The Johari Window

The Johari Window is a model developed back in 1955 by 2 psychologists Joseph Luft (Joe) and Harrington Ingham  (Harry), named after their combined first names.

It is a heuristic method originally used for self awareness, to examine your characters that you are aware of, and those that others are aware of. There is also a portion which so far nobody is aware of.

The Johari Window consists of 4 quadrants:

• Open / Arena: represents traits of subject that both you and others are conciously aware of.
• Hidden / Façade: represents traits of subject that you are aware of, but hidden from others.
• Blindspot: represents your blindspot where others are aware of but not you.
• Unknown: represents the mysterious area where nobody is aware of yet.

Nowadays the Johari Window is also commonly used in knowledge management, to examine the areas of knowledge between 2 parties (eg. superior and subordinate, supplier and customer, 2 different departments, 2 colleagues, 2 business partners, ...)

There are parts that known to both parties, and also parts that known to one party only, and also parts that unknown by both parties.

By sharing of information/knowledge with each other, i.e. ask for the parts in your blindspot, and tell about the parts in your hidden area, the open area can then be expanded.

At the same time, both parties will explore into the unknown area. The discovered parts will then be included into own hidden area, and if shared out, will further enlarge the open area. The parts discovered by the other party will initially fall into your bind area, and if shared out, will also become part of the open area.

Think of a person or a group in your mind, what is the Johari Window looks like? How you would like the Johari Window to look like? What action should you take to make that happen?