What Is AIM (Accelerating Implementation Methodology)?

AIM (Accelerating Implementation Methodology) is a research-based change management methodology designed to help organizations achieve sustained behavior change and business results. Created by Don Harrison through 40+ years of research at IMA Worldwide (Implementation Management Associates), AIM addresses the root cause of transformation failure: insufficient leadership involvement in six critical, non-delegable tasks. Unlike generic change management that focuses on communication and training, AIM focuses on what leaders must do to create the conditions for successful adoption.

AIM was created by Don Harrison, founder of IMA Worldwide (Implementation Management Associates), through more than 40 years of field research into what makes implementations succeed or fail. Today, Peacock Hill Consulting powered by IMA Worldwide continues this work under the leadership of Ann Marvin, applying AIM across healthcare, technology, financial services, government, and other sectors.

AIM solves the most common problem in transformation: organizations install new processes, systems, and strategies but fail to achieve real implementation. AIM addresses the human side of change by clarifying leadership responsibilities, identifying readiness gaps, and focusing on reinforcement, the factor most strongly tied to sustained adoption.

In AIM, installation means putting something in place, such as launching a new system, process, policy, or tool. Implementation means achieving sustained behavior change and measurable results after go-live. AIM emphasizes that organizations do not get ROI from installation alone. Results come only when people adopt and consistently use the new way of working. Read more about installation vs. implementation.

"Implementation is local" means change does not happen at the executive level or in project plans. It happens at the level where people do their daily work. Even if leadership supports the initiative, adoption still depends on how supervisors reinforce it, how teams experience it, and whether targets are ready and able to change their behavior in real operating conditions.

Yes. AIM is well suited for digital transformation, ERP implementations, and AI adoption because these initiatives require sustained behavior change, not just new tools. AIM helps organizations clarify sponsorship responsibilities, define measurable behaviors, assess readiness, and reinforce adoption. It also supports environments where multiple changes overlap and where change fatigue is high.

Yes. AIM works well in Agile and SAFe environments because it focuses on implementation behaviors, sponsorship alignment, and reinforcement, areas that often determine whether Agile adoption becomes real or remains surface-level. AIM supports transformation leaders, RTEs, Scrum Masters, LPMs, and change agents who need practical tactics for managing resistance and sustaining adoption.

AIM includes a suite of diagnostic tools and assessments designed to identify adoption risks and implementation gaps. These tools help organizations evaluate sponsorship effectiveness, readiness levels, communication effectiveness, reinforcement systems, implementation history, and organizational stress. Over 35 validated assessments are available through the Comparative Agility platform. Explore AIM assessments.

AIM emphasizes reinforcement because communication alone rarely changes behavior. People may understand the message and still return to old habits if the organization continues rewarding old behaviors. Reinforcement includes recognition, consequences, resource allocation, performance signals, and leadership follow-through. What leaders reinforce becomes the real definition of success inside an organization.

Change management is the discipline of preparing, equipping, and supporting people to adopt new behaviors so that organizational changes deliver their intended results. Most change management frameworks focus on communication, training, and awareness. AIM (Accelerating Implementation Methodology) goes further by treating change as a leadership accountability problem: unless sponsors perform six non-delegable tasks and reinforcement systems reward the new behaviors, adoption stalls at installation. AIM is a behavior-first implementation methodology built on 40+ years of field research.

Change management initiatives most often fail because organizations achieve installation (putting a new system or process in place) without achieving implementation (sustained behavior change). The majority of implementation failures trace back to weak or absent sponsorship. When leaders delegate the six non-delegable tasks, when reinforcement systems continue rewarding old behaviors, and when readiness gaps go undiagnosed, adoption stalls. AIM addresses each of these failure modes with diagnostic assessments and structured leadership actions.