AID Feedback Model: What It Is, How to Use It and Examples

The AID feedback model gives feedback in three steps: Action (the specific thing you observed), Impact (the effect it had) and Desired outcome (what you want to happen from now on). It works as well for recognition as for correction, because it talks about observable behaviour rather than about who the person is.

Below you will find the model step by step, examples you can adapt, how it compares with other feedback models, and how to use it inside a coaching session, both to give feedback and to help a client prepare a difficult conversation.

What is the AID feedback model?

AID stands for the three parts of the message. The Open University includes it in its piece on giving and receiving powerful feedback as a quick structure for preparing what you are going to say, and sums up each step with a question:

The order matters. Starting with the action puts the facts on the table before any interpretation. The impact explains why the comment is worth making. And the desired outcome turns the conversation into something useful for next time, which is the only part anyone can actually change.

In the material we reviewed, the model is not credited to a single documented author. It is a common tool in manager training and coaching, and a close relative of other behaviour-and-impact models such as SBI.

How do you use the AID model step by step?

Before you speak: pick one action

Feedback with five topics does not stick. Choose the behaviour that matters most and save the rest for another time. If you cannot describe it in one sentence with a verb and a moment ("in Tuesday's meeting you cut Laura off twice"), it is not clear enough yet.

A: describe the action the way a camera would

What was seen or heard, with no adjectives. "You sent the report on Thursday instead of Monday" is an action. "You were careless with the report" is a judgement, and the other person will argue with the judgement instead of hearing the rest.

I: explain the impact with specifics

What happened because of that action: who it affected and how. "The client got the proposal late and we had to ask for an extension" is clear and can be checked. If the impact was on you, say so in the first person: "I had no time left to review it".

D: agree the desired outcome

This is where feedback stops being a reprimand. You can propose it ("next time, tell me on Friday if you can see you won't make it") or ask for it ("what would you need to deliver on time next time?"). Asking tends to build more commitment, because the solution becomes theirs.

Afterwards: listen and close

Leave room for a reply. Sometimes a fact you did not have comes up and changes the impact or the desired outcome. Close with a specific agreement and, where it makes sense, a date to review it.

AID feedback examples

These examples cover the cases people search for most: a coach giving feedback to a client, a manager giving feedback to their team, and positive feedback. Adjust the wording to the way you speak; the structure is what counts.

1. Coach to client: a commitment that slipped

A: "In our last two sessions we agreed you would call your manager, and that call hasn't happened yet." I: "We keep coming back to the same situation, and the goal you set for this quarter isn't moving." D: "What would need to happen for this week to be different? Or is this no longer the right commitment?"

2. Coach to client: recognising progress

A: "This week you turned down two requests outside your working hours." I: "You told me you got home with enough energy to have dinner with your family, which is exactly what you were after." D: "What did you do differently, and how will you repeat it next week?"

3. Manager to team member: late deliverables

A: "The reports for the last two months arrived three days after the deadline." I: "Leadership presented the results without your figures and I had to explain the delay." D: "I need it by the 5th. If you see you won't make it, tell me on the 3rd and we'll find a way."

4. In a team meeting: interruptions

A: "In today's meeting you interrupted Marta while she was presenting her proposal." I: "She didn't get to finish, and the team decided without hearing all of it." D: "Next time, let everyone finish and note your objections for the questions slot."

5. Positive feedback to a colleague

A: "You prepared a one-page summary before the client meeting." I: "The meeting took half the time and the client left with all three decisions made." D: "I'd like to turn it into the team template. Would you share it?"

How is AID different from SBI and the feedback sandwich?

All three models aim for the same thing, feedback that is understood and useful, but they put the weight in different places. Our guide to feedback models in coaching covers the sandwich, SBI and 360 feedback in depth. Here is the quick comparison:

In practice, AID is the easiest to remember when you need the conversation to end in a concrete change. SBI works better when the context is what the other person is missing. And if you use the sandwich, make the praise specific and true, or it reads as filler.

How do you use the AID model in a coaching session?

In coaching the model has two quite different uses, and it helps to keep them apart.

When the coach gives the client feedback

A coach is not there to appraise the client, but there are moments when a direct observation helps more than another question: a pattern that keeps showing up across sessions, a commitment that keeps falling through, a gap between what the client says and what they do. Ask permission first ("can I share something I've noticed?") and use AID with one twist: the coach asks about the desired outcome and the client decides it. That keeps the relationship one between equals.

When the client has to give feedback to someone else

This is the more common use. A client who leads a team, or who needs to talk to a partner, co-founder or boss, arrives with the conversation stuck. AID helps you prepare it with them in three moves:

1. Separate fact from interpretation. "What exactly did they do? Which part of what you're telling me is what happened, and which part is what you think it means?"
2. Name the real impact. "What was the consequence? For whom?" Emotions often surface here, and they are better worked through before the conversation than during it.
3. Define the desired outcome. "What do you want to happen after this conversation?" If the client doesn't know, they are not ready to have it.

Then rehearse it as a role play: you play the other person and the client says their three sentences out loud. Repeat until it sounds natural. If the conversation carries a lot of emotional charge, nonviolent communication pairs well with AID, because it adds feelings and needs.

When the client receives feedback

AID also works in reverse: to help your client make sense of confusing feedback they were given. Ask them to rebuild it using the three letters. If the specific action is missing, they now know what to ask the person who gave it. To go deeper into how others see them, the Johari Window sorts that information into four areas.

What are the common mistakes with the AID model?

• Dressing a judgement up as an action. "Your attitude in the meeting" is not an action. "You were on your phone while the client was speaking" is.
• Inflating the impact. If you exaggerate, the other person argues with the exaggeration and forgets the rest.
• Skipping the desired outcome. Without it, feedback is just criticism. It's the step people drop most often, and it's the one that tells the other person what to do next.
• Waiting weeks. Feedback loses force over time. Give it soon after the event, in private and calmly.
• Only using it to correct. AID works just as well for recognition. Specific recognition reinforces behaviour far more than "good job".

For the general principles behind any good feedback, see the definition of effective feedback in our glossary.

Frequently asked questions