Part 8 of 14 in How Social Impact Startups Build on Success: A Positive Deviance Guide for Indian Founders← Part 7Part 9 →
This chapter offers a 30-day Positive Deviance sprint for Indian founders working on measurable problems in a focus community. It explains how to identify positive deviants, study their practices, test peer learning, and plan community ownership.
- Choose one measurable problem, review available data, and identify positive deviants without clear hidden advantages.
- Observe 8 to 12 positive deviants and average performers to document uncommon practices others could adopt.
- Validate practices with community members and design peer sessions that fit existing social structures.
- Run a practice cycle, collect early outcome data, share results, and plan the next cycle.
- Use simple scoring and publish Indian adaptations to help the field grow.
30-Day Positive Deviance Sprint
Week 1 — Define and Identify. Choose one sharp, measurable problem in your focus community. Pull existing data (your own, government, or partner). List candidate positive deviants. Exclude anyone with clear hidden advantages. Share the shortlist with community members for validation.
Week 2 — Discover. Conduct 8–12 deep observation visits and conversations with positive deviants and a few average performers. Document uncommon practices. Ask “how” and “why” repeatedly. Look for practices that others could adopt with existing resources.
Week 3 — Validate and Design. Validate the practices with a small community group. Design a simple peer-practice process that fits existing social structures (hearth-style sessions, teacher circles, farmer field days, ASHA peer groups, SHG practice meetings). Prepare simple measurement tools.
Week 4 — Practise and Learn. Run the first practice cycle. Collect early outcome data. Share results back with the community. Celebrate early wins. Plan the next cycle and the handover of ownership.
Key Questions to Ask Positive Deviants
- What do you do differently from most people here?
- How did you start doing this?
- What made it possible for you, and what would make it possible for others?
- Who helped you or influenced you?
- What would you tell someone who wants the same results?
- What have you tried that did not work?
Simple Scoring for Identifying Candidates
When data is available, create a simple score. For nutrition: weight-for-age or height-for-age status. For education: learning gain or attendance consistency. For agriculture: yield per unit of land or input, adjusted for rainfall and soil type. For livelihoods: income or repayment consistency adjusted for loan size and business type. Rank and then qualitatively investigate the top performers who do not have obvious advantages.
Resources and Further Reading
The original book: The Power of Positive Deviance: How Unlikely Innovators Solve the World’s Toughest Problems by Richard Pascale, Jerry Sternin and Monique Sternin (Harvard Business Press, 2010).
Positive Deviance Collaborative: positivedeviance.org — case studies, tools and community of practice.
Data-Powered Positive Deviance Handbook (GIZ and UNDP) — guidance on using non-traditional data sources.
Indian studies cited in this book: Vadodara slum nutrition, Bangalore ICDS, Madhya Pradesh gender and nutrition, Palwal high-risk pregnancies, Jharkhand adolescent anaemia, Bihar farming systems, urban Mid-Day Meal Programme, and Uttar Pradesh women entrepreneurs.
For founders: start with one problem, one community, and one 30-day sprint. Document what you learn and share it. The field grows when practitioners publish their Indian adaptations.
Frequently asked questions
What is a 30-day Positive Deviance sprint?
It is a four-week process to define a problem, identify and study positive deviants, validate their practices, and run an initial practice cycle.
How do you identify positive deviants?
Use available data to rank candidates, exclude people with clear hidden advantages, and investigate top performers qualitatively with community validation.
What questions should you ask positive deviants?
Ask what they do differently, how they started, what made it possible, who helped them, what they would recommend, and what did not work.
What resources explain Positive Deviance?
The chapter recommends The Power of Positive Deviance, positivedeviance.org, and the Data-Powered Positive Deviance Handbook by GIZ and UNDP.