From the goal to the action: what executive coaching and Atomic Habits They teach a leader about the first step
By Lydia Vidal. Almost all leaders have something they want to change in their leadership style: delegate more, listen before responding, give feedback in time, or reserve space to think about the strategic aspects. Many times they know this for months. And yet, the change never seems to happen.
Executive coaching and the book Atomic Habits, James Clear's book, , arrives at a similar answer through different paths. The change doesn't start when we have everything we need or when we feel like it. It starts when we are clear about where we want to go and we take the first step with what we already have.
Why we postpone the changes we want to make
When a leader delays a change they consider important, it is rarely because they don't care. Usually, they are waiting for certain conditions to be met: a week with fewer meetings, a moment of more calm in the team, or feeling the energy and confidence necessary to do well.
The problem is that in a manager’s agenda, those conditions almost never arrive alone. There is always an urgency, a quarterly closing, or a new project that demands attention. And the change is moving on, week after week, without anyone having decided to give it up.
To this is added another difficulty: often the goal is formulated too broadly, such as «I want to delegate more» or «I want to be a better leader.» When phrased like that, it doesn’t indicate where to start. And what lacks a clear starting point is very easy to postpone.
First, clarity
Sometimes it’s not that we don’t know what to do; it’s that we don’t know what we want to do. Executive coaching starts right there: it helps the leader move from a general aspiration to a concrete and meaningful goal for themselves. It’s not just about knowing what they want to change, but why: what impact it would have on their team, on their results, and on how they live their own role.
When the goal has that meaning, it no longer becomes just another obligation on the list; it becomes its own direction. In a coaching conversation, that clarity is built through four basic questions:
- What goal do you have? Define precisely what you want to achieve and why it is important to you. The more specific it is, the easier it will be to know if you are making progress.
- What resources do you lack? Identify what capabilities, knowledge, or support you need to develop. Being honest about it prevents the lack from becoming a vague excuse not to start.
- What resources do you have? Recognizing the experience, strengths, and relationships that are already within your reach. This question usually comes as a surprise: many leaders discover that they have more than they thought to take the first step.
- What first step are you going to take? Choosing a specific action, which depends on you and with a defined moment to carry it out. This is the question that turns reflection into movement.
What Atomic Habits it contributes to the first step
James Clear explains that lasting changes rarely come from a sudden transformation. They come from small improvements that, on their own, seem insignificant, but repeated over weeks and months produce a noticeable difference. Three ideas from the book directly connect to the fourth question:
- Start small. Clear proposes to reduce the habit to a minimum version, so simple that it does not depend on willpower. For a leader, this means not waiting to have a complete delegation plan, but choosing a specific decision that this week will be left in the hands of another person.
- Systems before objectives. The goal indicates where you want to go, but what gets you there is what you do repeatedly. If a leader wants to hear more, the change isn’t in proposing it; it’s in concrete practice, such as letting their team speak before giving their opinion at each meeting.
- Identity is built through actions. For Clear, every time we act in a certain way we reinforce the image of the person we want to be. A leader doesn’t become someone who trusts their team to make decisions, but rather by the times they act with confidence.
Motivation comes after action
Many leaders expect to feel motivated to start making changes. But motivation fluctuates: it depends on fatigue, workload, or how the day has gone. If change depends on it, it will also depend on how we wake up every morning with the right mood.
Clear believes that motivation is overvalued and that the environment and systems influence more what we do. Behavioral psychology points in the same direction: when we take a first step and see that it is possible, confidence in our ability increases, and with it, the desire to keep going.
That’s why the first step matters so much. It not only initiates the change: it generates the energy necessary to sustain it. And in coaching, that commitment is formulated by the leader themselves, with their words. That changes their relationship with him: it’s no longer a task that someone asks of him, but a decision he has made.
The question that closes a coaching session
A coaching conversation doesn't end when the leader finds an answer. It ends when he or she decides what to do with it, and when.
First, clarity about the destination. Then, a first step. And, many times, along the way, the motivation we were waiting for to start appears.
What is your first step? If you want to work on it with a coach, or train to support others in this process, discover the Executive Coaching Certification Program from the European Coaching School, Level 2 by the ICF.
