The Johari Window and the Interview

I’ve always been interested in human behavior and inserted various tools such as Myers Briggs or DiSC into my training programs. They provided a new way of looking at things and were a thought provoking take on what I was teaching. That’s why I find the Johari Window noteworthy.

The Johari Window was developed in the 1950s by Joseph Ingham and Harry Luft (Johari; interesting take on their names) to increase our understanding of the relationships and behaviors we have with ourselves and with others. The Johari Window looks like this.

I Know Open You Know Information about you that both you and others know.	I Don’t Know Blind Spot You Know Information about you that you don’t know but others know.
I know Hidden You Don’t Know Information about you that you know but others don’t know.	I Don’t Know Unknown You Don’t Know Information about you that neither you nor others know.

Open- This is the information that both of you know about you. It can be basic, such as your name, job title, location but you can also share feelings, motives and behaviors with others. The more you share with others and the more self-aware you are and the more “open” this particular window is.

Blind – This is behavior that you don’t know about yourself that others do know. For example, perhaps you jingle the change in your pocket or constantly clear your throat when you are nervous. It can also be your good habits such as being trustworthy or inclusive. You want to be aware of these habits so you bring them over to the “Open” area.

Hidden- There are certain bits and pieces of our behaviors and personality that we don’t share with people. It may be because we don’t know someone well enough or are uncomfortable sharing them. An example of this can be as simple as not telling someone that you are afraid of enclosed spaces or that you were up all night worrying about an interview response. Once you share that information it again moves to the “Open” area.

Unknown – This area represents the unspecified, undetermined behaviors about yourself that neither you nor someone else may know. You may have just met someone and have not yet shared any information or behaviors. This area reminds me of starting an icebreaker exercise at the beginning of a training program and being paired up with a complete stranger. It’s a clean slate; you can share as much or as little as you care to with this person. Once this happens, the information moves to the “Open” area.

Using the Johari Window for Your Job Search

The Johari Window can also be used in the job search. Let’s look at the quadrants in relationship to an interview. Other than a resume or perhaps a referral or connection, you and the interviewer are in the Unknown territory. Obviously you want to share your skills and experience with the interviewer and expand the Open area. 

Open - The more you share, the more this window expands. Here is where you share your experiences, strengths, weaknesses, goals and career aspirations. This is where you are aware of your personal interviewing strengths and how to use them. 

Blind Spot – Before the interview ask for feedback. Get a friend or hire a coach to practice interviewing with you and then get their candid feedback on what you did well and where you need practice. Did you fidget, did you make direct eye contact, was your handshake firm, were your responses direct and did they highlight your accomplishments? What wee your strengths? Once you get feedback, work on it.

Hidden - There are some things to keep hidden and then there are others that might want to come out. For example, the fact that when you are nervous you ramble doesn’t need to be shared. You could share that you felt exhilarated when a client bought into your product or service. It’s up to you; share this quadrant when you feel it is important to the interview.

Unknown: The more you share during the interview the more this quadrant shrinks and the Open area grows. 

The key to the Johari Window is to enlarge the Open quadrant by sharing information about yourself when appropriate. This expansion leads to better relationships and more self-awareness.  It may help with your interview too.

The Impact of the Measles on my Family

As we’ve heard, cases of the measles have been reported in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Texas, Tennessee, and Washington and now on a cruise ship in St. Lucia. Citing religious, personal, philosophical or some other beliefs, some parents are refusing to get their kids vaccinated and now a childhood disease that was once thought eliminated, is back.  In other cases, unvaccinated people are coming into the country and bringing the disease in with them. The  recent report from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) explains it here.

There are several consequences related to the refusal to vaccinate and the first one, of course is an ill child. Usually this child has no say in the matter of getting an inoculation since he or she is a minor. Another concern (and this one affects me) is that because of someone else's beliefs, my husband and I are now obligated to visit the doctor, hand over a co-pay and other associated laboratory fees and get a measles titer test to check if we have the antibodies that will determine if we are immune to the disease. Normally I’d keep my opinion to myself, but we have some upcoming events in our lives that make it necessary to have this test done. 

I had the measles back before the MMR vaccine was even created and I survived. The problem is, I don’t remember if it was the German Measles (Rubella) or Measles and my parents aren’t here anymore to ask.  So, off we go to get checked and if there is no immunity, we'll get the proper treatment. My reasoning is that there are other lives that are more precious to me than my religious, personal or philosophical beliefs.

The Major Cost of Non-Conformance

Yesterday a pink and purple unicorn was delivered to our house. It was cute and very sweet only we didn’t order it. After calling around to see if any of our friends or family ordered it, I took a closer look at the packing slip. It said that it was ordered by a woman in Texas and was to be delivered to that same woman. Now why would I be receiving her unicorn? It turns out my sister ordered something from the same store and asked for it to be shipped to my home. The mystery was unraveling.

Long story short, I was able to find the woman on Facebook and LinkedIn. I sent her a Facebook message and explained that I wound up with her unicorn. It turns out that the unicorn is a gift for her daughter’s fifth birthday and that she received a box that day with a packing slip directed to me. It contained the gift that my sister had ordered for me.
I called the customer service number for the store, explained the situation and things are now on their way to being straightened out. But the story doesn't end there...

I was thinking how one error in a warehouse caused an enormous waste of money (and time). Between salaries (theirs and ours), shipping, fuel, printing costs, a lot of money will be spent trying to get the right packages to the right people. The second time.
Think about it, in the original order only a few people were involved; the woman in Texas, my sister, the warehouse worker who located and packed the items, and the shipping clerk at the company and the FedEx employees at both ends of the transaction. That’s about 8 people.

Because of this mix up, not only were the first parties involved but now there are more; me, the woman in Texas again, the customer service reps at the store, my husband (for driving to the FedEx location to ship the unicorn back to the store), the woman in Texas driving to her FedEx store to return my sister’s gift, the FedEx employees in Texas and New Jersey at the front end, the warehouse workers who now have to send new items to Texas and New Jersey, the shipping clerk (s) at the company, the FedEx delivery people who have to return the wrong orders to the warehouse, the FedEx workers who have to deliver the correct items to New Jersey and Texas and finally, the warehouse workers who have to record and restock the first items that were incorrectly shipped. That’s about 17 people involved in this one minor mix up. It doesn’t even factor in poor customer service. I’m just hoping that little five-year-old gets her unicorn in time for her birthday.

Years ago, I taught a class about quality improvement and one of the highlights was something called “The Price of Non- Conformance”. That’s what happens when there are costs incurred from not doing something right the first time. The Price of Non-Conformance for a $19.99 pink unicorn is enormous and most likely due to one person not doing something right the first time.