Feedback is always a buzz word. It’s something that in many instances is scary because it’s a lot about change. Through feedback you “should” change. This “should” creates a pressure in plus and might make feedback irrelevant for the change itself.
The Johari Window developed by psychologists Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham offers us a different perspective on feedback. It looks, as per the image below, and at what you know about yourself and what others see about yourself.
The “Known to Others” and “Unknown by Self” is what the two psychologist say that the Blind spot is.
Through feedback the blind spots are unveiled to you. It’s like gathering information about yourself from different perspectives. If you stay in your own thoughts, feedback will never be relevant. You will just see the information and feedback received through the confirmation bias in which you re-confirm what you already think of you.
By opening to feedback, and being aware of your lack of receiving it and moving beyond that by being open to feedback, blind spots become smaller and smaller.
I became fascinated about feedback in many instances. One is when you receive a direct feedback with clear facts and you start wondering what keeps you hanging on the old ideas. So, the new ideas (from the feedback) are in front of you, but you keep the same thoughts. It’s fascinating how our ego grows instead of becoming smaller in the face of “feedback”.
So, when this first light of awareness of the relevance of feedback comes to you, go for it. The same hunger that kept the ego rising, can be used as the hunger for more feedback. Thus, the blind spots provide more opportunity for growth and next, by also exploring the “Unknown” from the Johari Window, you can further reach your potential.
Article by Costin Ciora.
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