1.

) Positive Deviance:
The one experience I have that involved using a positive deviation approach was in a
group project in a previous course where we actually conducted an Appreciative Inquiry Summit
(AIS) with a Madison-based non-profit organization. If youre not familiar with the process of an
AI Summit, it has been defined as the process the bringing of "principles and practices of 'whole-
system positive change' to organizations and communities (Ludema, Whitney, Mohr, & Griffen,
2003). Instead of diagnosing problems and intervening, AIS participants are to "appreciate
everything that gave 'life' to the system when it was vibrant, effective, successful and healthy"
(Ludema, Whitney, Mohr, & Griffen, 2003, p. 6). Essentially, AI Summits bring everyone together
and develop a better insight as to where the organization could be. One situation in which an AI
Summit is an appropriate approach is when a lot of change is occurring in an organization at one
time and its crucial to bring everyone together to explain the change sufficiently and make
sure everyone is on the same page. This was exactly the reason we chose this approach with this
particular organization.
The specific approach is designed to produce dramatic, accelerated results with the use of
a 4-D Cycle summit design, which consists of four stages:
1.) Discovery phase: Focuses on many facets but looks at who the organization is (individually
and collectively), what resources each brings, what are the core competencies, what hopes and
dreams do they have for the future, what are the most helpful macro trends impacting them
today, and what ways can they imagine going forward together.
2.) Dream phase: Involves having the participants visualize the organization's greatest potential.
3.) Design phase: Involves creating and crafting the perfect organization and incorporating all
the dreams previously collected.
4.) Destiny phase: Focuses on the future of the organization by committing to action and
focusing on their own dreams and future possibilities of their organization.
We carried out the intervention with the client in the following steps (numbers correspond to the
stages I mentioned above):
1.) Conducted interviews with members of fund-raising sub-committee and the president of the
Board of Directors
2.) Constructed three specific dreams that represented the hopes and aspiration of Hope
House Board Members based on the themes that emerged from interviews.
3.) Contacted and interviewed three other leaders in the community that had expert knowledge
in non-profits in the Madison area and picked their brain for ideas and suggestions. Based on the
collective knowledge of the group and the information we received from the leaders we
interviewed, we developed an action plan with specific strategies to bring the organization closer
towards its ideal state.
4.) Lastly, we provided the Board of Directors specific action step recommendations to begin the
implementation process of the action plan mentioned in stage 3 above.
Unfortunately I am not aware of any follow-up that was conducted after this to determine the
level of success the AI Summit had, which is sometimes the case in the consulting world. Overall,
it was a very interesting and unique process that seemed to hold promising results. Id love the
opportunity to apply this type of positive deviance approach again and be able to see how things
turn out.
-Pat

References
Ludema, D., Whitney, D., Mohr, B.J., Griffin, T. J. (2003). The Appreciative Inquiry Summit: A
practitioners guide for leading large-group change. San Francisco, CA: Berrett- Koehler
Publishers, Inc.

2.) Johari Window



1. Very simply, I would like your thoughts about Block's Positive
Deviance. Have you seen in occur? What do you think? You can
approach this in any manner you wish. I am just looking for a thoughtful
response.


2. Regarding chapter 7 do the following:
1. On a sheet of paper, write one or more things that you are aware of in
yourself but deliberately conceal from others. (You will not need to share
this with me or anyone else). This is the concealed self. (or hidden self)
2. On a second sheet, write one or more things that you've seen in others
that you are pretty sure they do not realize they are communicating. This
is the blind self.
3. For the first two, I don't want you to share that information with me, but
for number three, I would like you to send me a written analysis with the
following directions:
Analyze the relationship between the two lists.

Are they completely different kinds of items?

Are there areas where we think we conceal but actually the feeling
or information "leaks" out and others see it?

What would be the pros and cons of being more open in revealing
what we conceal or in giving feedback to others on their blind spots?

One thing that I don't want you to forget about but won't assign anything to
you is deliberate feedback. This should be a concept that you utilize in
your final papers.