Tool box for Engineering Managers– Gadget 01: Johari Window:

What values an engineer holds in a community make lot of difference with other professionals in the same community. What makes engineers different in a community they are born, living and working?

Putting our innovative thinking capsules on, let us engineer a difference with the new learning. In this edition, we will look at how every one of us as a responsible engineer is self aware of our self, known to others and known by others. Here is an example happened to me personally few weeks back, which I tried to relate to Johari window;

A tool for understanding more about how willing we are to give and receive information about ourselves and others is called the Jo-Hari Window.

What this tool shows us is that:

• The nature of our relationships with various people and conditions operating at the time will affect our self disclosure
• Research has shown that people who relate effectively are usually self disclosing, willing to have a fairly large ‘public area’
• Privacy and a certain reticence are healthy and desirable and no-one is advocating an inappropriately large ‘public’ area.
• People who are open to feedback are likely to be those who want to expand their public area. For example
  • I want to tell you more about myself (expanding the private self)
  • I want you to tell me more about myself (tell me about my blind self)

I went to one of the leading general hospital to get the signature of the consultant doctor in an insurance form of one of my relatives. I had to send this form to the insurance company to claim the money due, to one of my relatives who died in an accident 2 ½ months back. I have few weeks left to send this to the insurance company as per the deadline by the insurance company.

I tried my best to meet the doctor and the get it signed as soon as I can. But it did not work out as the doctor is busy in the operations theatre. Hence I approached the nurse in the same ward where the doctor is in charge of. I asked the nurse to suggest me an alternative if there is a possibility. The nurse tried to provide me an alternative. She said “You also can go to the particular doctor’s private channelling centre to get this done quickly. But I am not sure whether the doctor will like it or not. Since you couldn’t find the Sir here, you may try to convince him as this is urgent task for you”. This has just let me to relate to what I have learnt in Johari window.

The few likes and dislikes of the doctor are not known exactly to the nurse who she works with. She is still gray which falls in the hidden area in the Johari window. This is just an example how we can think of relating to the day to day life examples to Johari window. I am sure engineers will have lots of example in their professional life.

Contributed by: Eng. Aslam Saja, Project Manager – RedR UK in Sri Lanka