About the Johari window

Another excellent blogpost from Tanmay Vora, about self awareness.

 

Johari Window: A Sketchnote

Here is a sketchnote depicting Johari Window:

 

 

Opening the (Johari) Window to Your Self-Awareness

Self-awareness is the foundation of being able to live up to your full potential. Here's a helpful tool to build your self-awareness.

Tanmay Vora

Updated on October 15, 2024October 15, 2024

We all have blind spots – things we don’t know about ourselves, but others see them clearly. Self-awareness isn’t just nice-to-have for modern day leaders and professionals. It is the foundation of being able to live up to your full potential. How would we amplify our strengths or manage our weaknesses if we aren’ty even aware of them?

And yet, when you can tap into the hidden feedback others have, you are on the path to real growth.

The Johari Window

That’s where Johari Window comes in as a handy tool that helps us understand ourselves better by looking through four panes:

• Arena: Things you know about yourself and others also know about it.
• Blindspots: Things others know about you that you are not aware of.
• Facade: Things about yourself (beliefs, thoughts, aspirations, fears etc) that you know, but others don’t.
• Unknown: Things abut you that neither you are aware about nor others are.

But here’s the kicker: most of us tend to focus too much on what we think we know about outselves. Tasha Eurich’s  book Insight tells us that building external self-awareness (outsight) is as crucial as building internal self-awareness (insight). Understanding how others see us matters as much as how we see our own selves.

“There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self.” – Benjamin Franklin

Opening Your Window to Self-Awareness

Here’s how you can use this awareness:

• Expand your Arena: Work out loud. Share your process. Build network of relationships.
• Shrink your Blindspots: Seek continual feedback from peers, bosses and customers. Avail coaching. Act on the feedback.
• Minimize your Facade: Be integral in your thoughts, words and deeds. Open up about your aspirations, beliefs and fears. Vulnerability builds connections and establishes authenticity.
• Embrace the Unknown: as an emergent space to explore the self and discover your hidden talents.

In my career, Johari window has served me as an excellent tool to bridge the gaps. It helped me reframe some of my perceived weaknesses into strengths through active self-introspection and feedback. My biggest learning is: When we embrace the unknown and shrink our blindspots, we open the window to create more room for connection, empathy and leadership.

Because leadership isn’t about being perfect. It’s about using the compass of awareness to enable growth – for the self, for others around you, and for the context you work in.

Over digitale hulpmiddelen

Seth Godin maakt een goede vergelijking tussen digitale hulpmiddelen en gereedschappen van houtbewerkers: die laatsten weten dat ze hun gereedschappen moeten onderhouden (reinigen, slijpen, ...).

We moeten dus zelf zorgen dat we de digitale hulpmiddelen (die we zelf uitkiezen!!!) optimaal gebruiken, maar ook in vraag stellen (zijn er geen andere, betere tools op de markt, intussen?).

 

Arnold.

Sharp tools

Professional woodworkers rarely have to be reminded to sharpen their tools. Of course they know this.

The rest of us, on the other hand, regularly use digital tools we don’t understand, don’t maintain and haven’t optimized.

Sometimes, our lack of care in the choice and use of tools only wastes our time. Often, it actually degrades the quality of what we’re seeking to create.

 

September 21, 2024

 

About leading and learning on social media

 

An interesting view, from Tanmay Vora!

Quoting from the blogpost:

... the digital space, when approached with authenticity and generosity, can create a powerful platform for learning and growth ...

This is not at all the way in which a large part of the content on social media has evolved 😔

 

Arnold.

 

 

 

How to Use Digital Spaces for Personal Branding, Learning, and Business Growth

Here are some of the key lessons I shared on using digital spaces like LinkedIn for personal branding and business growth.

Tanmay Vora

Posted on September 10, 2024

Generosity in sharing, engaging in authentic conversations, and nurturing meaningful relationships are the foundation of learning in the digital space.

My journey, which began with my first blog post in April 2006, followed by rise of social media has reaffirmed this time and again. These foundational principles are still as relevant and transcend beyond platform-specific tactics.

Last week, I had the privilege of sharing my journey and insights on using LinkedIn as a tool for building a personal brand at IIMA Ventures + eChai entures event. It was an inspiring conversation moderated by Kumar Manish and Jatin Chaudhary with fellow panelists Lipi Goyal, Syed Nadeem Jafri and Jaydip Parikh. 

The session was a fantastic reminder that the digital space, when approached with authenticity and generosity, can create a powerful platform for learning and growth.

I created the 3C’s for Leading and Learning on Social Media back in 2015. Here is a revised version that serves as a useful checklist for leveraging digital spaces – and captures the essence of the panel discussion.

 

 

 

About fostering psychological safety

Tanmay Vora describes the "7 Deadly Sins of Psychological Safety" in this blogpost.

A must read for executives, managers, supervisors ☺

Arnold

 

7 Deadly Sins of Psychological Safety

 

 

 

 

7 Deadly Sins of Psychological Safety

Language plays a crucial role in building a culture of safety. This post outlines ways to communicate psychological safety (and seven deadly sins)

Tanmay Vora

Updated on October 3, 2024October 3, 2024

Language plays a critical role in fostering psychological safety.

Let me illustrate this by two contrasting examples. In one instance, a project manager failed to deliver on an agreed scope, and when senior leaders intervened, the manager was harshly asked, “Who’s standing on the fault line? Whose salary should we deduct for this?” This punitive language created a hostile environment, discouraging openness and learning.

In a different scenario, when a member of my product development team made an error affecting a client’s production database, the leader approached it differently. Instead of blaming, he reiterated his confidence in the team leader saying, “I know we’ve made a mistake, but I’m confident you can quickly fix this before it causes any financial damage.” This response boosted morale and led to a quick resolution. Later, during the retrospective, he asked, “What can we learn from this to prevent it from happening again?” This shift from blame to learning fostered reflection and improvement.

I read Tom Geraghty’s newsletter on Psychological Safety with great interest. In a latest edition, Tom outlines Seven deadly sins of pshchological safety. I highly recommend his newsletter if you are someone who is trying build a psychologically safe culture. (Full post here)

Learning to be mindful of our language is key to maturing as leaders. Our words shape workplace culture, either encouraging risk-taking and innovation or stifling initiative.

Here are seven deadly sins of psychological safety in a visual form.

Complement this reading with my earlier post on “Conversations that build psychological safety” by Amy Edmondson.