Self-awareness -Johari Window

Self-awareness as a practitioner is vital if we are to offer clients the best of us and first do no harm.  It is normal for us all to have ‘blind’ spots about our behaviours, what we believe, feel, think about a particular subject.  We all carry unconscious bias what’s yours?

As practitioners we all have what’s considered strengths and weaknesses and by expanding and growing our open area we can expand our strengths and understand what may need strengthening.  To offer both our clients and ourself the very best of us at any one time.

I remember in training learning and using the Johari Window with peers to expand our open area and to reflect through feedback our blind spots.  Through this exercise I realised I didn’t have to tell everyone my back story and could choose who, what, when I shared about me.  Its OK to have things hidden to others but known to me only.

The problems begin in client work when we have areas about ourselves that we don’t know i.e. our blind spots, our unconscious bias because these can affect how we treat our clients.  None of us go into supporting work to do harm but sometimes client have arrived and tell us the narrative what another practitioner said or did or didn’t say or do.

They’ve not set off to do harm but without deep awareness of ourselves our blind spots will and do leak out when we least expect them and we may remain unaware of what the client has picked up from us.

Johari Window

This is where the  Johari Window may help support us in expanding our self-awareness.

The Johari Window is a self-aware framework model which helps us to reflect upon what we know and don’t know about ourself.   A model which helps us to structure expanding our self-awareness from 4 different perspectives.

The first two areas represent the self which is aware and the second two areas what is not know to ourself.

·         Open Area - is known to ourself and also known to others

·         Blind Area - what others know about you but we are not aware of

·         Hidden Area – things we know about ourself but others don’t know

·         Unknown Area – unknown to both you and others

To gain the full measure of this framework it is a good group exercise, but we can still reflcet and clarify the area's ourselves and its beneficial if we have at least one other to reflect with us to support us gaining more information about our self from the blind area. Enlist friends and family and invite feedback from them, share the window iwth them and work through it together.   All awareness is good awareness in respect of our client work.

By creating your own Johari Window can help you to clarify your strengths and known areas which need strengthening and understand yourself better and deeper asking for feedback from family,  friends, peers, listening to the feedback people offer voluntarily (and they do without asking).  Can all help us to gain more and more awareness about ourselves. 

A note on feedback from others:  It is up to us s an individual to either accept or reject what others say about us; just because someone says something about us doesn’t make it true.  In respect of the Johari Window exercise it is worth reflecting upon what others offer and accepting or rejecting with your will and choice.

It’s an easy straightforward activity we can use to reflect upon ourself and what we are aware and not aware of.   The Johari Window can help us to communicate with ourselves and others more openly, foster trust of ourselves at a deeper level and to support understanding of one another.   It can support us to become more congruent with ourselves and more transparent with other whilst offering us a more informed choice about what we share and what we don’t want to share. 

Self-awareness as a practitioner is vital for the work we undertake with clients and the more self-awareness are the better for both.   Share the window with your supervisor and try and identify some area’s for strengthening whilst celebrating the strengths that you already have.

If you are struggling or in need of a supervisor I offer a free 30 mins video call so we can meet before our first session. Contact me at email: pendulumofpeace8@gmail.com text or Whatsapp message to 07867938630 and lets connect and realise your fullest potentials.