Help Sign up to our newsletter
Two coaches are stood.
Article

The Johari window

Are you looking to become more self-aware as a coach? The Johari window can help you with that.

Reflection
England Football Learning logo on a red background.

England Football Learning

2 mins - Jan 12, 2026

The Johari window (Luft and Ingham, 1955) is a powerful self-reflection tool to use to get to know yourself better.


It helps you figure out how you see yourself and how you’re perceived. It then increases your understanding of your own and others’ behaviour. And it supports you to find potential blind spots.


Discovering all of this makes you a more self-aware coach. You can then use your findings to shape your coaching approach and improve relationships with your team.

A table with two columns labelled known to self and not known to self. There are two rows labelled known to others and not known to others. Known to self and know to other is open area. Not known to self and known to others is blind area. Not known to others and known to self is hidden area. Not know to others and not know to self is unknown area.

The Johari window requires different viewpoints to provide a more comprehensive picture of yourself.


So first, ask yourself, what do you know about yourself, and who can help you explore what you don’t know?


Then, select five adjectives that describe who you are. For example, caring, friendly, calm, helpful and knowledgeable.


Once you’ve done that, ask others to pick five adjectives to describe you with. Be diverse with who you select to do this. It’s ideal to get a range of viewpoints and not just have opinions from those who are closest to you.


Afterwards, categorise the results into the four Johari window quadrants. These are:

  • Open area: known to self and known to others.
  • Blind area: not known to self but known to others.
  • Hidden area: known to self but not known to others.
  • Unknown area: not known to self or others.

This provides you with a greater understanding of yourself. From here, you can chat to others about the results. And you can plan for how to increase alignment across the four areas.

Example

Check out this video from The FA’s Sam Griffiths for a quick summary of how it works.

If you’re interested in developing your reflection skills, check out these resources to learn more:

Related articles