The Johari Window

A Johari window, created by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham in 1955, is a psychological tool used for self-awareness, personal development, improving communications and interpersonal relationships. The model provides a simple visual reference for examining your personality, and for improving understanding between individuals.

The Open Area represents the things that you know about yourself and that others know about you. This includes your behavior, knowledge, skills, attitudes, and “public” history.

The Blind Area represents things about yourself that you aren’t aware of, but that others know about you. For example, you might not realize that you’re a great listener until someone points it out to you.

It can also reveal deeper issues, such as feelings of incompetence or anger that you haven’t faced up to, but that others sense in you.

A small Blind Area indicates that you’re aware of how your behavior affects other people, whereas a large Blind Area suggests that you may be naive or even in denial about it.

The Hidden Area represents things that you know about yourself, but that you keep hidden from other people.

The Unknown Area represents things that are unknown to you and by others. For example, you may have some dazzling untapped abilities that neither you nor anyone else knows about.

A large Unknown Area may just be a sign of youth or inexperience, but it can also mean that you need to work hard on discovering and releasing new information about yourself.

Using the Johari Window

Your ultimate goal in using the Johari Window is to enlarge your Open Area. Here’s how to do it;

In the Open pane, start by adding 10-12 things you are aware of about yourself such as adjectives, skills, descriptors. Then ask friends/family/colleagues to circle things they agree with.

Anything that is left encircled can be moved into the Hidden pane.

Then ask them to write things about you in the Blind pane. If there is anything in there you already know, move it to the open pane. Anything that is new to you, should be left there.

In the Unknown pane, you should use the space to reflect on underlying issues or things you are unaware of about yourself. This might be something like “I would like to discover why I am impatient” or “I wonder why I really struggle with deadlines?”

If you prefer a more technical approach, here’s an online Johari Window test https://kevan.org/johari

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