“… we never understand a thing so well, and make it our own, when we learn it from another as when we have discovered it for ourselves.” – René Descartes
None of us likes being told what to do. Even if direction is given with the benefit of context and clear rationale, we tend to resist adopting new ideas and behaviour. Unless, of course, the idea is our own.
Ownership, it has been clearly demonstrated, brings along an increased sense of value. We consistently place a higher value on our possessions than others do. The typical spread between our asking price and bids for physical items such cars or houses reveal this tendency without fail. The same principle applies to ideas. They, too, are rarely valued equally by owners and others. Given the value we attach to them, letting go of our ideas generates a very real sense of loss – which is why we’re reluctant to abandon them.
This plays out in many ways each day in our personal and working lives. Recognizing this pattern will help when you’re trying to get people to do things differently. Rather than declaring “the way it must be,” supporting insight through focused conversation can effectively lead to ownership of ideas. This is much more likely to foster and motivate change. Choosing to own an idea both supports adopting new behavior and mitigates the “loss” of giving up on existing ideas.