Turn change initiatives into lasting results
The AIM methodology equips enterprises and professionals to move beyond installation to true adoption, embedding visible sponsorship and proven reinforcement so enterprise initiatives hold their gains after go-live.
What does the evidence say about structured change management?
Independent research and four decades of implementation data point the same way. Structured change management is a measurable driver of adoption, not a soft skill.
- 70%
of transformations fail to meet their objectives
A benchmark that has held for decades, and the reason adoption cannot be left to chance once a system goes live.
Source: McKinsey and Company
- 2 to 3x
higher adoption when leadership involvement is sustained
Measured against initiatives where sponsorship is delegated, announced once, or held in name only.
Source: IMA Worldwide field research
- 1x : 2x : 3x
the relative weight of Express, Model and Reinforce
What leaders reinforce counts three times what they announce, which is why announcement-led programs stall.
Source: AIM EMR framework
Why do transformations fail after go-live?
Because installation and implementation are different achievements, and most programs are resourced for the first while assuming the second.
Installation-only approach
- The go-live date is treated as the finish line
- Training covers system mechanics only, not behavior change
- Sponsorship is optional, informal, or absent
- Communication is a single announcement, then silence
- Adoption erodes within weeks of launch
Full AIM implementation
- Sustained adoption is engineered into the plan from day one
- Sponsors are assessed, coached, and contracted for six non-delegable tasks
- Reinforcement is designed and scheduled, not improvised
- Resistance is anticipated and managed by trained practitioners
- Behavior change is measured and reported over time
A single announcement rarely changes how people work. AIM weights the three things leaders do: expressing the change counts once, modelling it counts twice, reinforcing it counts three times. The highest-impact leadership behavior is the one most often left undone.
Reinforcement means aligning what the organization rewards, tolerates and measures with the behavior the change requires. It is an architecture decision rather than a communications cadence, and it is the difference between initial compliance and durable capability.
How Express, Model, Reinforce worksThe AIM curriculum
Seven programs, one proven methodology
Each program answers a distinct question in the same journey, so every stakeholder from the executive suite to the frontline works from one playbook rather than seven vocabularies.
Executive alignment
Senior leaders build a shared, evidence-based understanding of the change ahead so strategy and communication move as one across the enterprise.
Sponsor development
Sponsors learn the six non-delegable tasks that field research identifies as the single strongest predictor of successful adoption.
Practitioner certification
Change professionals earn credentialed command of the full methodology, ready to lead complex initiatives from design through reinforcement.
Workforce readiness
Frontline teams gain the information, ability and confidence to adopt new systems and processes without losing operational ground.
Initiative workshops
Cross-functional teams apply AIM tools directly to a live initiative, converting methodology into a working plan within days, not months.
Train the trainer
Internal facilitators are certified to teach AIM within their own organization, building lasting capability long after the engagement ends.
Onsite and private sessions
Organizations run dedicated sessions, delivered onsite or virtually, tailored to the culture and constraints of their own transformation.
Two paths, one methodology
Enterprise-wide transformation or individual AIM certification. Both run on the same method.
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Enterprise engagement
Organization-wide transformation
Practitioners work alongside your transformation and PMO teams to embed AIM across the enterprise, from executive sponsorship through frontline readiness, on ERP rollouts, integrations and regulatory change. The capability is handed over, not rented.
- Executive alignment and sponsor coaching
- Enterprise-wide change strategy and roadmap
- Reinforcement built for regulated, high-stakes environments
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Individual certification
Practitioner credentialing
Change professionals build a durable, portable skill set through AIM Practitioner Certification, a curriculum grounded in more than forty years of implementation research and tested across industries.
- The full methodology and its ten scored diagnostics
- Applied work on a real initiative of your own
- A credential recognized across industries
What do practitioners say after accreditation?
Comments from participants who took the methodology back into their own organizations. Attributions are role and sector only, by policy.
The Accreditation training session was really helpful in supporting all our planning and execution. It took us out of the conceptual level and moved us to a clear execution plan.
Change Management DirectorGlobal retailerBefore we were AIM accredited, our change management approach was spray and pray, with very little success. I now feel equipped to tackle big projects using the AIM methodology with an almost guaranteed high level of success.
AIM-accredited change leadGlobal pharmaceutical companyAs scientists, we are often placed as the lead on many change initiatives without any in-depth understanding of project management or change management principles.
Associate Director, research and developmentGlobal pharmaceutical company
What do people ask before starting with AIM?
Accelerating Implementation Methodology (AIM) is a structured change management system developed by Don Harrison, founder of IMA Worldwide, that closes the gap between installing a change and achieving sustained adoption.
What is the difference between installation and implementation?
Installation is the change being available: the system live, the policy published, the structure announced. Implementation is people working the new way, and continuing to after attention moves on. AIM exists to close the distance between the two.
Who created the AIM methodology?
Don Harrison, founder of IMA Worldwide, developed AIM and refined it across more than forty years of implementation research and field application.
Does AIM replace Prosci, ADKAR or Kotter?
It does not have to. Organizations run AIM alongside other frameworks, using it for the parts those frameworks leave underspecified: sponsorship contracting, readiness measurement and reinforcement design. A side by side comparison is here.
How do we know whether our organization is ready?
Past implementation history is the best available predictor of the next one. The Implementation History Assessment scores that history and returns the risks worth acting on first. See the AIM toolkit and assessments.
Consultation and enrollment
Ready to move beyond installation?
Bring AIM to your organization, or credential yourself in it. Both conversations start the same way, with what you are trying to get adopted.
38,757 assessment records across 409 client organizations, 1995 to 2026, in nineteen industries. See the state of change