If you are living with purpose and striving to reach your goals,
where do you want to be in the Johari Window? You will be wanting to be playing
within the Arena! The more open and honest you are in
your thoughts and feelings, your communications and your behaviours, the more
that those around you will have a clear understanding around what it is that you value, what you
are trying to achieve and therefore will actually have the ability to help you
reach where it is that you want to go. When you’re playing in the Arena, you
are completely aware of your skills and abilities and you will become more
effective and productive as your interactions and communications with those
around you. The Arena is the playing field where trust and relationships are
established and cooperation is at its highest.
The aim in any group should always be to develop the 'open area' for
every person, because when we work in this area with others we are at our most
effective and productive, and the group is at its most productive too. The open
free area, or 'the arena', can be seen as the space where good communications
and cooperation occur, free from distractions, mistrust, confusion, conflict
and misunderstanding.
Let’s move to the
Facade. This is where you are potentially hiding or concealing
thoughts or feelings or any other information that is unknown to others.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with concealing information and holding private
thoughts and feelings to yourself. However, for someone to be able to help you
in a certain situation, they will need to know where you currently stand and
what your thoughts, feelings or knowledge is on the subject. The more you
can be open and honest and reveal certain things about yourself, the more that
others will be able to gain an insight into who you are and how you operate. By
doing this, you will build trust, enhance your relationships and when it comes
to pursuing your goals, those around you will be able to start helping you get
there! The more you can reveal about yourself, the more you will expand
yourself into the Arena and start enhancing your relationships, communicate
more effectively and perform at higher levels. Similarly when it comes to
skillsets and capability, the more you can openly share and reveal around
these, the more that others will have an awareness of where they can help you
through coaching, mentoring, teaching or providing support or guidance.
The hidden area could also include sensitivities, fears,
hidden agendas, manipulative intentions, secrets - anything that a person knows
but does not reveal, for whatever reason. It's natural for very personal and
private information and feelings to remain hidden, indeed, certain information,
feelings and experiences have no bearing on work, and so can and should remain
hidden. However, typically, a lot of hidden information is not very personal,
it is work- or performance-related, and so is better positioned in the open
area.
Relevant hidden information and feelings, etc, should be
moved into the open area through the process of 'disclosure'. The aim should be
to disclose and expose relevant information and feelings - hence the Johari
Window terminology 'self-disclosure' and 'exposure process', thereby increasing
the open area. By telling others how we feel and other information about
ourselves we reduce the hidden area, and increase the open area, which enables
better understanding, cooperation, trust, team-working effectiveness and
productivity. Reducing hidden areas also reduces the potential for confusion,
misunderstanding, poor communication, etc, which all distract from and
undermine team effectiveness.
Organizational culture and working atmosphere have a
major influence on group members' preparedness to disclose their hidden selves.
Most people fear judgement or vulnerability and therefore hold back hidden
information and feelings, etc, that if moved into the open area, ie known by
the group as well, would enhance mutual understanding, and thereby improve
group awareness, enabling better individual performance and group
effectiveness.
Now onto the Blind
Spot. This is the fun area! This is the area that you really
need to minimise to ensure you are self-aware around your behaviours and impact
on others, and to ensure you can perform at your highest ability. What don’t
you know about yourself? Arn’t you curious to find out? How do you find out
something about yourself when you don’t know what you need to find out?
Feedback! Ask for feedback. Don’t be afraid to request feedback from others
whenever or whoever that may be. There may be things that you are doing that
you do not know that you are doing! This is not a productive space to be in.
Feedback is essential for building your self-awareness and can help you learn
and discover how to communicate or perform in a more effective and productive
way. When it comes to skill and ability, asking for feedback is essential for
learning and development and helping you make your way into the Arena where you
can be more effective at pursuing your goals.
This blind area is not an effective or productive space
for individuals or groups. This blind area could also be referred to as
ignorance about oneself, or issues in which one is deluded. A blind area could
also include issues that others are deliberately withholding from a person. We
all know how difficult it is to work well when kept in the dark. No-one works
well when subject to 'mushroom management'. People who are 'thick-skinned' tend
to have a large 'blind area'.
The Unknown area is the area you
want to try stay out of. People with low self-belief or that are inexperienced
may fall into this quadrant. You may not know what your skills and
capabilities are, and others may not have had any opportunity to witness any of
these. Self-limiting beliefs or feelings or attitudes that hold you back
can prevent you from discovering certain things about yourself. Perhaps
its a fear of entering into the unknown. On many occasions, and individual that
spends time in this area may need to break
out of their comfort zone to
start entering one of the other quadrants. Trying new experiences and testing
your limits can help you discover more about yourself and your skills and
abilities. Working closely and building relationships with others may help them
identify certain traits that they can point out for you. Similar to the blind
spot, seeking feedback can help you identify certain traits and build your self-awareness.
These unknown issues take a variety of forms: they can be
feelings, behaviours, attitudes, capabilities, aptitudes, which can be quite
close to the surface, and which can be positive and useful, or they can be
deeper aspects of a person's personality, influencing his/her behaviour to
various degrees. Large unknown areas would typically be expected in younger
people, and people who lack experience or self-belief.
Examples of unknown factors are as follows, and the first
example is particularly relevant and common, especially in typical
organizations and teams:
- an ability that is under-estimated or un-tried
through lack of opportunity, encouragement, confidence or training
- a natural ability or aptitude that a person doesn't
realise they possess
- a fear or aversion that a person does not know they
have
- an unknown illness
- repressed or subconscious feelings
- conditioned behaviour or attitudes from childhood
The processes by which this information and knowledge can
be uncovered are various, and can be prompted through self-discovery or
observation by others, or in certain situations through collective or mutual
discovery, of the sort of discovery experienced on outward bound courses or
other deep or intensive group work. Counselling can also uncover unknown
issues, but this would then be known to the person and by one other, rather
than by a group.
Tips for Using the Johari Window for
Self-Awareness
Every
single one of us acts and behaves within all four quadrants. We are all open
and honest and aware of our skill sets and abilities, however we all hold
back information from others as well. There are always things that other people
are aware of that we do not know. People react to things differently and people
have different perspectives, even when experiencing the same situation. We
don’t know everything, and others that are more experienced can help us with
our blind spots. We all have our ‘unknown’ areas. We don’t know what we don’t
know, but we can certainly make choices to test our limits and help us discover
more about ourselves.
Playing
in the Arena is where Happiness and Success can be fulfilled. You
will build trust in your relationships, enhance your communication, build
cooperation with others and be more effective and productive. To help you
play within the Arena, remember and act on these points:
·
Reveal yourself.
Share
your thoughts and feelings with others. Let others know your skills and
capabilities. The more than others know about you the better they are able to
assist you in reaching your goals.
·
Seek feedback.
Never be
afraid to ask for feedback from others. You don’t know what you don’t know and
feedback is an essential ingredient for building self-awareness, helping you to
move into the Arena.
·
Test your limits.
Try new
experiences and expand your
comfort zone. Build your self-awareness by testing yourself in new situations
and surrounding yourself with others who are able to provide insights to you.
