The readiness review
A readiness review gives leadership one clear view of a major program, business change or strategic opportunity before its next commitment point.
Readiness means whether the organization has resolved, owned, or consciously accepted the conditions the program, change or opportunity depends on.
Where it applies
- Acquisition, partnership or investment under evaluation
- Digital, data or AI transformation
- Operating-model change
- ERP or major platform replacement
- Post-merger integration
- Restructuring or cost transformation
Six readiness categories
- Business case and marketValue, customers, revenue, partner and market assumptions.
- Operations and capacityProcesses, roles, resources, service and the capacity to absorb change.
- Compliance and riskRegulation, contracts, controls and risk obligations.
- Technology and dataSystems, architecture, integration and data.
- Leadership and decisionsSponsorship, decision ownership, trade-offs, governance and escalation.
- People, incentives and adoptionCapabilities, incentives, behaviors, roles and ways of working.
The six depend on each other. An unresolved condition in one usually shows up in another.
How the work runs
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1
Define
We record what the program, change or opportunity must deliver, why now, the outcomes expected, the alternatives considered, what it depends on, and the other critical assumptions and boundaries needed to define it clearly.
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2
Assess
We test those conditions against internal evidence, relevant external evidence and Axion’s structured transformation knowledge. Each unresolved condition is recorded with its supporting evidence.
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3
Decide
We take leadership through what is in place, what is unresolved, and the decisions it must take.
What a readiness finding looks like
An unresolved condition is one the program, change or opportunity depends on that is not yet sufficiently established, owned or resolved. Each example shows one finding and what it makes explicit. Leadership receives a consolidated view of the decisions, dependencies, consequences and accepted risks that require executive action.
- In place
- Both sales teams know their accounts. The list of shared customers exists.
- Unresolved
- Who keeps each shared customer.
- The decision for leadership
- Set the account-ownership rule, assign decision authority and define how exceptions are resolved.
- By when
- Before the joint sales plan is fixed.
- Who owns the consequence
- The head of sales of the combined company.
- The risk if leadership proceeds
- Customers hear two offers, and the same revenue is counted twice.
- In place
- The new structure and roles are approved.
- Unresolved
- Pay still follows the old regional targets.
- The decision for leadership
- Approve new measures for the next bonus cycle.
- By when
- Before the model goes live.
- Who owns the consequence
- The COO, with HR and finance.
- The risk if leadership proceeds
- Managers continue optimizing regional volume while the new model holds product lines accountable for profit.
- In place
- Both sides agree on the commercial case.
- Unresolved
- Who approves pricing in the joint business.
- The decision for leadership
- Agree who has pricing authority, how exceptions are approved, and how disputes are escalated before the next binding step.
- By when
- Before the next binding step.
- Who owns the consequence
- The deal sponsor.
- The risk if leadership proceeds
- Each side signs with a different understanding of who decides.
- In place
- The system design is complete. Some data owners are named.
- Unresolved
- Who cleanses material, supplier and customer data.
- The decision for leadership
- Name an owner for each data domain, and release their time.
- By when
- Before migration starts.
- Who owns the consequence
- The heads of supply chain and finance.
- The risk if leadership proceeds
- The new system starts with the old data problems.
The findings are presented in the leadership session and in a written summary.
When several reviews use the same basis
Using the same six categories makes separate reviews easier to compare. Read together, they show where different programs or changes wait for the same decision.
What it is not
It is not an audit and not a verdict. Leadership may decide to proceed with a condition unresolved. The review makes that risk explicit and owned. It does not replace your PMO, change management or advisers.
After the first review
The assessment does not end with the first review. As the work moves through planning, execution and adoption, it is run again and the findings are updated. Axion can stay through these stages.
The method
The review follows 6D STAP, Axion's method for connecting strategic intent to the conditions the organization needs in order to carry it into practice. The method has five stages. A readiness review covers the first two, definition and assessment, and the later three are agreed separately.
Questions and answers
Does a review stop the work?
No. Most programs are already committed. The review shows what to resolve, what to sequence differently, and what risk leadership is accepting.
Do you replace our PMO?
No. The PMO keeps governance, status and coordination. The review adds the conditions and decisions that status reporting does not show.
Who uses Axion AI?
Axion works in Axion AI during the review. Access is by invitation, as part of Axion's advisory work.
How long does it take, and what does it cost?
We agree both before the start, together with what is under review, the commitment date, who we speak to, which documents we use and how material is handled. Scope and price are fixed before the start.
Start with one readiness review.
Tell us what is approaching a major commitment.