What is Behavioural Design for managers?

Behavioural Design for managers is the application of behavioural science to leadership challenges such as team engagement, change management, feedback, ownership and culture. The method helps managers understand why their team behaves the way it does, and how to design the team context so that the desired behaviour becomes the natural default. The foundation is the SUE Influence Framework: a model of six behavioural forces, namely goals, anxieties, habits, context, barriers and triggers.

What does Behavioural Design actually do for my management work?

You learn the SUE Influence Framework: a method for analysing why team members do what they do, and for designing the team context so that engagement, ownership and change become the natural default. You work on your own management challenge during the training and go home with a fully worked-out strategy you can apply the next day.

For whom → managers

Behavioural design × AI training for managers

The leadership development programme that keeps your team engaged.|

Everything you do as a manager, from giving feedback to leading change to building team culture, is about influencing behaviour. Most leadership training tells you what to do differently. This leadership development programme starts a step earlier: why people do what they do, and how to design the conditions for better behaviour.

Nine leadership behaviour challenges → Or jump straight to our programmes →

10.000+

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rating

EQAC

accredited

€1.190

from excl. VAT

Managers during the Behavioural Design Fundamentals training at SUE Amsterdam

10,000+ professionals trained, including people from

Management is a behaviour profession

Every manager runs into these behaviour challenges.

Feedback, change, culture, engagement. Again and again: the team understands what is expected but behaviour does not follow. The question is not whether you recognise this. The question is how you design past it.

01 · Engagement

Why does the team understand but not change?

The message was clear, the meeting went well. Monday morning looks the same as last Monday. Understanding and changing are different things.

02 · Feedback

Why does the feedback conversation not change anything?

You gave the feedback honestly and directly, and it was received well, yet the behaviour did not change. That makes feedback a design problem rather than a communication problem.

03 · Change

Why do team members agree in the meeting but not adjust in practice?

Everyone commits to the new way of working. Three weeks later, the old patterns are back. Commitment and behaviour change are different things.

04 · Ownership

Why does the team wait instead of taking ownership?

Everyone has an opinion about what should happen. Nobody takes responsibility. Initiative is endorsed, not executed.

05 · Performance

How do I deal with the high performer who demotivates the rest?

The results are good. The behaviour is toxic. Addressing it is uncomfortable, and addressing it wrong makes things worse. There is a design to this.

06 · Meetings

Why do meetings produce action points that nobody executes?

The agenda was clear, the discussion was good, the actions were documented. Next meeting: nothing happened. Meeting design and execution design are different problems.

07 · Psychological safety

How do I create a team where people dare to speak up?

You aspire to psychological safety. You can name the concept. The behaviour in your team tells a different story. Safety is designed, not declared.

08 · Hybrid

Why does the hybrid team feel less connected than the office team did?

Presence is visible. Engagement is not. Distance changes the dynamics. Hybrid team design requires a different approach.

09 · Talent

Why does the talented team member leave without warning?

The role was good, the pay was fair, the team was solid. They still left. Exit interviews give no useful handle. Retention is a design problem.

Why the SUE Behavioural Design method

Behavioural science made practical for professionals who are not behavioural experts.

Most behavioural science knowledge is locked in academic papers and consultancy reports. SUE built its own method, the Influence Framework, which translates that knowledge into a practical step-by-step process any manager can apply, without a scientific background.

Training Formats

Best training formats for managers learning nudging and cognitive biases

Read: the SUE Influence Framework explained →

Practice over theory: you work on your own leadership case during the training and go home with a fully worked-out plan

Built on Kahneman, Cialdini and Thaler, scientifically grounded but accessible for practitioners

Our own method, the Influence Framework is not taught anywhere else, described in the #1 management bestseller

16 years of experience, from ING to Heineken to the Dutch Government: the method has been proven on the biggest managers challenges in the Netherlands

9.3/10

★★★★★

4.8/5

★★★★★

5.0/5

★★★★★

Certified by

The ideal starting point

Leadership development in practice: three featured programmes for managers

Individually, with your whole team, or as self-study. Three formats in which you learn how to design behaviour in onboarding, retention, culture change and sustainable employability. Choose the format that fits your role, schedule and organisation.

Individual

Behavioural Design Fundamentals Course

The ideal choice if you want to acquire the skill yourself. You build a deep understanding of how people make decisions and learn how to apply those insights the next day in recruitment, retention or culture.

Live · 2 days · Amsterdam or online · own pace · certificate · AI inside

View training

Team Training

Behavioural Design Masterclass

Work as a team for one day on one leadership challenge of your choice: onboarding, retention, psychological safety, culture change or sustainable employability. You go home with a concrete intervention you can test the following week.

1 day · at your location max 16 participants

View team training

Deep Dive Leading Change and Transformation

Online · Own pace

Deep Dive Leading Change & Transformation

For managers who guide change processes. Learn why change stalls and how to get employee and manager behaviour on board, using proven behavioural science techniques.

Online · own pace certificate · AI inside

View online training

Our full range

Or browse all our trainings and programmes

In addition to the three featured trainings above, we have a broader range. Choose below the format that suits you. Every path leads to the same goal: designing team behaviour that works across engagement, change, ownership and culture.

Individual · 2 days

Live in Amsterdam →

Job-ready in 2 days. Next start: coming soon.

At your own pace

Online self-paced →

Strengthen yourself with Behavioural Design at your own pace, 24/7, multiple specialisations.

For your whole team

Team training →

One behavioural challenge, one team, one breakthrough.

What managers say after the training

10.000+ professionals have followed a SUE Behavioural Design training.

The managers among them have one thing in common: afterwards they look at their team, their feedback and their leadership differently.

SUE helped us to put a deep understanding of the psychology of our customers at the heart of everything we do

Sabine Kloos

CEO – Sportcity/Fit For Free

★★★★★

After 7,500 working days, I learned how you could influence behaviour in just two days. Afterwards, you can initiate change where you have never previously considered to start a change.

Harold van Puijenbroek

Managing Director

★★★★★

This program makes you realise that there is so much untapped potential within your company. You just need to have the BDA system to unleash it fully.

Pieter Meijer

CEO

★★★★★

The BDA is perfect for anyone who wants to know what really moves people/customers and how to tap into that knowledge to persuade others in what you might want them to do.

Karin Müller

Co-Director

★★★★★

At the beginning of this sprint, you indicated that we would look for the pathway that makes behaviour easier and more logical for our GPs. And we indeed found that pathway.

Paul Goossen

Customer Marketing Manager

★★★★★

The ultimate power of the program and your model, that it makes the abundance of insights practically applicable in a cohesive and systematic way. It was the ultimate ‘connecting the dots’ experience: both in knowledge and skills.

Suzanne van Gompel

Strategy Director

★★★★★

A method that helps you to better identify needs from your daily practical examples and to really make a difference through small experiments.

Robin Gerritsen

Director customer experience

★★★★★

Very useful to work with the team on a current case through the eyes of behavioral researchers. A usable framework, refreshing insights and plenty of inspiration!!

Anne Moser

Manager Marketing – Nimag

★★★★★

It was valuable to first work with each of the elements of the IF separately before combining them in a bigger exercise.

Elise Diepeveen

Director People & Organization Development

★★★★★

Handed some great tools to take the Behavioural Design thinking to my job and bring more desired behaviour in action.

Maaike Zwaan

Head of Brand

★★★★★

After the training

What managers do differently after the Behavioural Design training

Not abstract knowledge. Concrete changes in how you approach team engagement, feedback and behaviour change.

You analyse team behaviour before you design the intervention

You use the Influence Framework as your starting point: what drives these employees, what's holding them back, what context helps?

You design workplace context, not just team communication

You shape the work environment so that the desired behaviour becomes the easiest choice, not just the most communicated one.

You speak the language of behaviour in leadership decisions

You share a common framework with your team: goals, anxieties, habits, context, friction, triggers. Leadership decisions become more concrete and better grounded.

Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions about this leadership development programme

A classic leadership training focuses on style, communication and personal effectiveness. This programme focuses on behaviour: you learn to design the context in which your team shows the desired behaviour. That makes leadership development directly visible in how your team works.

Most participants start without any prior knowledge. The training teaches you the behavioural science you need, linked directly to your own management practice. No academic theory for its own sake, just actionable insights you can apply the very next day in your team leadership, change or culture work.

You learn the SUE Influence Framework: a method for analysing why your team behaves the way it does, and for designing leadership that genuinely changes behaviour. You work on your own leadership case during the training, such as team performance, buy-in or new ways of working, and go home with a fully worked-out strategy you can apply the next day.

The training is most valuable for experienced managers and leaders. You've got the practical experience. The training gives you the scientific framework that backs up your intuition and sharpens your approach. Many participants say afterwards: I was already doing parts of this, but now I understand why some things I tried worked and others didn't.

A deliberately mixed group: HR professionals, marketers, communication advisers, policymakers and leaders all together. Maximum 16 participants. That mix is what makes it valuable, because you learn not only from the content but also from how people in other sectors deal with similar behavioural challenges.

Yes. We invoice in the company name and the training is EQAC-accredited, which makes reimbursement easier. Get in touch if you need a quote or additional information for your request.

Start with the Fundamentals. That gives you the complete Behavioural Design framework: the Influence Framework, the JTBD method and all core tools. A Deep Dive builds on that with leadership-specific applications. Without the Fundamentals, the Deep Dive lacks its foundation.

The Fundamentals course is the broad foundational training: 2 days live (or 33 online lessons) in which you learn the complete Behavioural Design framework. After that, you can apply it to any management challenge. A Deep Dive training lasts 1 day and goes deep on one specific topic, such as team behaviour, performance management or change leadership. If you do both, the Fundamentals course is always the first step.

Yes. The Behavioural Design training is EQAC-certified, which makes reimbursement from employers easier. We invoice in the company name and provide a quote on request. The course is given in Amsterdam and online. Get in touch for personal advice on which training best fits your situation.

Ready to take the step? View the next start date or ask your question.

View start dates → Ask a question

10.000+ professionals have gone before you · 9.3/10 rating · EQAC accredited

Behavioural Design is the missing layer.

Why a well-intentioned managers initiative doesn't automatically change behaviour

Behavioural Design for managers is the application of behavioural science to team engagement, change management, feedback, ownership and culture. The method helps you understand why team members do what they do, and how to design the team context so that the right behaviour becomes the natural default.

96% of behaviour is automatic. Most leadership interventions address the conscious mind: posters, e-learnings, wellbeing campaigns. The Behavioural Design Method teaches you to read the unconscious, and design for it.

Five forces shape every behaviour. Pains, gains, anxieties, comforts and jobs-to-be-done. The SUE Influence Framework teaches you to recognise them in employees, managers and candidates, and use them to influence leadership decisions.

Behaviour is designable. The Behavioural Design Method gives you a step-by-step process for changing the work environment, not the person, so that ownership, engagement and sustainable employability become the natural default.

Personal advice

Would you prefer to discuss the options with us?

Book a no-obligation discovery call. Marjan will connect you with the right SUE specialist who can give you targeted advice based on experience with leadership challenges.

Marjan Krom

Happiness & Hospitality Manager

academy@sueamsterdam.com

Phone

(+31) 20 223 46 26

Location

's-Gravenhekje 1a
1011 TG Amsterdam

Book a call

Choose a moment that suits you.

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Book by Astrid Groenewegen

The Art of Designing Behaviour

The complete practical guide to using behavioural science to change what people do.

#1 Bestseller · The standard in behavioural design

Astrid Groenewegen

Co-founder, SUE Behavioural Design

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