Teams cannot function effectively without communication and shared information. When perspectives, abilities, and feelings are in the open, team relationships are dynamic and productive. Individuals can improve their team’s success by actively seeking ways to share information within the group, and by pushing for transparency, candor, and authenticity.
In 1955, American psychologists Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham laid out a method for individuals to visualize and understand themselves and their relationships with others. The Johari window is a tool for organizing and inventorying personal characteristics from both inside and outside perspectives.
A breakdown of the informational spheres negotiations take place in.
johari window quadrants
Storyboard Text
Known by Them
Common Knowledge
Known by You
Their Secrets
Unknown by You
TOP SECRET
Unknown by Them
This information is known to all parties. Negotiations that take place in this area can more easily build on trust and are like shared puzzles. The negotiators may have different interests, but they are operating in the same environment to realize their goals.
Your Secrets
This is the information that could help you (like their bottom line), but which you don't know. You may be able to access this information through research and observation, or through disclosing your secrets in exchange.
Unavailable Information
• Bottom Line:• Goals:• BATNA:
Your secrets contain information that the other negotiators don't (yet) have access to. You can share this information to shift these items into the sphere of common knowledge, but doing so could weaken your power in the negotiation.
This contains information that neither party is aware of. It may be something unpredictable in the future, current data that has not been gathered, or common misapprehensions. Negotiations that rely heavily on matters unknown to either side are shared gambles.