Enhancing leadership through self-awareness
Tash Willcocks, Head of Learning Design, Informed Solutions
Understanding the Johari Window
The Johari Window, created by psychologists Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham, is a powerful model designed to enhance self-awareness. It delineates the visible and invisible aspects of ourselves to us and others. Despite being over 50 years old, its relevance remains important in today’s digital landscape, where soft skills, empathy, cooperation, and interpersonal development are highly valued. For leaders, understanding and applying the Johari Window can significantly enhance their effectiveness. The Johari window is made up of four areas, the Open Arena, Hidden, Blind and Unknown.
The open arena
The Open Arena represents what is known about yourself and what is known by others. It includes behaviours, emotions, skills, behaviours and worldviews. Here, we are looking through the lens of what we openly share in the workplace, and strengthening this area fosters transparency and mutual understanding within teams.
The hidden
The Hidden Area contains what is known about yourself but kept secret from others. Sharing stories and anecdotes with your team and peers can strengthen connections, while actively listening to stories shared back can help your team feel heard and build trust. This is also where fears, sensitivities, and secret agendas hide, which can be addressed by voicing concerns to trusted peers.
The blind spot
The Blind Spot consists of what others know about you that you are unaware of. Expanding the understanding of this area requires soliciting feedback from others. Timely, specific feedback helps growth and fosters a culture of continuous improvement and reciprocal evaluation within teams.
As Ed Batista says: “We can’t just sit back and wait for feedback to be offered, particularly when we’re in a leadership role. If we want feedback to take root in the culture, we need to explicitly ask for it.”
The unknown
As you stretch into the three spaces, widening the open arena into the hidden, blind and unknown areas, you’ll learn about yourself and raise your self-awareness.
Applying the Johari Window to digital leadership
Lastly, psychological safety is crucial. The Johari Window raises self-awareness by helping you become aware of how others see you in contrast to how you see yourself . With this knowledge, leaders can start creating a p sychologically safe zone for themselves to evidence curiosity and vulnerability and take risks and responsibility. Psychological safety can also allow teams to explore new ideas and innovate without fear of negative consequences. This space needs to be inclusive where everyone feels valued and heard, echoing back to the thoughtful sharing in the ‘hidden arena’. Leaders should encourage open dialogue, recognise contributions, and respond to mistakes with support and curiosity rather than blame. They should model vulnerability by sharing their uncertainties and learning experiences, demonstrating it’s okay to not have all the answers.
Effective leadership is about more than skills-it’s about self-awareness. By using the Johari Window, leaders in the digital space can boost transparency, trust, and continuous learning. By being open, they’ll inspire and enable teams and move from ‘doing’ leadership to truly being a leader.
Originally published at https://digileaders.com on June 19, 2024.
