Behavioral Design

The Key to Creating Effective Change

What is behavioral design?

Behavioral design is a multidisciplinary approach that combines insights from behavioral science, design thinking, and related fields to influence and shape human behavior in desired ways. The core idea is that our decisions and actions are strongly affected by how choices and information are presented to us.

At the heart of behavioral design lies the understanding that much of human behavior is unconscious and shaped more by our surroundings than by rational deliberation. We are influenced by social norms, past experiences, and the way information is framed. With this knowledge, behavioral design creates choice architectures that make it easier for people to adopt certain behaviors.

Behavioral design is not only about understanding how people make decisions, but also about creating environments, systems, and processes that support desired patterns of action. This can range from designing a website that promotes usability to developing policies that encourage healthier lifestyle choices.

Today, this approach is used across many domains – including healthcare, environmental protection, marketing, and leadership. By designing contexts that support specific behaviors, behavioral design helps tackle complex problems, improve quality of life, and optimize organizational outcomes.

Why work with behavioral design?

When driving changes, it is often necessary to shift behavioral patterns at both the individual and organizational level. Traditional change methods frequently fall short because they underestimate the human factor, assuming rational and logical behavior. Behavioral design, on the other hand, acknowledges that human behavior is complex and often not rational. It therefore focuses on designing interventions tailored to real behavioral and decision-making processes.

Behavioral design also enables the creation of more engaging and user-friendly solutions. By understanding how people interact with their environment and the systems they use, we can design experiences that are intuitive, easy to navigate, and naturally encourage the desired behaviors.

This approach also helps uncover hidden barriers to change and identify opportunities to strengthen acceptance and adoption. It can range from understanding how team dynamics influence the uptake of new work processes, to designing communication strategies that motivate and engage employees.

Ultimately, behavioral design is an essential part of successful change management because it addresses the human factor in transformation processes and helps craft interventions that align with our natural behavioral patterns.

LEAD’s approach to behavioral design in change projects

At LEAD – enter next level, we see behavioral design as a critical element of successful change projects. We recognize that true transformation happens through people – and to influence and lead change effectively, we must first understand human behavior.

Our approach to behavioral design is deeply rooted in insights from psychology and behavioral sciences. We draw on this knowledge to design interventions that are not only logical, but that also account for the emotional, cognitive, and social aspects of human behavior.

Every change process begins with a thorough understanding of the people we work with. We conduct in-depth analyses of employees’ behaviors, attitudes, expectations, and concerns. This provides a solid foundation for understanding their needs, motivational drivers, and potential barriers to change.

We then design interventions tailored to these unique behavioral profiles. Our focus is on creating experiences that are intuitive, engaging, and motivating for employees. Instead of working against human nature, we leverage natural behavioral tendencies to encourage the desired change.

Finally, evaluation and adjustment are integral parts of our process. We continuously monitor the impact of our interventions and adapt them as needed, ensuring ongoing improvement and the best possible outcomes.

In short, at LEAD we believe that understanding and designing for human behavior is at the core of effective implementation of leadership. We use behavioral design to ensure that our change strategies are human-centered, impactful, and sustainable.

How we can help you

We offer leadership and organizational advisory support, research-based teaching and presentations on behavioural design, and training programmes specifically focused on equipping you and your organisation with core leadership competencies.

Read examples of our services here.

Presentations

Inspirational, research-based presentations on behavioural design for all levels of your organisation.

Sparring

Advisory support for organisational development, decision-making, and initiatives.

Workshops

Facilitation of active workshops focused on competency development at leadership and executive levels.

Contact us for more information about what we can do for your organization

Are you facing organizational change? Do you need strategic advice or a cultural development program?

Contact us so we can tailor together a program that develops precisely those competencies and structures needed to strengthen and future-proof your organization.

Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen

Managing Director & Partner

Master of Law

Mobile: +45 22 42 18 11
Email: aba@lead.eu