Awaiting timely order to take certain steps (10)
I believe the answer is:
attendance
'awaiting timely order to' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'certain steps' is the wordplay.
'certain' becomes 'atten' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'steps' becomes 'dance steps' ('dance step' can be a synonym of 'step').
'atten'+'dance'='ATTENDANCE'
'take' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for attendance that I've seen before include "Service" , "Turnout" , "People present" , "Number at gathering" , "Act of being present" .)