Developing Self-Awareness in your employees

We often speak of the importance of Self – awareness and the impact it has on change management, better communication and emotional intelligence. Though the question is how do we create self awareness in our employees? Self awareness can be attained through disclosure, feedback and shared discovery. Johari’s window is a great tool that can be used to facilitate self-awareness.

The 1st quadrant is the open/free area. In this section employees are open about their thoughts and feelings. They are aware of their behaviours, their strengths and weaknesses and this is easily communicated. This area represents the “known by self”

The 2nd quadrant is that part that is “unknown to self” and is appropriately called the blind area. This area has a wealth of knowledge for the individual and is an opportunity for learning. Through constructive feedback the employee is able to gain insight into their behaviours, strengths and weakness they may not have been conscious before. Therefore bringing the unknown in to the focus of awareness.

The 3rd quadrant is the part of the person’s psyche that is not visible to anyone other than to that person. It is the part of ourselves that we keep hidden from others, thus this is known as “unknown by others”.  Through a safe and transparent environment disclosure can take place that builds trust. It is through constructive feedback and self disclosure that leads to shared discovery and increase in self awareness. This precedes into the 4th quadrant.

The 4th quadrant charters into the “unknown area” territory and  this is the part that is not known to self or to others, yet with the combination of self disclosure and constructive feedback from others an individual can have a greater insight into their behaviours, strengths and weaknesses which they may not have before.