Johari Window: Your Ultimate Tool For Building Self-Awareness

“Self-awareness is a key to mastery”

~Gretchen Rubin

We all are unique and we have the unique qualities that make us stand out of the crowd. While there are some of these qualities that we are well aware of others are not known to us. This in turn becomes a big roadblock in developing self-awareness. But, lucky enough we have a tool that will help you build self-awareness by digging deeper into self not only from your viewpoint but also that of others. That’s not it! It has a lot more to offer! Let us learn this tool and implement it in our life.

What is the Johari Window?

it is a psychological model that helps us understand ourselves better, thus creating room for self-awareness in life. It was proposed by two psychologists Joe and Harry and hence the name Johari Window. The other formal name of this self-awareness tool is the feedback model or disclosure model of self-awareness. It is based on a premise that certain aspects of ourselves are known to self and not to others. With this tool, you can dig a little deeper and explore a lot about yourself.

Benefits of Using Johari Window of Self-Awareness:

Of course, you can build self-awareness through the Johari Window but is that it? Nope! There are other areas of our life where we can see the importance of this model, it includes:

• Improving interpersonal and inter-group relationships.
• Promoting personal development.
• Improving communications.
• Developing healthy group dynamics.
• Enhancing team development.
• Building “soft skills” such as empathy, co-operation, and others.

Deconstructing the Johari Window:

This is how a typical Johari Window of self-awareness looks like.

Before learning how to use this model for self-awareness we will first learn about each of its components.

The Three main questions answered by Johari Window:

The expansion of each pane or quadrant of the Johari Window is dependent on the following three questions:

• How well do you know yourself?
• How well others know you?
• How much do you share about yourself with others?

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The Four Quadrants of the Johari Window:

The four panes and quadrants of the Johari Window hold unique information each.

1. First Quadrant: The Open Self

It is the pane that holds information about you that is known to you and others. It is also referred to as the Open Area.

2. Second Quadrant: The Blind Self

This pane holds the information that others think or know about you. But, you might not be aware of them.

3. Third Quadrant: The Hidden Self

Information placed in this area is only known to you and not to others. This pane is all about your secret inner self!

4. Fourth Quadrant: The Unknown Self

The last pane is for the information about you that no one is aware of, or things that do not apply to you.

The Two Major Outcomes of The Johari Window:

Different individuals will have different information being filled in each of these areas. Therefore, there can be various possibilities of how your final Johari Window will look like. But, the most common outcomes are:

1. High Awareness and High Trust (Happy Mode)

If the left side of the pane in your Johari Window is bigger than congratulations you are doing great in building your self-awareness!

2. Low Awareness and Low Trust (Alert Mode)

If the case is opposite, that is, bigger right panes, you might have to be a little concerned. The reason being, it not only makes you less aware of yourself but also shows that people know more about you than you do. Time to change the pattern mate!

The Movements and Self-Exploration Processes in the Johari Window:

The picture below shows the movements you need to consider to expand a particular pane of the Johari Window.

How to Build Self-Awareness Through The Johari Window?

Now that you have the basis of the Johari Window clear it is time to put it into action! Here is a step-by-step guide for you to follow and create self-awareness through the Johari Window.

Step 1: Use this list of 55 adjectives. Share it with a friend or a close person with whom you want to discover yourself (do keep a copy handy for yourself).

Step 2: Now, you pick the adjectives from this list that bets define you and your personality. Ask your friend to do the same for you. Make sure you are not discussing it, be honest to yourself for the best results.

Step 3: Time to compare both the lists and fill in the panes.

Step 4: Make a note of adjectives that you have ticked and so has your friend. Place them in the Open Self pane.

Step 5: Make a list of adjectives that your friends have ticked, but you haven’t and place them in the Blind Self pane.

Step 6: Find out the adjectives that you have chosen but your friend hasn’t. Place them in the Hidden Self pane.

Step 7: The adjectives that didn’t appear in both of your lists go directly to the Unknown Self quadrant.

List of Adjectives for The Johari Window:

With this, you just created your own Johari Window of Self-Awareness (How does it look like?).

The Ultimate Goal of the Johari Window:

The final goal of the Johari Window is to create self-awareness. For that to happen you have to constantly work on expanding the Open Self pane. This can be done by keeping these three golden rules in your mind:

• Become more aware of your Blind Self by seeking constant feedback.
• Reduce the Hidden Self area by disclosing more about yourself.
• Uncover more of your Unknown Self through self and shared discovery.

A Full Video Guide of Using Johari Window for Self-Awareness

It is time for you to grab a pen and paper, and increase your self-awareness with Johari Window.

When I used Johari Window for the first time I was amazed at its outcome. If this self-awareness tool makes you go wow or gives you a surprise do let us know in the comment section.

PS: I hope you will find this tool useful as much as I did.

Happy self-exploration to you…