Method guide · Progress through phases
Action Steps
Close a discussion with a named first action, completion time, and requested support rather than an unsupported promise.
- People
- 2–30
- Base procedure time
- 20 minutes
- Recording
- Shared record
Purpose: Make a decision; Build working relationships.
English guide
Text acceptance is not approval of this rendered page, its media, or publication.
How this method works
A short closing method for turning ideas from a meeting or workshop into first actions. Use it when a good discussion ends with uncertainty about who will start what. Each person writes four points: their name, action, completion time, and person whose help they seek. Reading these in turn and asking for cooperation there and then keeps the commitment from remaining only an individual intention. If there are many actions, bring common ones together and choose those to start first. Do not use it for forced commitments or imposing deadlines on people without authority to act.
Phase schedule
Minutes are cumulative from the start of the base plan, not a live timer. Read scaling for any additional time. Phase controls do not advance automatically.
Use the arrow keys, Home or End while these controls have focus. The complete phase schedule remains below, including without JavaScript.
- Reflect0–3 minutes from the start (3 minutes)
Action: Reflect. Participation: Everyone.
Recording not separately specified for this phase
- Write four points3–8 minutes from the start (5 minutes)
Action: Write. Participation: Individually.
Individual record
- Read aloud8–14 minutes from the start (6 minutes)
Action: Read. Participation: Groups of 2–5.
Recording not separately specified for this phase
- Ask for support14–17 minutes from the start (3 minutes)
Action: Ask. Participation: Groups of 2–5.
Shared record
- Bring next steps together17–20 minutes from the start (3 minutes)
Action: Arrange. Participation: Everyone.
Shared record
Facilitation steps
- For 3 minutes, quietly reflect on the work so far and choose one thing to continue outside the meeting.
- For 5 minutes, fill the four fields with name, specific action, completion date and time, and collaborator.
- For 6 minutes, read cards in turn in groups of 2–5 and make any action others cannot understand more specific there and then.
- For 3 minutes, each person asks for one kind of support and adds to the card who will accept or how it will be checked.
- For 3 minutes, collect cards as a whole group, cluster overlapping actions, and confirm what starts first.
If something changes
If
At the end of writing, a card has 2 or more of its four fields empty.
Then
Reduce the action to a verb that can be started within 15 minutes, and add a deadline and one collaborator.
If
After reading aloud, everyone's help-request contact field is empty.
Then
Check why help is not requested and add the option of asking someone only to check.
If
More than 15 cards have been collected with no priority order.
Then
Put cards to start this week in a separate column and keep the rest for checking next time.
Preparation
Materials
- One four-field card per person for name, action, deadline, and collaborator, plus two spare cards
- One writing implement per person
- One surface for collecting actions
Room and setup
- Space where 2–5 people can see one another's faces
- One surface for displaying or sharing action cards
Adjust for people and time
With 2–10, read in one circle; with 11–30, use groups of 2–5. Provide cards and writing implements for everyone plus two spare cards; one collection surface is enough. After reading within groups, each group brings at most 3 cards starting this week to the whole-group surface. Online, use one shared-board row for the four fields and fix the speaking order.
Safety and non-applicable situations
Do not force commitments or impose deadlines on people lacking authority to act. Request concrete support and identify who can accept or how it will be checked rather than assuming cooperation.
Historical translation and source notes
These original notes are retained verbatim with their fixed source versions. This historical label does not resolve a source-specific concern or establish current acceptance.
- The reading/support phase labels and reading step specify groups of 2–5, while scaling says one circle for 2–10. Both instructions remain without inventing a split for 6–10.
Manuscript's recorded references
These translate the original manuscript's source and rights claims. They remain separate from any current-page notice below; they do not establish new verification.
- Action steps — Open Practice Library
https://openpracticelibrary.com/practice/action-steps/
Adaptation under CC-BY-4.0; changes made
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
CC-BY-4.0
Current-page licence notice
A Taiwa no Fumen adaptation based on the Open Practice Library practice identified below. The manuscript's recorded references and the source page checked for this notice are shown separately.
Changes: explanations, timings, instructions, materials and branches were edited for this site. The English edition translates that Japanese manuscript; it is not a verbatim translation of the original practice.
The checked source footer names CC BY 4.0 but links to CC BY-SA 4.0. The official site source code contains the same mismatch. This has not been confirmed with the rights holders. This notice does not change the terms of the original material.
This site's contributions to the identified adaptation and English translation are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Credit the creators, identify the source and licence, indicate changes, and share adaptations under the same terms. This does not remove separate source terms or third-party rights.
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See the linked legal code for its no-warranty and other provisions.
The additional contributor names are handles from the fixed official practice source. They are not inferred real names or a reconstruction of collapsed editor labels. The earlier attribution limits remain recorded.
Credits on the checked source page
- Named contributors on the source page: Donna Benjamin
- Contributors listed in the official practice source (repository handles): @kattekrab
Source page checked on 2026-10-17: Action steps.
Source lineage
CC BY-SA 4.0 — this site's adaptation and translation contributions · Legal code · Official source policy
This material-specific notice does not itself establish publication clearance. Preserved manuscript references above remain separate from the current page's credits and licence evidence.
Diagram, print, and video language
Original Japanese guide, diagram, and print view. Their labels and print text have not been translated; an English print edition is not provided here.
English video-library navigation. Original Japanese audio, subtitles and transcripts remain labelled Japanese resources. Their translations are separate later work. No remote player is embedded here.
The manual English phase controls are a navigation aid, not a live facilitation timer. Interactive diagram motion remains pending.
Editorial provenance
Japanese source status and logs are provenance only. They do not mean this English text or interface was field-tested. Historical fixed-text acceptance and hold records remain specific to their recorded versions; displaying them neither asserts current acceptance nor resolves source-specific restrictions.
Original source log (Japanese)
2026-07-24 · Recorded participant count: 1
2026-07-24の受入宣言に基づく一括記録(15手法)。個別セッションの実測値ではない。