The Action Design Framework (also known as the CSF Framework) can be used to design effective and efficient action.
Note the emphasis on ‘designing’ action, and not just action planning. The reason action ‘design’ is emphasised is because if you are aiming to achieve improvement or accelerate the rate of improvement, then you are probably going to have do things differently or do different things to what you currently do.
If you want different results, you need to do new thinking so that you do different things and therefore get those different results. You need ‘design thinking’!
The Action Design Tool helps you to do fresh thinking and to stop you from jumping too quickly to thinking about what you will ‘do’. It helps you to firstly conceive and outline what you need to achieve (your Focus). Then to think about what it is critical to have to achieve your Focus (your Critical Success Factors – CSFs), and how you will know when you have achieved your CSFs (your Key Performance Indicators – KPIs).
Once you have thought about the Focus, CSFs and KPIs, then you can think about the detail of what you need to do. In this way you will invest your resources and effort in only those actions that will make a real difference (your Key Actions – KAs).
Once you are confident with your Focus, CSFs, KPIs and KAs, you can use action planning tools such as PERT diagrams, Gantt charts, timelines, budgeting tools, and roles and responsibilities statements to complete the planning part of a full Action Design.
The worksheet for the Action Design Framework and another for a Team Action Design Framework are shown on the following pages.
A partially completed example of the Action Design Framework for a restaurant is also included.
Steps to follow
1. Develop a SMARTT Focus for the improvement option you have chosen to implement. Use the SMARTT Focus Tool to help with this.
2. Given the SMARTT Focus, think about what it is critical to have to achieve the Focus. These are your Critical Success Factors (CSFs).
CSFs are not what you are going to do!
Try to do fresh thinking about what it is critical to have. Don’t think about what you are going to do just yet.
3. For each of the CSFs, think about which are the best measures that will enable you to assess the level of achievement of the CSF. These measures are your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
4. Given your CSFs and KPIs, you can now think about what you need to do. Think about the key actions (KAs) you need to implement to hit your KPIs and achieve each CSF.
5. Check the logical connections between your CSFs, KPIs and KAs, and check your confidence that if you implement the KAs you will achieve your Focus.
Improve the connections until you are confident that implementing your Action Design will achieve the results you need.
CSF Levels Framework
The same logic that applies to the Action Design Framework can be applied to designing action for a whole team, project or organisation where the focuses at one level link and contribute to the focuses at a higher or lower level.
An example of a partially completed CSF Levels Framework for a restaurant is included.
Templates and examples
Click on an image below for a printable file
Action Design Framework
TEMPLATE
Team Action Design Framework
TEMPLATE
Action Design Framework - partially completed
EXAMPLE