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Lean readiness assessment template
A lean readiness assessment checks, before a lean rollout, whether the organization has the foundation lean tools depend on, so gaps are found as findings rather than as failures halfway through. This template uses the four factors from the guide on this site: leadership commitment, organizational culture, process and operational stability, and employee engagement and training capacity, with five statements each. Several people score every statement from 1 (not in place) to 5 (in place everywhere and sustained) on their own and give an example for each score. Page 1 is one person's sheet; page 2 has the summary across respondents (each factor's average, the lowest and highest person and the spread between them), example interpretation bands made for this template, the actions per gap and a worked example. The Excel version takes up to 10 respondents, works out statement and factor averages, the lowest, highest and spread, the band, the weakest factor and the factor where views differ most, and draws a radar chart. It is a screening aid made for this template, not a validated instrument.
Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.
When to use it
When to use a lean readiness assessment
- Before committing to a plant-wide lean rollout, to see which factor needs work first.
- To choose the pilot area: the department or line that scores highest across all four factors.
- When an earlier improvement program faded and you want to know why before starting another.
- Six to twelve months into a rollout, to compare against the first assessment and catch new gaps such as a change of leadership.
How to fill it in
- 1
Choose who scores
A mix of leaders, supervisors, operators and support staff. Include long-serving operators and skeptics, not only the people who asked for lean.
- 2
Score alone, before any discussion
Each person scores the 20 statements from what they have seen here, not from what the plant intends, and writes an example for each score. A blank is better than a guess.
- 3
Work out the factor averages
Each person's average per factor, then for each factor: the average of all scores given, the lowest and highest person's average, and the spread between them.
- 4
Read the weakest factor and the spread
The weakest factor shows what to fix first. A spread of 1.5 or more says people see the factor very differently: talk to the lowest and highest scorers before acting.
- 5
Agree actions per gap
For each gap, what happens before or alongside the rollout, with an owner and a date: protected leader time, stabilizing a process before standardizing it, a pilot area.
- 6
Run it again
Score the same statements again in 6 to 12 months and compare. Readiness is a baseline to track, not a one-time gate.
What's on the assessment
The 20 readiness statements, five for each factor
Each person scores every statement on their own from 1 (not in place) to 5 (in place everywhere and sustained) and gives an example for the score. The four factors are the ones in the lean readiness guide on this site.
Leadership commitment
Will leaders keep paying attention for years, not months
- 1Senior leaders have set aside protected time and people for lean, not only a budget
- 2Leaders spend time on the shop floor every week and take part in improvement work themselves
- 3Leaders can explain why the plant is starting lean and what it should change in the next year
- 4Earlier improvement programs here were kept going after their first year, not dropped
- 5Lean progress is reviewed at a regular leadership meeting, with a named owner for each action
Organizational culture
Does the place reward surfacing problems or hiding them
- 6Raising a problem is treated as useful information, not as an admission of failure
- 7Teams are recognized for preventing problems, not only for heroic firefighting
- 8Departments work together on problems that cross their boundaries
- 9People can stop or question work that looks wrong without fear of blame
- 10Results and performance data are shared openly with the teams that produce them
Process and operational stability
Is the work steady enough to standardize
- 11The main processes run the same way from week to week, not resequenced for each rush order
- 12Written standards exist for the main jobs and match how the work is really done
- 13Machines are reliable enough that the plan can be run as scheduled on most days
- 14Basic data on output, scrap and downtime is collected reliably and people trust it
- 15Material and information arrive when they are needed, without daily expediting
Employee engagement and training capacity
Can people take part, not just be told
- 16Operators have taken part in improvement decisions before, not only been told about changes
- 17There is time in the schedule for training and improvement work
- 18Supervisors have the skills and the time to coach their teams
- 19Ideas from the floor get an answer and many of them are put in place
- 20Turnover and absence are low enough that trained people stay in their jobs
A filled-in example
Illustrative, not a benchmarkAn example: five people at a component plant scored the 20 statements independently before a plant-wide rollout (illustrative numbers).
- Leadership commitment: 4.4 (plant manager), 3.4, 2.0 (operator with 15 years), 2.6 and 3.0, an average of 3.08 and a spread of 2.4. The operator remembered two earlier programs dropped within a year.
- Organizational culture 2.88 (spread 1.2) and process and operational stability 2.72 (spread 0.8): the finishing area changes its sequence with each rush order.
- Employee engagement and training capacity: 2.60, the weakest factor.
- Overall: 282 points ÷ 100 scores = 2.82, in the template's example band of 2.5 to 3.4, partly ready.
The plant started on its most stable line instead of everywhere at once, leaders set aside protected weekly time for the gemba and a lean review, and the finishing area was stabilized before any standards were written there.
Common mistakes
Only asking the enthusiasts
An assessment filled in by the people who want lean gives a falsely good picture. The skeptics' scores, and the gap between theirs and the leaders', are the useful part.
Scoring together in a meeting
People drift toward the most senior person's score. Score alone first, then discuss the differences.
Treating the score as pass or fail
The bands here are made for this template, not a standard. Use the scores to compare factors, people and areas, and to decide what to do first.
Assessing once and never again
Readiness changes: a new plant manager or a lost supervisor can undo a strong score. Repeat the assessment as the rollout matures.
Download the template
Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.
Run this template in LeanSuite
In LeanSuite you build any audit in Lean Creator with rating questions and points per answer, each report shows its score, and a flagged answer can start a corrective action plan or a Kaizen project.
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FAQ
Lean readiness assessment template: common questions
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