If Welsh businesses are expected to innovate, scale and compete at pace, they cannot be held back by slow-moving systems. The question is no longer whether government can be agile, but whether it can afford not to be.
This perspective is informed by Menzies’ white paper, The Agile Advantage: Leading Through Agility, which examines why adaptability, leadership alignment and faster decision-making are becoming critical to business success.
Across Wales, there is a growing mismatch between how businesses operate and how the systems around them function. In sectors from tech to energy to advanced manufacturing, companies are being forced to adapt quickly, responding to market shifts, customer demand and global competition in real time. Yet many of the public sector structures they rely on, procurement processes, funding mechanisms, regulatory frameworks, remain slow, rigid and sequential.
This creates friction. And friction, in a competitive economy, comes at a cost.
Agility in government is often misunderstood. It is not about abandoning structure or taking unnecessary risks. It is about designing systems that can respond, learn and adapt. In practice, that means shorter decision cycles, more iterative approaches to policy and delivery, and a willingness to test ideas before scaling them.
For business, this kind of responsiveness is not a luxury, it is a necessity. But too often, companies encounter processes that were designed for a different era. Procurement cycles that take months, even years. Funding programmes that are fixed long before market conditions change. Policies that are difficult to adapt once implemented.
For SMEs in particular, this can be a significant barrier. Larger organisations often have the resources and resilience to navigate complexity. Smaller businesses do not. When processes are slow or overly complex, it is not just inconvenient, it can exclude high-potential firms from participating altogether.
That has wider implications. If SMEs are locked out of public sector opportunities or slowed down by outdated systems, innovation is constrained. Growth is delayed. And the economy becomes less dynamic as a result.
The cost of this inertia is not always visible, but it is real. Opportunities are missed because decisions take too long. Emerging sectors struggle to gain traction because support mechanisms lag behind. Businesses look elsewhere, to regions or countries where the environment is more responsive.
In that context, agility becomes more than an operational choice. It becomes a competitive advantage at a regional level.
So what would a more agile approach to government actually look like in Wales?
Firstly, it would mean rethinking how decisions are made. Moving away from large, one-off interventions towards smaller, test-and-learn approaches. Pilot programmes, phased rollouts, and continuous feedback loops would allow policies to evolve in line with real-world conditions rather than being locked in from the outset.
Secondly, it would require a shift in procurement. Shorter cycles, clearer pathways for SMEs, and more flexible frameworks would open up opportunities for a broader range of businesses. This is not about lowering standards; it is about removing unnecessary barriers.
Thirdly, it would involve closer collaboration between government and industry. Too often, engagement happens late in the process, once decisions have already been shaped. An agile approach would bring businesses into the conversation earlier, allowing policies and programmes to be co-developed rather than imposed.
None of this is straightforward. Public sector organisations operate within constraints, accountability, scrutiny, and the need to manage risk. But agility is not incompatible with these responsibilities. In fact, it can strengthen them. Testing ideas at a smaller scale before committing significant resources can reduce risk, not increase it.
The bigger challenge is cultural. Many public sector systems are built around certainty and control. Agile approaches require something different: trust, empowerment, and a willingness to adapt. That is not just a process change, it is a leadership shift.
For Wales, the stakes are high. The ambition to build a more productive, innovative economy depends not just on what businesses do, but on the environment in which they operate. If that environment is slow to respond, it will hold back even the most ambitious organisations.
There is also an opportunity here. Wales is not constrained by scale in the same way as larger economies. That can be an advantage. It creates the potential to move faster, to test new approaches, and to build closer relationships between policymakers and businesses.
But that potential will only be realised if agility is embraced not just within organisations, but across the systems that support them.
For business leaders, this is not simply a public sector issue. There is a role to play in pushing for change, engaging with policymakers, sharing insight, and making the case for more responsive systems. Agility works best when it is collaborative.
The reality is that businesses are already operating in an agile world. Markets shift quickly. Technology evolves rapidly. Customer expectations change constantly. If the systems that support business cannot keep pace, they risk becoming part of the problem rather than part of the solution.
Agile government is not a theoretical concept. It is a practical necessity.
Because if we expect Welsh businesses to compete at speed, our institutions need to move just as fast.
