Johari's Window

In Short

Expand the open area through feedback and disclosure
Best for: Self-awareness and disclosure model
Johari's Window is a structured tool for coaching and facilitation. Expand the open area through feedback and disclosure. It provides a repeatable framework that can be adapted to individual, team, and leadership development contexts.
Type of tool: Self-awareness and disclosure model
Expected outcomes:
- Improved ability to expand the open area through feedback and disclosure
- Improved capacity to what did you learn from your Blind quadrant? What are you willing to move from H
- A concrete action or development plan to take forward from the Johari's Window process

In Detail

Johari's Window is a structured framework designed to help coaches, leaders, and facilitators expand the open area through feedback and disclosure. It sits within the category of Self-awareness and disclosure model, making it particularly useful for practitioners working on capability development, team performance, and individual growth in organisational settings.

In practice, Johari's Window is delivered as a 6-step process. The process begins by draw the 2x2 (Open/Blind/Hidden/Unknown). The session closes by debrief: what did you learn from your Blind quadrant? What are you willing to move from Hidden to Open?

. The structured approach ensures that participants move through a consistent experience while leaving room for the facilitator to adapt pacing and depth to the group's needs.

Johari's Window provides a shared vocabulary that persists beyond the session itself. When team members reference the same model in day-to-day work, coaching outcomes become embedded in practice rather than remaining as isolated insights from a single workshop.

How to Use

From Johari Window Exercise PDF. 1. Draw the 2x2 (Open/Blind/Hidden/Unknown). 2. Each participant receives the adjectives list. The person receiving insights chooses 12 adjectives for themselves; each other participant chooses 8 adjectives for that person. 3. One at a time, participants reveal one adjective. Ask the individual if it was on their list -- if yes: OPEN; if no: BLIND. 4. Continue until at least 10 OPEN adjectives are listed. 5. The individual reveals any remaining adjectives not yet surfaced -- if no one shared it: HIDDEN. 6. Debrief: what did you learn from your Blind quadrant? What are you willing to move from Hidden to Open?

Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Provides a shared vocabulary that persists after the session and supports ongoing conversations Structured approach ensures consistent application across different cohorts and contexts Directly addresses the challenge of expand the open area through feedback and disclosure through a proven conceptual structure	Risk of over-applying the model — not all situations fit neatly into any single framework Conceptual frameworks require skilled facilitation to connect theory to participants' actual work Some models have limited research evidence; practitioners should be transparent about this

Created by Joseph Luft & Harrington Ingham

When to Use

This tool is suited to the following coaching and facilitation contexts:

Context	Relevant
Individual Coaching	✓
Team Coaching
Leadership Development
Facilitation / Workshop	✓
Online / Virtual

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