“People don’t leave jobs, they leave bosses,” is a common saying. And now you are looking to make a new hire; do you ever wonder what kind of boss you are?
In today’s blog, I’ll tell you about a tool you can use to better understand how you are perceived at work and what impact that makes.
It is called a Johari Window, named, I believe, after its creators.
Essentially, it is a way of collecting information about yourself from different sources then comparing and contrasting how you see yourself with how you are seen by others. You capture the information by drawing a large square, dividing it into four quadrants and then noticing what emerges. You should find the activity engaging and maybe even enlightening.
Here’s how to do it:
Write down a list of adjectives to describe yourself. You may wish to focus only on your work persona, or you can be more general about your whole self. Then, go and ask five people to give you their lists of adjectives about you. Don’t react when you are writing them down. Just explain that you are doing an exercise, and thank them for their help.
Go to your 4 squares. In the top left-hand box, write down all the common adjectives, which are those that show up on your own list and at least two others. This is the area known as the “Public Arena” in which you are most visible and most known. Do you like what you see? Is it conducive to being an effective leader?
Next, in the bottom left-hand box, write the adjectives you wrote about yourself but that no one else did. This area is your “Hidden Self” of which only you are aware and manage to hide from others or avoid showing. Are you successfully hiding some deep, dark, secretive side of yourself? Or are you lacking the confidence to really show up and be your best self at work?
In the top right-hand box, write the adjectives others wrote about you but that you did not include about yourself. This area is your “Blind Spot” where others see and know things about you that you do not. This is often a troublesome area because it could be responsible for creating problems you may not understand, and it can have an unintended impact on others that you would rather avoid. This is the danger area every leader should address. Self-awareness is the first stage of being an effective leader.
The bottom right-hand box is the “Unconscious Area,” which is that part of you unknown both by you and by others. It is there to show you that this may also have an influence on your behavior and how you are perceived.
Once you have completed this exercise and have had some time to reflect on it, what did you discover about yourself?
Ask yourself what impact it has on your colleagues, your workplace and your relationships outside of work.
And, more importantly, what are you going to do about it?
Remember, no one can change overnight, but if you recognize patterns and habits that are getting in the way of your success or your effectiveness as a leader, you might want to start behaving in different ways. New neural pathways, once created, take time to be embedded, so ensure you have the motivation and support to repeatedly practice new behaviors until they are hard-wired. And, to see if it is worth the effort, notice the effect this has on your work life and on your personal life. Perhaps you will become a boss that no one will ever want to leave.
Fredia Woolf , founder of Woolf Consulting, helps people to manage change and achieve positive results for their careers, teams and organizations. As an organizational consultant and leadership coach, she works with clients to increase their effectiveness and impact, to manage transitions successfully, and to define and create a leadership legacy. She can be reached at fwoolf@woolfconsulting.com.
Last updated on December 25th, 2009 at 03:15 am
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