’s time to do another study to find out how the best performers in the group are operating now.”[18]

Through the delineation of these practices and strategies exemplified through Sternin’s work with Save the Children, the study of Positive Deviance has spread beyond child nutrition to the areas of medicine and business. Positive Deviance is also unintentionally receiving application in the practices and strategies of ecclesial context operating at the margins of culture in Portland, Oregon. This raises questions about identifying positive deviance in cultural contexts. Identifying positive deviants may best be accomplished through an understanding of the semiotics, reading the signs within the culture that reveal the practices and strategies of the deviants.

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[1] D. Dorsey, “Positive deviant,” Fast Company 41 (2000) 284–292.

[2] Ibid, 285.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid, 286.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Ibid, 287.

[10] Ben-Yehuda, 118.

[11] Dorsey, 288.

[12] Ibid.

[13] Ibid.

[14] Ibid.

[15] Ibid, 289.

[16] D. Dorsey, “Positive Deviant,” Fast Company 41 (2000): 290.

[17] Ibid, 289.

[18] Ibid.