Positive Deviance: The Cult of Personality

Positive Deviance (PD) is an approach to personal, organizational and cultural change based on the idea that every community or group of people performing a similar function has certain individuals (the "Positive Deviants") whose special attitudes, practices/ strategies/ behaviors enable them to function more effectively than others with the exact same resources and conditions. The premise of PD is that the superior practices of the Positive Deviants enable them to improve outcomes, and if those practices (also attitudes, thinking and behaviors) can be isolated then they can be used to improve the outcomes of others as well. An essential process in PD is the identification of 'comps or peers.

I am in a unique position to work for a company that employs a Senior VP that has a VERY visible presence that permeates throughout the company. His larger than life personality has taken on near rock star status with our sales partners and a palpable air of intimidation and bombast internally.

I recently stepped into a role of fill-in graphic artist while we were short-handed. My project was to create for our SVP a poster promoting an upcoming event with his likeness (big surprise) prominently displayed. This was an opportunity to flex some artistic chops and get my name in front of our own Positive Deviant. At first I unsuccessful took trickle down art direction from peers who were communicating directly with our SVP. The telephone effect was an alarming failure. I had no choice but to take it straight to the top for feedback. A practice wrought with landmines but I threw up a Hail Mary anyway.

What happened was a one-edit victory where I cut my design time by about 8 hours and got a quick response and the elusive “atta-boy.” Victory! Why did this work? Why did an individual who has an inbox engorged with emails give me the time of day – let alone email replies inside of 30 minutes? The answer lies in the beauty of PD Theory; the Positive Deviant will protect their Cult of Personality to the teeth. Furthermore, I employed the tactics of a Positive Deviant to promote the goals of the company and my own status.

The lesson learned here, now that I can return to my role as Instructional Designer is this; if your training product is good but needs a sponsor, seek out your Positive Deviant and sell the idea to him/her – attach their name to the project and watch as the users flock.

But tread lightly friends, stay grounded, and respect chain of command.