Johari window — manager self-assessment
2×2 Johari window placing self-traits across Open / Blind / Hidden / Unknown — the classic coaching exercise rendered as a four-cell table.
For the new engineering manager
Scenario
A newly-promoted engineering manager runs a Johari exercise with her team during a 1:1 retro. She populates the Open cell (things both she and the team see); the team adds to Blind (things they see that she doesn't); she fills Hidden privately; Unknown is the open hypothesis space — capabilities and limitations that haven't surfaced yet.
The table form is the canonical Johari output. Coaches print it on a single page and walk through it with the coachee — a scatter plot of dots would defeat the entire purpose.
Annotation key
matrix johari— preset axes (Known to Self × Known to Others) with the four window panesstyle: table— flips off axes/grid, places each pane title as a cell header, lists items as bulletsQ1= Blind (top-right: not known to self, known to others)Q2= Open / Arena (top-left: known to self + others)Q3= Hidden / Façade (bottom-left: known to self, not to others)Q4= Unknown (bottom-right: not known to either — the growth hypothesis space)
How to read
The classic Johari coaching prompt: how do you move items from Hidden → Open (vulnerability work) and from Blind → Open (feedback-acceptance work)? An overstuffed Hidden pane signals psychological-safety debt; an empty Blind pane usually means the team hasn't been asked.