We value things we’ve had a hand in creating more than things we haven’t. It’s why we’re less likely to get rid of a flat-pack bookcase than one that came pre-assembled – our time and effort went into the flat-pack.
How do you use it?
If you need someone to do something, get them involved from the beginning. That could be getting your compliance teams in at the start of a big rewrite project (not at the end). Or running workshops to define your brand tone of voice with all the teams that will ultimately need to use it.
Where can you learn more about it?
Michael Norton proved the theory in a paper called ‘when labour leads to love’, where participants rated their own work – cardboard box erecting, origami folding and Lego building – as good as the professionals.