There is a video clip of Donald Rumsfeld (former US Secretary of State for Defense) talking about known unknowns and unknown unknowns, that generates quite a bit consternation from the members of the press gathered in the room. It does on the surface seem that the former SecDef (Secretary of State for Defense) is merely trying to bluff his way out of a difficult situation, however, what this Hot Topic is going to discuss is the theory behind his words.
The former SecDefs’ words come from the psychology tool known as the ‘Johari Window’. This tool was created by psychologists Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham in 1955, with the title of the tool being a combination of their first names. The tool is designed to increase self-awareness, with the help of peers who may know more about ourselves than we perhaps do.
The premise of the window is to ultimately increase levels of self-awareness, broadening our knowledge about ourselves, and what others are aware of. Each window or quadrant as it is known refers to a certain part of our self-awareness.
The Public Window
This covers what we know about ourselves and what others are also aware of. This covers behaviours, knowledge, skills, our attitude and our public history.
The Blind Area
This refers to things that others are aware of, but we are not. This could be a character trait you possess but are ultimately unaware of until somebody highlights it to you. It could also be other emotions that you are yet to face up to, but others have sensed.
The Private Area
We all will have areas of our lives that we wish to keep private, this is perfectly reasonable if it has no bearing on our performance at work. Nobody should be forced to reveal anything that could embarrass us or make us feel vulnerable, however, keeping information regarding our performance at work hidden could affect the levels of trust our colleagues have in us.
The Unknown Area
This covers things that we are unaware of along with our colleagues. This could be skills we are yet to discover.
The size of each area/window will vary depending on our level of self-awareness. Ideally the public window would be the largest of all the windows as it shows that we have a high degree of self-awareness and are open to feedback from peers and colleagues alike. A large unknown area could indicate a lack of experience or that we need to push our boundaries a little so we can discover more about ourselves.
Using the tool
The diagram may look complex, but it is relatively simple to use. The coachee would be given a list of adjectives to pick from that best describes their personality and skill set (the original tool used a list of 55). A set number of colleagues would then be asked to do the same thing. The adjectives selected by the coachee and any number of their peers would be placed into the public box, with adjectives only chosen by the coachee being placed in the private area. The blind area would be for those adjectives that were chosen by colleagues, only with the unknown area being reserved for those descriptors that were not chosen by anyone but a coachee may consider as their levels of self-awareness increase.
As we can see from the diagram above, both communication and feedback are essential for this process. In coaching terms, we are able to use the Johari Window to set and develop goals built around the findings of the tool. Does our coachee need feedback from peers, or do they need to be more open with their own beliefs and ideas?
Action Point
Research the window and identify the keywords used as standard, then consider carrying out the assessment with a trusted peer, thus creating your own window.