The most successful companies have one thing in common: the ability to continuously adapt, make quick decisions and act — as a natural part of everyday life. It's not a coincidence. It is a superpower. It is Business Agility.
Many organizations are trying to get there by scaling up agile ways of working — models that have their origins in software development. But moving from building systems to building a change-prone and business-driven company is a big step.
This is where many agile transformations get stuck. It's rarely about the methods themselves -- but about what we're trying to use them for.
When agile working methods are integrated with business development and enterprise-wide governance, the challenges quickly become clear:
Frameworks such as SAFe, DA, LeSS and PM3 try to deal with this — but from a technology and delivery perspective. The result is often more roles, more administration and increased complexity in an effort to create a whole — but without strategic anchoring.
The consequence? Often an increasingly sluggish organization where management's commitment fades, turnover becomes the norm — and business benefits are lost.
It is easy to conclude that Business Agility is not worth the effort. But in an increasingly uncertain and rapidly changing world, staying competitive is more important than ever.
It's not about more methods -- it's about starting at the right level. A global study from Planview shows that the difference between success and failure lies not in how change is delivered -- but in How the company is managed and managed.
For organizations at the beginning of their journey, it is about clarifying strategy and structure. For the most mature companies, it's about enabling fast resource allocation and quick decisions -- in real time.
By drawing on modern principles of financial planning and governance — such as Beyond Budgeting, Agile Financial Planning and Extended Planning & Analysis (XP&A) — it becomes even clearer: Business Agility must be integrated into leadership and governance. It has to start at the top -- with rethinking leadership and governance models.
Success requires a holistic approach: an organisation that unites governance and self-leadership, where strategy, decision-making and delivery are linked by a common thread.
It involves building five key abilities:
Once these abilities are in place, power is released, which enables focus and collaboration in a process that aims to continuously adapt strategy and roadmap to changing conditions in the world around us. We call the process Align til Vision.
upshot is an organisation that is fast moving, resilient and resilient — whether you are delivering the roadmap using agile methods, waterfalls or hybrid models. It creates trust between business management and the delivery organization, gives teams the opportunity to focus their resources for maximum value creation and independently plan how to proceed.
Does that sound complex? It doesn't have to be. With the right focus on clarity, simplification and strategic collaboration, you can avoid the pitfalls and instead build a culture where change is a natural part of everyday life.
Is it worth it? No doubt. The power is palpable -- and real. It is you Superpower This will leave your competitors far behind.
Per Brorson
Founder of ChgMap. Has over 30 years of experience in leading strategic change and establishing effective change processes in a variety of industries.
Thomas Rindstål
Thomas has over 20 years of experience in digital transformation in global retail and solid experience in establishing and leading strategic governance and company-wide cross-functional collaboration within the H&M Group.
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