There was a pecha-kucha event (quick presentation with a 20-slide powerpoint backdrop, which  must have no words on it and must scroll every 20 seconds) in which I told the story of speed PD and messy play, which went down very well – see our case study and blog feature about the NCSL workshop.

Photo by courtesy of Cécile Demailly under creative commons attribution license.

After losing custody of her little girl, Jane attended a 11-week parenting course and is now focussed on getting her daughter back full-time, as well as getting a job. This story is proof that people have the internal ability and wisdom to change their own lives for the better, when given the right encouragement and resources.

The article outlines Cheryl Milner’s views, who with 4Children in Wiltshire is pioneering a scheme to get young mothers into work. She rightly says that “the trick is not just to get people into work but to give them the confidence, tools and skills to stay there.”

This is a crucial point. I was trained by Jerry Sternin the founder of Positive Deviance, which takes this very same philosophy and sees astounding results. Positive Deviance is based on the premise that people and communities have the wisdom to create change for the better, but that these hidden wisdoms need uncovering and that all community members need to be given a voice. It also encourages community members to develop new skills as the community – not professionals – lead the project, conducting data collection and listening exercises among other skills. In our projects with the Home Office we have seen people change in front of us. It is an incredibly powerful thing to watch.

This article shows that seeing people as people first and not as victims or statistics is the most important thing society can do for them. Giving them a voice and hope is integral to resolving many problems within communities, even those of the most intractable nature.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/public-leaders-network/blog/2012/mar/29/positive-deviance-tackle-domestic-violence

PD provides a powerful way of changing relationships and empowering community members to take action and build confidence.  In turn, this helps to redesign services to ensure support and resources are focused on the areas of greatest risk and need, giving community members a voice about what works for them.

The intention was to act as a kind of  “thought-provoker” to help the group think differently about getting people in rural areas to change their mind about what effective travel provision for non-drivers would look like.

The NHS Institute is leading the use of innovative approaches to improving patient care across the NHS, including initiatives such as the Productive Ward, the Productive Theature and Experience Based Patient Care.  Helen Bevan, their Executive Director of Innovation, has taken an interest in Positive Deviance and attended our Practice Research Workshop at Said Business School in 2010, and then Jane Lewis’s  presentation at the European Organisation Design Forum in Frankfurt last October.  She invited Jane to do a similar presentation to her staff at the Institute, to raise awareness of approach and start a wider discussion of how Positive Deviance can enhance their current offering.  T

Tweets include:

“I like the key concepts of positive deviance – ownership not buy in, the group is the guru”

“I really like #positivedeviance and its view of citizens as ‘the guru’ -very powerful & empowering. #CreativeCouncils webinar”

Featuring speakers from recent UK positive deviance exercises in Cambridge and Peckham, this workshop shows how PD works, and optimises the social value of funds invested in it,  to:

• De-victimise vulnerable people and put them on a path forward
• Raise community awareness of issues and ignite positive action
• Give people confidence and hope, and enable them to sustain new behaviours

We show how this can be achieved without expensive resources and with limited facilities.  We look at the problems it can be used to solve and how it compares with other approaches to community engagement and empowerment.  We also introduce a new strategy for recruiting local facilitators and scaling up, building momentum, expertise and enthusiasm in a sustainable and economical way.

You can learn more and book directly on-line using Eventbrite, using this button:

Download the workshop overview and details here: download pdf file

Terms and conditions of booking can be downloaded here: download pdf file

Once we have final approval, the report will be published on our website too.