A View from the Top

An Executive Perspective on the Business Value of AIM

Kenneth Klepper, Medco President and Chief Operating Officer, has been applying the Accelerating Implementation Methodology (AIM) principles for many years. Medco is the nation's largest pharmacy benefit manager, serving the healthcare needs of over 65 million Americans and generating over $45 billion in annual revenue. Klepper oversees Medco's sales and account groups, and all business operations, including the world's largest automated pharmacy.

Klepper shares his insights on how AIM can be used to create competitive advantage in a dynamic industry.

Q:  When did you first become familiar with IMA and the AIM methodology?

Klepper:
I first met Don Harrison (IMA President) when I was at a leading energy company.  Over the past 15 years, I have brought IMA in to help me successfully implement significant organizational change in four different organizations, including here at Medco. 

Personally, it has served me exceedingly well.  If you use this methodology, you will see substantial reduction of the risks associated with implementation.

Q: What kinds of initiatives have you engaged IMA and AIM on?

Klepper:
As a person responsible for many large-scale initiatives, I have found the IMA team to be an indispensable partner on a very diverse set of challenges... an enterprise-wide infrastructure modernization, including a billion dollar plus IT outsourcing; a large-scale customer service re-engineering; and the transformation from a large general practice pharmacy operation to the nation's largest therapeutic resource center staffed by specialized pharmacists.  The initiatives are broad, but we can use the same set of tools for implementation success. 

AIM substantially increases your odds for success and reduces the risk from change.  Great ideas, great innovations fail all the time because they're not properly implemented.

Q: From your perspective as an executive, how is this of value in running your business?

Klepper:
I use it every day--it's a way of thinking for me.  I use these principles on all my transformational initiatives.  When I am looking at change, I immediately start thinking about building Sponsorship and managing the natural resistance to change as part of the initial planning.

If you spend a lot more energy in these areas, the other things go more smoothly.  You can spend enormous resources on implementation-- but if you have failed to build the Sponsorship for the change, you can't spend enough money or have enough cross-functional meetings to be successful.

Using AIM has been a key enabler for me and the organizations I have been in for the last 15 years.

Q:  What about the need to move fast, especially in an industry like yours?

Klepper: 
In organizations undergoing a lot of change, time is the currency.  But sometimes, especially in the introductory phase of an initiative, you have to slow down to move fast.  I know that it's almost counter-intuitive, particularly for Americans.

Q:  Have the people in your organization seen the same kind of value that you do?  What kind of feedback have you heard?

Klepper:
Organizations tend to be a lot stronger on the technical side, but there's not a lot of competency on the human side of change.  This is definitely a leadership skill.

It's interesting–I am involved in a high potential talent management program at Medco where I meet with small groups of up and coming leaders–the best of the best.  The most common development gap I see and we discuss is the need to understand how to build and maintain Sponsorship.  These people are Change Agents at heart.  Being a great Sponsor is the single most powerful enabler.  Even at this level, these people still need and want to be able to use AIM.