SELF DEVELOPMENT -- PART II JOHARI WINDOW

Joseph Luft and Harry Ingam were the two social scientists who created 'Johari Window. I actively practiced this to grow myself as an individual. There are four windows in the system.                                                             

    

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THIS IS PART 2. PART 1 TO BE READ BEFORE  PART 2

If a beneficiary of feedback really gained then the block A would appear as below which means the individual would be aware of most of his weaknesses and especially how it is perceived by others. 

 All the strengths and weaknesses of individuals may not remain constant and would change with age, education, experience, money etc. A person without job would change many of his personality traits if he gets a high paying prestigious job. A retired person would become more irritable at home since his option of shouting at subordinates is closed.  This is particularly true in cases of power wielding high officials who feel lost in a powerless home. There are any number of reasons by which the personality traits of an individual changes. 

Though the benefit of true feedback is not always available or welcomed practicing the window game on a regular basis would be immensely beneficial as the individual would experience the joy of knowing self better than others.

What is to be clearly understood is not that one has to overcome the weaknesses but know how it affects self and others. Yet another windfall of a benefit of true feedback is one gets to know also the strengths which was otherwise never realized or felt. Killer instinct existed in a person and he became conscious of it after the feedback and used to fight back with all the more vigor whenever defeat stared at him. 'You are wise, your impartiality is admired ' are also comments that enhanced a person's will to sustain them. 

Positive feed backs uphold and keep up the strengths of an individual and the negative feedback shows the mirror to display the ugly face. In either case it is for the individual to decide how to carry forward those traits but the window game helps immensely as inputs for decision making.

Behavioral scientists while teaching emphasized discretion of the individual to decide the personality that one wanted to choose rather than impose it by the feedback giving well wishers. At times the feedback givers especially the elders imagined themselves as savior s of bad behavior and forced methods of changing a particular trait. What was forgotten was personality is heavily individual specific and the individual undergoes lot of stress if a personality trait is changed forcibly.

The purpose of feedback is exposure to knowledge of one's personality. An individual needs the benefit of full exposure to perception of his personality by others. Thereafter it is for him to introspect and decide the course correction if at all it is required. 

When one gets to know his/her weaknesses it is easy  to manage others when such weaknesses grip the situation. A student branded miser though initially was upset and disturbed mentioned his family situation during feedback discussion and received huge appreciation and understanding by fellow students. Miserliness as a weakness vanished thereafter not only for him but in the perception of others as well when feedback was reacted with positivism.

In discussing and revealing block B there are two aspects. The weaknesses that is common like anger, selfishness, uncaring, indifferent, insensitive, egotist, hasty, sluggish, jealous, greed etc. Such weaknesses are prevalent with many persons and a feedback on them though initially would be resisted but would ultimately be grudgingly accepted. But weaknesses that are demeaning be it in appearance, voice, face etc or in some cases social strata where the individual has very limited scope of control would push them to feel inferior. Feed backs on such aspects must be couched in good words, expressed with a sense of concern and to be ended with suggestive optimistic notes. 

 

At the end of the session on feedback many students felt rejuvenated by the sudden additional knowledge of knowing self and handling weaknesses. There was more open admission of weaknesses and assurances on dealing them. But when the topic on Block C was broached there was discomfort and the Professor decided to defer it to another day.

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Let us see what happened with block C in the next .