by 
When an organization seeks to bring about change, the team will often work with a consultant to help them see things they can’t see themselves. We’re often too close to our own organizational problems to be able to see them clearly. The same can be said for an individual — which is where a good coach comes in.
A coach can help you in the same way a good change consultant can help an organization: by spotlighting your blind spots and helping you connect areas you otherwise would miss out on.
The importance of the individual development that a good coach can bring is greater than the individual level. There is no amount of organizational change that can happen without real change at leader level.
Leaders set the culture and direction for organizations — whether they know it or not — which means that if they want to effectively bring change to an organization, they’ll have to bring change to themselves. This is not an easy task. One way a good coach can help a leader, and therefore an organization, grow, is by growing the leader’s self-awareness. One tool a coach can deploy to achieve the goal of self-awareness is the Johari window.
The Johari window is a tool that helps you gain insight into where your personal blind spots are to build self-awareness. Building awareness is absolutely essential for any personal growth endeavor. You simply cannot grow without having good self-awareness. To try would be to walk into a jungle without a map. At best you’ll just get confused and at worst you’ll get stuck and lost.
The Johari Window is a model that can help you better understand what you know about yourself and what others know about you. By working with a coach and your colleagues, you will learn how to increase your OPEN area, and reduce blind spots/hidden areas. As you become more open and authentic to yourself and your own unique leadership strengths and style, your leadership effectiveness will skyrocket.
Becoming more open, more self-aware can feel risky but it is also risky for your organization, if you don’t. Your organization is counting on you and also increasing your self-awareness can be personally liberating as well as our clients often tell us (later).
One way you can test your growing self-awareness is through leadership simulations. To learn more about how we have worked with coaches like the executive coaches at The Heffelfinger Company, please join us for a webinar, The Power of Self-Awareness & Reflection in Experiential Learning, on June 28, co-hosted with The Heffelfinger Company.
Lori Heffelfinger will lead a lively discussion about the benefits of blending personalized coaching with experiential learning to bring positive change to your leadership skills as well as positive change to your organization.
