Step 3 of the tailor's Sustainable Development Project
Discover uncommon but successful behaviors and strategies through inquiry and observation.
The aim of this step is to prepare and conduct interviews in order to identify uncommon practices that help have a better outcome.
At the end of Step 2, the tailors had identified successful tailors (PDs) around Shianda: Melenia, Techno C Designers, Edu kings and Queens and Mariachi.
1) Once these positive deviants are identified the tailors prepared the interviews:
We started by discussing the different questions topics. For each topic, the tailors had to agree on questions to ask the PD tailors to help them find solutions to their challenges. We then discussed in which order should the topic be addressed, how they would introduce their team and project to the PD tailors before asking questions and reminding them that every tailors should participate in the interviews.
Exemples of questions the facilitator can ask the group when preparing the questions to discover PD behaviors and strategies:
- How are you able to overcome these common challenges and barriers?
- Can you show us how?
- What do you do when X problem happens or you are faced by the challenge of Y?
- You said you did X. How were you able to do that?
- Most people have had pb with X and Y . How do you overcome them?
2) Conduct the interviews: Tailor team on the move - 2 days
The tailors each had notebooks to write down their observation and the answers of the PD tailors during the interviews. Observing useful hows not just the whats is important here. Observing works better than hearing only.
Once the interviews were done, we met to discuss our information, answers and observations from each PD tailor we met. We wrote this information down on flip charts. We then discussed how some of the information could work well for our group of tailors and how these could be solutions to their challenges and obstacles.
I could see how interested and motivated the tailors were to meet, discover and understand how other tailors work in Shianda and how they became successful within the same community.
The next step will be to create an action plan to implement these solutions for their own community tailor shop.
