Last month I was designing a session with a colleague and suggested that it could be useful to include the Johari Window, which was a ubiquitous model about twenty years ago, and now seems to have fallen out of favour. I wanted to remind myself of its provenance and use, and was curious to see if other trainers were still using it, and so off to Google I went. I discovered that – if the number of hits (43,000) is anything to go by – it is still in use.

The Johari Window, which was invented by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham¹ (Jo and Harry, get it?) in the 1950s, describes the process of interaction for individuals and groups. It was widely used for self-awareness, personal development, improving communications, group dynamics and team development – which probably covers all of us and every training opportunity!

The basic concept is simple: it is of a window with four windowpanes, each showing an area of personal awareness, and each known by various names. Below are each of the names as I have come across them over the years.

1. Public/Open/Arena/Free - behaviour and motivation known to me and known to others who know me. At its simplest level, this could mean my occupation, my hair colour, height and so on.

2. Blind/Blind Spot - where others can see things in me of which I am unaware. For example, many people apparently consider me to be quite scary on first meeting. (I’m a pussycat really – see what I mean about a blind spot?)

3. Hidden/Façade/Avoided - things I know about me, but take care not reveal to others No examples here - I’m not going to reveal my darkest secrets in print.

4. Unknown - things that neither I nor others are aware of. I might, for example, have a hidden talent for playing the flute, but I don’t know because I’ve never had a go – and probably never will. The key idea is that the lines dividing the four windowpanes are analogous to curtains, and become more open/closed as a relationship progresses and ‘knowledge’ develops. (Of course, we have to remember that our ‘knowledge’ about another person is usually about our perceptions.) As the curtains move, so the panes become more or less opaque. What never changes, of course, is the overall size of the window. For example: Let’s say that I want to make a favourable impression on a new client whose business I would really like to obtain. At our first meeting my Johari windowpanes will not be equally clear, as I will take great care to ‘close the curtains’ on a large part of my ‘Public’ area so the client will only know what I choose to reveal. Conversely, my Hidden area will probably be quite large, as there will certainly be many things that I do not want the client to know – yet. The Blind area is, of course, small because my prospective client hasn’t made many judgements about me – yet. Finally, the Unknown area is small too because (I like to think) I am pretty much aware of my motives and what drives my behaviour.

What then? Well, the key to the use of the Window is to:

• Diagnose the relationship/interaction/communication as it is, using the model
• Take steps to change what needs to be changed to improve this. The tools to make this happen are a combination of feedback and disclosure.

Interested? Then you can find a clear explanation of the Window, its history and its use here http://www.businessballs.com/johariwindowmodel.htm ****, which will also give you lots of ideas about using it in your training events.

Another easy way to understand the Window is this PowerPoint presentation: http://http://socsci.mccneb.edu/pos/Reecech08finalB.ppt ****. The 59 slides (it must have been a very long session) provide a comprehensive overview of the Johari Window concept, and discuss how self-disclosure and feedback can be used to benefit all in the organisation.

If you’re looking for another way of describing personality ‘types’ then http://www.cps.usfca.edu/324sh/johari.htm#top ** has an interesting take on the Window, using examples such as ‘The Blabbermouth’ and ‘The Hermit’. Interesting yes, but I’d suggest that as typologies go you take this one with a large pinch of salt – even though the site takes itself rather seriously.

http://www.abacon.com/commstudies/interpersonal/indisclosure.html ** is a group exercise using the Window as a downloadable pdf file. Be warned though, you’d need to be an excellent facilitator to use this as it suggests. In essence, each person in a group records their views of the others in the group, which are then shared. Don’t do this unless you’re sure you can deal with the fall-out.

I wouldn’t particularly recommend any of these sites for use on their own, which is why I haven’t given an overall star rating chart this month. Instead I’ve treated them all as quick hits, which is how I suggest you use them. However, I do recommend that you use them – you might find that this is just the right model to add some extra zing to your training repertoire.

Reference

1. J Luft, Group processes; an introduction to group dynamics, 2nd edition, National Press Books, 1970.

Clare Forrest is a director of Structured Learning Ltd and she can be contacted on +44 (0)161 428 3547 or at clareforrest@structuredlearning.com