PMI Agile Alliance has released the Manifesto for Enterprise Agility, a leadership guide for organisations facing frequent disruption and rising pressure to reinvent.

PMI global C-suite research shows that reinvention is the norm: 93 per cent of senior executives say they must rethink and challenge assumptions of their operating models or business approaches at least every five years, and nearly 65 per cent say they are doing so every two years or faster. The challenge is not recognising change and the need to adapt faster; it’s converting strategy into action. That strategy-execution gap is where enterprise agility becomes essential but where ambition still outpaces reality. While 85 per cent of C-suite executives recognise enterprise agility as critical and very important, 65 per cent admit they implemented it to a limited extent or not at all.

“Most organisations don’t struggle with strategy; they struggle with turning strategy into coordinated action. Enterprise agility is about building organisations that can adapt quickly without losing alignment, so leaders can respond to disruption while keeping their people and priorities focused on delivering value,” says George Asamani, MD, Project Management Institute, Sub-Saharan Africa.

Launched in the 25th anniversary of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development, the Manifesto for Enterprise Agility moves agility beyond teams and projects to the entire enterprise, including leadership behaviour, operating models, governance, and culture.

Rather than prescribing a framework, the Manifesto focuses on how leaders build and run the system for enterprise-level agility – governing with guardrails instead of gatekeepers, funding intent instead of activity, and moving authority closer to where value is created.

The Manifesto is anchored in four values: Clear purpose realised through adaptive plans; Shared enterprise outcomes over functional optimization; Continuous reinvention over preservation and Human-centricity amidst change.

The Manifesto for Enterprise Agility is for organisations that need to adapt faster, stay aligned, and keep strategy actionable.

Greg Beato, co-author of Superagency, said: “Twenty-five years after the Manifesto for Agile Software Development presented a new way to think about software development, it’s time to apply similar thinking to enterprises as a whole, not just to projects or products.”

Also, Kevin Nolan, CEO of GE Appliances, said: “Today’s business landscape demands rapid adaptation and greater agility. Agile organisations adapt faster and take the lead, while those not embracing agility risk falling behind as collaboration becomes essential in a dynamic environment.”