Wednesday, February 22, 2023

AEIOU Model - Conflict resolution

 A-E-I-O-U Model

A-E-I-O-U stands for Acknowledge, Express, Identify, Outcome, and Understanding. The method can be used to resolve a variety of standoffs: personal and professional. 

ACKNOWLEDGE: (Positive intentions) No Assumptions, look at the other person intentions. Try to understand and accommodate if possible his or her rationale and state it out loud directly to them. 

EXPRESS: (Observations) Affirm the positive intention and talk about the observations you’ve identified and express your own specific concern.

IDENTIFY: (Propose a solution) Clearly define your objectives and recommendations. Identify the action plan with ownership and date of completion.

OUTCOME: (Outline the benefits) What’s in it for you (both personally and professionally). Outline the steps to be accommodate. People respond much more positively when they can see/buy/acknowledge into the reasons for changing their actions/behaviors. 

UNDERSTANDING: (Feedback) Either nail down agreement, or what next action plans or steps, or work together to develop an alternatives. Ensure to understand before being moved to understood stage.


Throughout the A-E-I-O-U models, it’s critical that communication shall be bi-directional and a conducive environment for conflict resolution is maintained.

The other thumb rule is that finding a solution to the problem at hand needs to be kept as the highest goal. To do that, you must separate the person from the problem, meant problem shall be discussed in details with no personals attachment. (Even for personal problems)

Note- 1 :- The above model is a learned/googled model, with a thought about applying it to a wider range of usages. Note that the above model may not work in a particular personal/professional conflict resolution. "Vowel words model" is a better model when compared to a "Consonant words model".

Note- 2 :- What shall be the root cause of the problem/conflict is a different topic. The causal analysis can be done by using 5W2H or 8D models.

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