You cannot get your employees motivated. You have explained, rewarded and asked, and the energy does not come.
Motivation sits in the situation more often than in the person. You learn to see what holds your employees back, and how to remove it. 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: the team does what it has to, and nothing more.
You said: after a good conversation there is energy, and a week later it is gone.
You said: a few people pull the cart, and the rest look on.
You said: you have tried all sorts, and nothing has changed.
And you mostly want the team to take on a new goal. For them that goal comes on top of the work already there.
And you mostly want people to take initiative. Initiative is a risk: it can go wrong in front of everyone.
And you mostly want more energy in daily work. Then look at what takes that energy away now.
Your team does what the situation asks. Doing more brings nothing they notice, and sometimes only extra work. Then doing what you have to is the sensible choice.
Tomorrow, ask two people what makes their work harder than it needs to be. Remove one thing. That does more than a pep talk.
After the conversation people go back to the same diary, the same systems and the same colleagues. If nothing has changed there, the energy is gone as soon as it gets busy.
Tomorrow, after your next conversation, agree one thing that is different the week after: one meeting fewer, or a decision the team may take itself.
When a few people pick up everything, looking on is the easiest route for the others. Nobody asks them anything, and the work gets done anyway.
Tomorrow, ask one of those looking on for one clearly defined task, with a reason that counts for them. Start small.
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 holds your employees’ motivation back. And you know how to remove it, so they start moving by 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 wants to motivate their employees. You learn why explaining, rewarding and asking deliver little, and how to remove what holds your team’s motivation and engagement back. It is for managers, team leads, business owners and HR advisers, 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 employees want to achieve in their work, and what holds them back.
You hear in a conversation what costs someone energy, even when they do not say so themselves.
You change the situation so that joining in becomes the easiest choice.
You test your approach with a few people, before you take the whole team along.
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.
| Motivational leadership 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 | Holding motivating conversations | Inspiration and examples | Seeing what holds motivation back, and removing it |
| What you work on | Your conversation with the employee | A first introduction | The situation your team works in every day |
If you mainly want to hold better conversations with your employees, motivational leadership training is the quicker route. If you want your team to start moving by itself, 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 motivate employees by changing what holds them back. You use the method to motivate your team, to raise employee engagement and to get people to take initiative.
For managers, team leads, business owners and HR advisers who need to bring people along. No background in behavioural science required.
The training is about behaviour: what people do and why. You learn to see what someone wants to achieve in their work and what holds them back. That touches on intrinsic motivation. The difference is that you work on the situation, which as a manager you can change.
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.
Why most approaches to engagement deliver little, and where to start instead.
Read the guide →Why ownership stays away when you ask for it, and how you build it into the situation.
Read the guide →What resistance tells you about your plan, and what to do with it.
Read the guide →Whoever wants to motivate their team starts pushing. Whoever removes what holds people back sees the team move.
