The Define the Change Practice Area
By Ann Marvin · IMA Worldwide · AIM Master Practitioner, MBA, SAFe APC 6.0 · Published: April 6, 2026 · Updated: June 1, 2026 · 6 min read
Quick Answer. Define the Change is the first practice area in the Accelerating Implementation Methodology (AIM), and it uses one tool, the Change Foundation, to build a shared Business Case for Action before work begins. A complete change foundation states WHAT success looks like in specific terms, WHY the change matters, and the CONSEQUENCES of not changing, then describes both the Current State the organization is in today and the Desired State it is moving to. Defining both states lets you estimate the cost of implementation and aim reinforcement at the behaviors that actually have to change.
Why Does Every Change Start by Defining It?
One of the key barriers to acceleration is that an organization rarely shares a common understanding of the Business Case for Action. The sponsor sees one change, the people doing the work see another, and the people being asked to change see a third. When the definition is vague, the gaps fill with resistance. AIM names ten Speed Bumps for this practice area, and most of them trace back to the same place: there is no clear Business Case for Action, it has not been communicated to and understood by the people it affects, or the project is defined vaguely on purpose to avoid resistance, only to be reshaped by scope creep and scope erosion later.
The fix is not better project software or one more stand-up. The fix is a structured Change Foundation that the sponsor, the change agents, and the affected targets can all read and recognize as the same change. This is the work of the first practice area, Define the Change, and inside the Accelerating Implementation Methodology it sits at the front of every engagement, before a single resource is committed.
By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. Benjamin Franklin, quoted at the front of the AIM Define the Change module.
What Goes Into a Complete Change Foundation?
The Change Foundation is intentionally focused. It answers three questions in writing and then describes the two states that bracket the change. If any piece is missing, the definition has a gap, and that gap is where rework and resistance start.
- WHAT: define, in specific terms, what success will look like. Not a slogan or a theme. The concrete outputs, metrics, and behaviors that tell you the change is real.
- WHY: define the compelling business reason for the change. Focus on the benefits, stated clearly enough that a target can repeat them back to you.
- CONSEQUENCES: define, in business and human terms, what happens if nothing changes. The downside risks, the cost of inaction, the reason this cannot wait.
- IMPACTS and WIIFM: translate all of the above into the Target’s Frame of Reference. What does this mean to me, and what is in it for me. A change defined only from the top is a change no one below the top owns.
A complete change foundation also names the two states that bracket the work. The Current State is today’s technical outputs, business metrics, and human behaviors. The Desired State, the future state you are moving to, is the measure of success for this implementation, the same set of measures you use to separate installation from real adoption. Defining both states does two practical things at once: it lets you estimate the true cost of implementation, and by naming the behaviors that have to change it tells you exactly where to apply meaningful reinforcement. For how that definition carries into building adoption, see our Target Readiness Framework.
Inside AIM, the Change Foundation is the tool for Define the Change. A complete foundation states WHAT, WHY, and the CONSEQUENCES of not changing, and it describes both the Current State and the Desired State. Defining the two states is what lets you estimate the cost of implementation and place reinforcement where behavior actually has to shift. A vague or unshared definition is the single most common cause of stalled transformation programs.
What Goes Wrong When the Change Is Not Defined?
When a client comes to us six months into a stalled transformation, the first question we ask is never about velocity. It is about definition. We ask one stakeholder at a time to describe the change: what success looks like, why it matters, and what happens if nothing changes. If we get six different answers from six people, we have already found the failure mode without opening a single status report. These are the Speed Bumps AIM warns about: targets perceive the business case as lacking credibility, different people hold different views of the current problem, no one agrees on what to do or how to do it, and the implementation is never defined in terms of its impact on the people being asked to change.
This is not a small problem. Research summarized by McKinsey on transformation performance consistently puts large-program failure rates near 70 percent, and the pattern underneath is consistent: the change was never defined in terms the whole organization shared. Closing that gap is the highest-leverage work our change management consulting team does, which is why every engagement starts here, with the definition, rather than in execution.
Why Is This So Hard for Smart Teams to Adopt?
Because defining the change feels slow, and executing feels productive. Nobody gets recognized for pausing to write a Change Foundation. They get recognized for shipping the first build, the first pilot, the first group going live. The reward system favors visible motion over a clear definition, and that is hard to argue with on a Monday morning.
So teams skip the definition and start moving. Months later a sponsor says this is not what we meant, and the work has to be redone against a target that was never written down. Worse, resistance that could have been managed up front, by naming impacts and WIIFM in each target’s Frame of Reference, now shows up as missed adoption. The gap you refused to close at the start reopens at the end, more expensively.
A change that is not defined cannot be sponsored, communicated, or reinforced. In AIM, definition comes first for a reason.
How IMA Worldwide Helps Teams Define the Change
Inside every IMA Worldwide engagement, Define the Change comes first. Our consultants work with the sponsor, the change agents, and a sample of affected targets to draft a Change Foundation: WHAT success looks like, WHY it matters, the CONSEQUENCES of standing still, and the impacts and WIIFM in each target group’s Frame of Reference. We document the Current State and the Desired State so the cost of implementation can be estimated honestly and reinforcement can be aimed at the behaviors that actually have to change. Then we identify the gaps in that foundation and close them before resources are committed to execution. Teams that arrive mid-program in a rework loop almost always have a definition gap at the root, and closing it is the fastest way to stop the spiral.
Start Your Change by Defining It
Talk to an AIM-certified consultant about building a clear Change Foundation for your change.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Define the Change Practice Area?
Define the Change is the first practice area in the Accelerating Implementation Methodology (AIM). Using the Change Foundation tool, it builds a shared Business Case for Action that states what success looks like, why the change matters, and the consequences of not changing, and it describes both the Current State and the Desired State so the cost of implementation can be estimated.
How is the Define the Change Practice Area different from a project charter?
A project charter records intent and approval. The AIM Change Foundation defines the change itself: what success looks like, why it matters, the consequences of inaction, the impacts and WIIFM in each target’s frame of reference, and the Current and Desired States. A charter authorizes the work; Define the Change makes it specific enough to implement.
When should a change team apply the Define the Change Practice Area?
Apply it first, before resources are committed to execution. AIM places Define the Change at the front of every implementation because sponsorship, communication, and reinforcement all depend on a definition the whole organization shares. Revisit it whenever scope creep or scope erosion starts altering the project definition.
How does the Accelerating Implementation Methodology use the practice area?
AIM uses the Change Foundation to capture what success looks like, why the change matters, and the consequences of not changing, plus the Current State and the Desired State. Defining both states lets a team estimate the cost of implementation and apply meaningful reinforcement to the behaviors that must change. The objective is to draft the foundation and identify the gaps to be filled.
The Bottom Line: Define the Change Before You Drive It
Every stalled transformation has the same fingerprint: smart people executing hard against a change no one defined in specific terms. Define the Change makes that impossible. Write the Change Foundation, state what success looks like and why, name the consequences of standing still, and describe both the Current State and the Desired State. Do that first, and sponsorship, communication, and reinforcement all have something solid to attach to. Skip it, and you will rebuild the same work later against a target you never wrote down.
- Use the Change Foundation to define WHAT success looks like, WHY it matters, and the CONSEQUENCES of not changing.
- Translate impacts and WIIFM into each target’s Frame of Reference.
- Describe both the Current State and the Desired State to estimate the cost of implementation.
- Identify and close the gaps in the definition before committing resources to execution.
Conclusion
Defining the change effectively creates a clear roadmap leading to successful implementation and reduces resistance among team members. By establishing a shared understanding of the business case for action, organizations can align their goals and mobilize resources more efficiently. To ensure your transformation journey starts smoothly, consult with our AIM-certified experts who can help draft a comprehensive Change Foundation tailored to your needs. Take the next step towards successful change management by reaching out today.
