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The Johari window is a technique designed to help people better understand their relationship with themselves and others. It was created by psychologists Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham in 1955, and is used primarily in self-help groups and corporate settings as a heuristic exercise.
The Johari Window may sound rather exotic, but the title is simply a combination of the names of psychologists Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham, who created the model in 1955.The model provides a simple visual reference for examining your personality, and for improving understanding between individuals. Most people use it to develop self-awareness, but you can also use it as a personal development tool, and to build better workplace relationships.
There are two key ideas behind the tool:
You can build trust with others by disclosing information about yourself.
With the help of feedback from other people, you can learn about yourself and deal with personal issues.
The Johari Window may look complicated , but it is actually easy to use and understand. It has four panes, called "quadrants." Each quadrant contains information about your self-awareness and how others see you.
1. Open Area (Quadrant 1)
1. Open Area (Quadrant 1)
The Open Area represents the things that you know about yourself and that others know about you. This includes your behavior, knowledge, skills, attitudes, and "public" history.
The ideal Johari Window has a large Open Area. This is because, in general, the more that people know about themselves and one another, the more productive, cooperative and trusting they'll be when working together. A large Open Area shows that you're aware of your abilities, feelings and behaviors, and that the people around you understand you well.
Small Open Areas can be a sign that someone is young, or new to his job, because he hasn't shared much information about himself or may not be very self-aware. But it can also reflect someone who is an introvert, uncommunicative or difficult to work with.
2. Blind Area (Quadrant 2)
2. Blind Area (Quadrant 2)
The Blind Area represents things about yourself that you aren't aware of, but that others know about you. For example, you might not realize that you're a great listener until someone points it out to you.
It can also reveal deeper issues, such as feelings of incompetence or anger that you haven't faced up to, but that others sense in you.
A small Blind Area indicates that you're aware of how your behavior affects other people, whereas a large Blind Area suggests that you may be naive or even in denial about it. A large Blind Area could also mean that your colleagues are keeping what they know about you to themselves.
No one works at their best when they're "in the dark," so it's important to reduce the size of your Blind Area. You can do this by following the tips and strategies in our article, Developing Self-Awareness.
3. Hidden Area (Quadrant 3)
3. Hidden Area (Quadrant 3)
The Hidden Area represents things that you know about yourself, but that you keep hidden from other people.
You don't need to share all of your private thoughts and feelings with work colleagues. Naturally, you wouldn't want to reveal anything that would make you feel embarrassed or vulnerable. Withholding information is perfectly reasonable if it has no bearing on your work.
However, hiding information about yourself that is related to your work or your performance could lead to co-workers having less trust in you. So, if your Johari Window has a large Hidden Area, you could try to be more open with them. Our article, Self-Disclosure, can help you to do this.
4. Unknown Area (Quadrant 4)
4. Unknown Area (Quadrant 4)
The Unknown Area represents things that are unknown to you and by others. For example, you may have some dazzling untapped abilities that neither you nor anyone else knows about.
A large Unknown Area may just be a sign of youth or inexperience, but it can also mean that you need to work hard on discovering and releasing new information about yourself.
Note:
The quadrants can change size over time – and, because they are interdependent, changing the size of one quadrant will also change the size of the others. For example, telling your team about an aspect of your life that you'd always kept hidden would decrease your Hidden Area and increase your Open Area.
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