Johari Window is a self-awareness tool that helps us understand the differences between how people see us, and how we see ourselves…
How Does Johari Window Help Us To Know Ourselves?
One of my friends told me that “my colleagues know that I am short-tempered, but they have not yet realized that I am a workaholic too!”
When people complain about you being a workaholic, but until that time you didn’t have this thought about yourself! Where does the problem come from? Do we not know ourselves well enough, or do we not allow others to know us well, in some areas of life?
By looking at the model of the Johari window, you will find that both are true!
To the extent that humans feel close to their people or teammates, they allow them to get to know them better. This recognition also causes trust and creates a more intimate relationship between the group members. In addition, effective feedback from team members leads to more self-awareness in you.
If you didn’t think of yourself as a hardworking person until yesterday, but your colleagues call you a hardworking and detail-oriented person today. Didn’t they help you to know yourself better? This is where the importance of the Johari window in increasing self-awareness is determined.
How Does The Johari Window Make Us Know Ourselves And Others Better?
Many factors must work hand in hand to form a feeling of empathy and effective relationships in a team. Knowing this method will help this path to progress faster in groups. For this reason, this article is dedicated to explaining the framework of the Johari window and it’s effect on the level of self-awareness and effective communication.
What Is The Johari Window?
The Johari window model is a psychological tool that was created in 1955 by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingram. The name of this model is derived from the first combination of the names of the creators of this idea, both of whom are American psychologists, and since it deals with four squares, they chose this name for it.
This tool is a simple and effective tool for increasing self-awareness and mutual understanding between members of a group. In other words, the Johari window is a model that helps you to know yourself better in your relationships with others and the team in which you are a member of.
It is one of the limited tools that emphasizes on soft skills such as empathy, cooperation, teamwork, interpersonal relations and intergroup relations, and due to the simplicity and practicality of this model, it can be used in different situations, environments and groups.
Interpretation Of The Johari Window, To Understand It’s Mechanism
The Johari window is made up of four parts, parts or areas, the size of each of these parts is different according to the position of the person in the group. How much of your information you have decided to share with others, or how well others have been able to understand your unknowns will change the size of these parts.
Keep in mind the following four assumptions are very important for using the Johari window:
- There is information that only you know.
- There is information that only others know.
- There is information that both you and others know.
- There is information that you and others do not know.
With this perspective, we are going to introduce different areas of the Johori Window:
1- Open Area
Information about yourself that others know about. Where were you born, are you married or single, what is your job, what is important to you. Attitudes, behavior, emotions and skills that you and others know about.
This area is small in new groups, and as the members develop more intimate relationships with each other, this area also becomes larger. The goal of each group should be the growth and development of this area. Because the larger this open area is, the more effective and deeper communication is formed between the members and the group is at it’s best.
The size of the open area can be expanded by listening to feedback from other members of the group. Team members can help their teammate by providing feedback to move the open area to the blind or hidden area. According to Keith Murphy, listening is different from hearing, and listening is a skill that must be acquired through continuous practice.
Active listening originates from our curiosity to know others and helps us to develop the ability to analyze and react correctly.
2- Blind Area
All of us have heard at least once from our parents that they know us better than ourselves. The blind area also includes information that others know about you, but you have not realized it yourself. For example, when you get more stressed or how you react in front of the crowd, you probably don’t see it.
The blind spot is reduced by getting feedback from others and causes personal growth and development. The purpose of asking for feedback from others should be to reduce the blind area and increase the open area. It is at this point that the Johari window helps your self-awareness.
Managers should also provide an environment where team members are not afraid to receive feedback. Just be aware that it is you who decides in which field to get feedback. Arbitrary people should not walk and give feedback to whoever they want and comment on his behavior.
3- Hidden Area
The hidden area is the information that you know, but others do not know about you. Any kind of personal information that you don’t want to disclose is placed in this area.
Now if one day you decide to tell this information to others, you have expanded the open area in your relationships. Managers or other group members can do this by giving you space and gaining your trust.
This is why we say that the Johari window model can help create effective communication and improve relationships. Reducing the hidden area reduces the possibility of misunderstandings and the formation of weak communication and increases the productivity of the team.
Every smile every frown or choice of words that passes through your lips can draw others towards you, or make them run away based on the emotions and feelings that has been received from you.
It helps you to communicate more effectively with others.
4- Unknown Area
There are feelings, abilities, information, talents and experiences that no one knows about. There are things that neither you nor others know about. The unknown area is usually larger in young people who lack life experiences.
New experiences show you many things about yourself that you were unaware of before. They have settled somewhere in your subconscious and are waiting to be discovered by you. Abilities or talents that haven’t had a chance to emerge, fears that you don’t know exist, emotions that have been repressed before they have a chance to emerge, all are in the unknown.
By providing conditions that allow employees to be challenged, managers give them the opportunity to know themselves better. However, don’t forget that the boundaries of this demand are defined by employees and team members, and no one is supposed to achieve self-knowledge by force.
The Johari window model gives managers the opportunity to use this tool to improve their team’s performance and create more empathy among team members. By providing conditions, managers help people to discover their unknowns or bring their hidden issues to the open. When the open area of team members grows, people work with each other with more intimacy and trust towards the group’s goals.
Management by giving feedback at the right time reduces the blind spot and helps people feel more comfortable to receive feedback. This work makes the members know more about themselves and others, and the trust formed between them improves the performance of the team.
The Essential Of Johari Window for Self-Awareness:
This tool makes you think about who you are. Further, by getting feedback from others, you will understand who you are from their point of view. Then you enter these features into different parts of the window, and it helps you visualize the difference between how you see yourself and how others see you.
The Johari window shows you that others can see you differently from what you think about yourself. This approach will make you face your true self and discover things about yourself that you didn’t know before! In other words, this method helps you to understand the difference between your conscious and unconscious mind and reduce your blind spot. Reducing the blind area also leads to an increase in self-awareness and a deeper understanding of their self-actualization.
By knowing themselves and becoming aware of their own reality, people can know what makes them happy and what makes them sad. In a word, their task is clear to themselves.
However, self-awareness does not happen so easily. A tool like the Johari window helps us to face our true self. This tool ultimately helps people in a group know each other better, trust each other more, and create more intimacy and empathy between them as they can know their own reality much better and also help others know more about them.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is The Johari Window ?
It is a simple tool that knowing its different parts will help you to know yourself and your teammates better and trust them more. Finally, this trust creates intimacy and effective communication.
What Is The Effect Of The Johari Window Model In Relation With Others?
The Johari window model helps people become more self-aware and shows them that others can have a different view about them. Following this model and expanding the open areas in life will create more trust and intimacy between people and improve interpersonal and group relations.
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