What is it?
The Johari Window is a visual depiction of what we and others know and don’t know about us. A classic four-square grid, it has two categories on each axis. Along one side are those things that are known to us or known to others. Along the other side are things that are know to ourselves or not known to ourselves.
What good is it?
It raises our awareness about how much we know both of ourselves and of each other. We can easily reach the conclusion that we know what is going on with other people. But there is a whole world of things that that person knows and that we don’t know. Being aware of our limitations of how much we know about other people can encourage us to be curious and ask more about what is going on with the other person. Or in some circumstances it may be helpful to know that they may have some secrets (about a health condition, for instance, or about a personal challenge) they may never tell us.
It’s similarly helpful to know that we have blind spots, and therefore it is valuable to know what other people see about us. The story The Emperor’s New Clothes is a story about how everyone else knew something that the Emperor himself didn’t know: specifically, that he wasn’t wearing anything. To avoid the emperor’s embarrassing fate, we have to value the feedback others give us, even when it is unflattering and shows us parts of ourselves we’d rather not look at. If we’re brave enough, we may be able to proactively ask others to give us the feedback we need to be our best.
Questions to Consider
- Have you ever had to point out a blind spot in a coworker, boss, or supervisee? How did that go? What would you do differently?
- Have you ever been in a situation where you were the last to know about a blind spot you had?
- If you were to keep in mind the Johari window the next time you had a difficult interaction with a colleague, what would you do differently?