Atomic Habits Workshop

Most teams want to improve, but they don’t always know where to start.

In this article, I’ll show you how a simple workshop can help your team build better habits that lead to lasting change.

You’ll learn a practical method to shift individual behaviour and strengthen team culture, based on the science and insights from the bestselling book Atomic Habits by James Clear.

Why are habits important?

Because the small things your team does every day—how you start meetings, how you follow through, how you give feedback—are what shape performance over time.

And yet, most improvement efforts fail because they focus on goals, not systems. Motivation fades. Good intentions drift. Old habits win.

Lasting change doesn’t come from one big action. It comes from small, repeated habits—built on purpose and together.

This workshop helps you get there.

What Participants Will Gain from This Workshop

By attending this workshop, participants get:

1. A simple, science-backed method to design new habits that stick.
2. Clarity on who they want to become—and how habits support that identity.
3. Tools to make habits easy to start, satisfying to complete, and built into daily routines.
4. A personalised habit plan they can start using right away.
5. One or two small, team-wide habits to strengthen collaboration and accountability.

This workshop uses insights contained in the bestselling book "Atomic Habits" by James Clear.

Let’s get into it…

Tiny Habits, Big Shifts

Duration: 2 hours

Purpose: Help team members apply habit science to improve individual performance and build collective team strength.

Workshop Objectives

1. Understand the impact of small, consistent habits on personal and team performance.
2. Identify one identity-based habit they want to build to support their growth.
3. Use habit stacking and environment design to make new habits easier to maintain.
4. Collaborate with teammates to design one or two small habits the team can try together.
5. Leave with a clear, simple action they can start immediately.

Materials Needed

• Sticky notes or index cards
• Pens and markers
• Whiteboard or flipchart
• Handout: The 4 Laws of Behaviour Change (included in worksheet download)
• Timer or time cues
• Habit Tracker template (included in worksheet download)

Workshop Agenda

1. Welcome and framing (10 min)

Objective: Set context and build interest.

Brief intro: “This isn’t a session about willpower or motivation. It’s about systems. We’re going to explore how small habits shape big results—individually and together.”

Share this quote: “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”

Ask the group: “What’s one small habit (personal or team) that made a difference for you?” Popcorn sharing – keep it quick and informal.

2. Identity-based habits (20 min)

Objective: Shift focus from outcomes to identity.

Individual reflection:

• Ask each person to write their response to:**
  • “I want to be the kind of person who…”
• Give 5 minutes for writing.
• Share in pairs (5 minutes each).
• Group debrief (5 minutes): Invite a few volunteers to share their statement.

Facilitation tip: Help people avoid vague goals like “be better” and focus on identity anchors like “be consistent,” “be encouraging,” or “be focused.”

3. Team identity reflection (15 min)

Objective: Align on collective identity.

• Ask: “What kind of team do we want to be known as?”
• Each person writes 1–2 ideas on sticky notes.
• Group clustering on whiteboard: Look for patterns or repeated themes.
• Together, co-create 1–2 identity statements for the team (e.g. “We’re a team that finishes what we start”)

Facilitation tip: Push for clarity. Avoid generic phrases like “we’re a good team.” Ask: What would that look like in action?

4. The 4 laws of behaviour change (25 min)

Objective: Teach the model and use it to design real habits.

Walk through the 4 laws with short examples for each:

1. Make it obvious
2. Make it attractive
3. Make it easy
4. Make it satisfying

Distribute handout as reference (included in the download below).

Individual activity: Each person chooses one habit they want to build in the next month. Ask them to answer these prompts (write on cards):

• What’s the habit?
• Where and when will it happen?
• What will make it attractive or enjoyable?
• How can I make it smaller or easier?
• What will make it satisfying or worth repeating?

Partner coaching: In pairs, walk each other through your habit using the 4 laws. Encourage feedback and refinement.

5. Habit stacking and environment design (15 min)

Objective: Make habits stick by linking and shaping the environment.

Teach habit stacking with this formula:

• “After [current habit], I will [new habit].”

Ask: “What habit can you stack your new one onto?”

Encourage people to find an anchor (e.g. coffee, brushing teeth, logging in).

Ask: “What in your environment helps or hinders this habit?”

• Example: Keeping a notebook on the desk = obvious trigger for reflection.

Share one stacking idea with the group.

6. Team habits (20 min)

Objective: Design one or two collective habits to support the team’s identity.

Ask the group: “What’s one small thing we could do daily or weekly that supports who we want to be as a team?”

Brainstorm in small groups of 2–3. Each group brings back one idea.

Whole group discussion: Vote or agree on 1–2 small habits to try as a team. Examples:

• 5-minute check-in before meetings
• One person shares a highlight of the week every Friday
• Slack message of appreciation once a week

Decide:

• Who owns the first trial?
• When and where will it happen?
• How will we know it’s working?

7. Closing and accountability (15 min)

Objective: Reinforce commitment and encourage peer support.

Each person writes down:

• One habit they’ll commit to
• When they’ll start
• Who will check in with them

Share commitments in pairs or small groups.

Optional: Set a team follow-up (e.g. 15-minute revisit in one month)

Facilitation Tips

• Model vulnerability. Share one of your own small habits and a past failure.
• Keep the energy light—celebrate simplicity and progress, not perfection.
• Help the group define habits in clear, visible terms.
• If people over-complicate, bring them back to a 2-minute version.
• Check for clarity: Can someone else picture your habit just by hearing it?

Conclusion

Improvement doesn’t need to be dramatic. It needs to be deliberate.

When individuals take ownership of small, meaningful habits—and when teams commit to showing up just 1% better each day—the results compound quickly.

Culture shifts. Focus sharpens. Trust grows.

This Tiny Habits, Big Shifts workshop gives your team a simple, actionable framework to start making those changes now—not someday.

If you're ready to build a stronger team from the inside out, start with the habits that happen every day.

Because the way your team works is your culture—and habits are how it’s built.

Well, that’s it for today. I hope you enjoyed it.

See you next week.