Critical Success Factor Examples

Whether you are managing a restaurant, nonprofit organization or a church, it is important to know that you are focusing on those things that help move the organization forward and achieving results.

Anyone who manages an organization understands how challenging it is to stop the day-to-day tasks and check to see how well the organization is performing.

It has been said that what gets measured, gets done but finding an easy way to evaluate how the organization is doing is what keeps many in leadership from doing so.

A quality improvement tool that many organizations use is Critical Success Factors (CSF) which are indicators that measure how well an organization is accomplishing its strategic plan and objectives.

CSF are customized to each organization and help provide focus to steer the organization toward fulfilling its mission and vision through strategic objectives.

These indicators of success are used to identify those things, that if done well, lead to breakthrough results.

Most organizations have between eight and twelve CSF and adjust them as strategy and strategic plans change.

Having too many measures can make it difficult to target those things that would achieve the greatest results.  Having too few limits the organization’s ability to move to the next level.