Types of Collaborative Interaction:
Notes on the Johari Window

	Known to Self	Unknown to Self
Known to Others	Arena / Candidness	Blindspot
Unknown to Others	Facade / Hidden Agenda	Unknown

Candidness is the area of greatest team effectiveness and personal satisfaction. However, it is also the area of greatest exposure and personal risk. The upper left window pane is the most desirable view of the world; the lower right is the least desirable. With effort, the size of the Candidness window pane can be increased and the other window panes decreased.

Note: Mediated interaction increases the ease of deliberately building a facade or being unaware of some effect of your actions. The best response people who work without regular contact have is to get together for other reasons than a specific project, but this could be more difficult because of the greater number of interactions we can maintain through mediated interaction.

THE JOHARI WINDOW MODEL

(Label “Known to Self”, “Unkown to Self”, “Known to Others”, and “Unknown to Others”.)

KnowMe™ is based on the Disclosure/Feedback model of awareness known as the Johari Window, named after Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham. It was first used in an information session at the Western Training Laboratory in Group Development in 1955. The four panes of the window represent the following:

Open: The open area is that part of our conscious self - our attitudes, behavior, motivation, values, way of life - of which we are aware and which is known to others. We move within this area with freedom. We are "open books".

Hidden: Our hidden area cannot be known to others unless we disclose it. There is that which we freely keep within ourselves, and that which we retain out of fear. The degree to which we share ourselves with others (disclosure) is the degree to which we can be known.

Blind: There are things about ourselves which we do not know, but that others can see more clearly; or things we imagine to be true of ourselves for a variety of reasons but that others do not see at all. When others say what they see (feedback), in a supportive, responsible way, and we are able to hear it; in that way we are able to test the reality of who we are and are able to grow.

Unknown: We are more rich and complex than that which we and others know, but from time to time something happens - is felt, read, heard, dreamed - something from our unconscious is revealed. Then we "know" what we have never "known" before.

It is through disclosure and feedback that our open pane is expanded and that we gain access to the potential within us represented by the unknown pane. KnowMe™ provides players with an opportunity to disclose their personal beliefs, values and attitudes and to receive feedback about how others see them.

The best response we have is to get online people together once in a while, but this could be more difficult because of the greater number of interactions we can maintain through mediated interaction. Another response is to be extremely careful in our electronic interactions, but not be surprised when we encounter outrageous behaviors or unanticipated reactions online. (Perhaps there is a similar element of human nature in the occasional extreme outbursts of irrational driving behavior that happen between people who are unlikely to ever see each other again.)

Question: How would you measure people's Johari windows at work? How might IT help?

Question: How do Johari windows for individuals change? Is it worth the effort and expense for an employer to provide a seminar on this topic for employees? Explain.