You need to create buy-in for your plans. The plan is right, and the support does not come.
Buy-in is decided on the other side: by what your plan gives someone and what it costs them. You learn to see what people need in order to say yes, and how to build that into your proposal. That is how you influence what people choose and do.
2 days · Amsterdam · € 1,490 excl. VAT · next edition see the calendarOnline · 33 lessons at your own pace · €1,190 excl. VAT
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Answer three questions. Then you see what is going on for you.
You said: questions and objections come, and a decision does not.
You said: everyone is positive, and then you hear nothing.
You said: they say yes, and when it comes to doing it you are on your own.
You said: you have tried all sorts, and nothing has changed.
And you mostly need the top. A board weighs your plan against everything it would have to leave undone.
And you mostly need people you are not in charge of. Then influence is all you have, and it starts with what they gain.
And you mostly need the people who carry it out. To them your plan is extra work, until you show what gets lighter.
Whoever keeps asking is not saying no. They see a risk you have not removed yet: to their budget, their planning or their position. More evidence for the plan does not help with that.
Tomorrow, ask the two most critical people what could go wrong if they say yes. Write it down and adjust your proposal. Then present it again.
In the meeting, agreeing is the easiest route. Afterwards your plan competes with everything already on someone’s plate, and what is urgent wins.
Tomorrow, ask one person for one small, visible step: a name under the proposal, or a slot on the agenda. Whoever takes a first step takes the second more easily.
People agreed with the goal. What it costs them day to day came later: extra work, and less time for what they were already doing. It looks like dropping out and is simple arithmetic.
Tomorrow, find out what your plan costs the people who carry it out, and take one thing off their plate. Show that you did.
Explanation, arguments and pressure all work on the same side: they push. The doubts and comforts that keep people with the old way stay where they are. As long as they do, pushing harder mostly produces more counter-pressure.
Tomorrow, plan no new action. First map what is holding people back. Then you know what to remove.
The Art of Influence© · 2 days · AmsterdamThe Art of Influence© · online · 33 lessons
After the training you see what people need in order to say yes. And you know how to build that into your plan, so they choose it themselves.
Start online now →€ 1,490 excl. VAT · next edition see the calendar · max 16 participantsOnline · 33 lessons at your own pace · €1,190 excl. VAT
The Art of Influence© is the SUE training for anyone who needs to create buy-in. You learn why a good plan gets no support, and how to remove what keeps people from saying yes. It is for project leads, policy makers and managers, with no prior knowledge required. You follow it online at your own pace (€ 1,190 excl. VAT) or in two days live in Amsterdam (€ 1,490 excl. VAT, at most 16 participants).
“At the Academy you learn a lot about behavioral change and how to apply it in a short period of time. The training flew by and was very well put together. Amazing how complicated material comes to life in a fun and interactive course! I am definitely going to apply it in my work and explore it further.”
10,000+ professionals trained, including people from
You see what your plan gives the other person and what it costs them.
You hear in a conversation which doubt sits behind an objection.
You present your proposal so that saying yes becomes the easiest choice.
You test your approach with a few people, before you ask the whole management team or organisation.
You learn this with the Behavioural Design Method© and the SUE | Influence Framework©. It builds on the force field analysis of psychologist Kurt Lewin, who saw that weakening the restraining forces works better than pushing harder.
The live edition has a maximum of 16 participants: you practise on real cases from practice. Online you follow the same programme in 33 lessons, at your own pace and with feedback from a trainer on every assignment.
| Presentation and pitch training | One-day masterclass | The Art of Influence© | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration | Usually one or two days | One day | Online at your own pace, or two days live |
| What you learn | Telling your story more strongly | Inspiration and examples | Seeing what people need in order to say yes |
| What you work on | Your presentation | A first introduction | The situation in which the other person has to choose |
If you mainly want to stand firmer in front of a room, presentation training is the quicker route. If you want people to choose your plan, you are in the right place.
Trainer & consultant
Helps organisations understand why people do what they do, and steers it in culture and wellbeing programmes.
Trainer & consultant
Designs lasting change in healthcare and sustainability, in people and in organisations.
Product designer & UX strategist
Turns behavioural science into practical solutions that help teams innovate faster.
Trainer & consultant
Founded the Behavioural Design Circle at ABN AMRO and has spent 25 years on customer behaviour and change.
The knowledge I have gained in this training is immediately applicable in my daily practice. We now have a practical tool to link technical changes to behaviour, so that the improvements are actually changed in people's minds. This minimizes relapses into old habits.
Valuable training where existing knowledge is clearly incorporated into practical frameworks, making behavioral design accessible to everyone.
An educational training that provides easy tools for behavioral change.
Maps, in one overview, the forces that hold people back and those that move them.
Translates what you found into interventions that make going along easier than holding back.
Shows what people are really trying to get done, and why the old behaviour fits that.
The questions that let you hear what people do not say in the meeting.
Pins down exactly which behaviour you want to see and how you test it small before rolling out.
After purchase you receive the AI Mentor, after the training your certificate and lifelong membership of the Behavioural Design Club.
Most participants take the training on their employer’s budget or their own training budget. The VAT invoice goes to your organisation: €1,490 excl. VAT. Open the email below, fill in three things and send it to your manager.
2 days · Amsterdam · € 1,490 excl. VAT · next edition see the calendar · max 16 participants · EQAC certificateOnline · 33 lessons at your own pace · €1,190 excl. VAT
Yes. In The Art of Influence© you learn to create buy-in by finding out what keeps people from saying yes, and removing it. You use the method for stakeholder buy-in from your management team, from colleagues in other departments and from the people who have to carry out your plan.
For project leads, policy makers and managers who need to bring people along. No background in behavioural science required.
Yes. Buy-in for change looks different in each group. With the SUE | Influence Framework© you map, per group, what pulls people towards your plan and what keeps them with the old way, so you know who to start with.
Yes. Online you follow the same programme in 33 lessons, at your own pace, with personal feedback from a trainer on every assignment. You have six months of access and pay € 1,190 excluding VAT.
The live edition has a maximum of 16 participants and takes place at SUE on the 's-Gravenhekje in Amsterdam. English-language editions run several times a year; you choose from all dates when you enrol.
The online edition costs € 1,190 excluding VAT, with the Behavioural Design Toolkit and a digital certificate. The live edition costs € 1,490 excluding VAT, including the toolkit, lunch, the EQAC certificate, access to the AI Mentor after purchase and lifelong membership of the BD Club.
An EQAC-certified certificate for The Art of Influence©. Participants rate the training 9.3 out of 10.
Yes. The Art of Influence© is also available in-company, with a question from your own organisation as the case.
With your whole team? See the team trainings.
Support grows in the situation where people have to choose. What you do differently when you design that situation.
Read the guide →What resistance tells you about your plan, and what to do with it.
Read the guide →How to get directors and colleagues from other departments to choose your plan, even when you are not in charge of them.
Read the guide →Whoever explains the plan better gets understanding. Whoever removes what holds people back gets buy-in.
