One of the main ICF coaching competencies is creating awareness. Life coaching is effective in creating awareness and thus facilitating a paradigm shift. When you change the way you think and see things, your reaction to changes and things happening in your life will change alongside the shift in awareness.
During the FLOW Coaching certification programs, we teach how to create awareness within coaching sessions as well as through the overall coaching relationship. One of the most useful tools that help with increasing awareness is the Johari window.
The Johari window takes its name from the combined first names of its inventors: Joseph Luft and Harry Ingram. The four-paned window divides self-awareness into four different types: open, blind, hidden, and unknown.
As a certified life coach, you can use the Johari Window as a tool at stimulating your client’s established habits of looking at and thinking about how they behave and what motivates them, giving them the opportunity for exploring areas of their life they may never have thought before.
The Johari Window as seen above has these 4 quadrants that we will break down below:
Open Area or Arena
What everyone knows about you and what I know about yourself.
These aspects might include: Feelings, motivation, behaviors, wants, needs, and factual information.
Blind Area or Spot
Things others know and see about you, but you’re not aware of. Everyone has blind spots. For example, people see you as pretty or smart, but you are not aware of your quality.
This could also include strengths that you can't see for yourself like maybe advanced analytical skills or empathy but it's something you don't realize because you are not on the receiving end of it. Weaknesses can also be showcased here by someone that sees them on your behalf.
Hidden Area
Things only you know about yourself and keep from others. You may prefer to keep things to yourself since you care about your privacy.
In this case, your values are keeping you from sharing or revealing those, but in case you are not able to express yourself to others or make some of your qualities visible to the important ones then life coaching can help.
You are never alone in this life, asking for help to understand these parts of yourself that you've chosen to keep hidden because you might be embarrassed or scared to share them is not a sign of weakness.
One of the biggest signs of growth and strength is the ability to ask for help. If you need a coach to help you figure out, reach out to one.
Unknown Area
Things you never have been able to recognize by yourself and no one else is aware of them either. You may now be aware of your hidden potential, and therefore that side of you might not be explored yet.
For example, somewhere in your childhood, your music teacher told you that your voice is not good enough and you stopped singing, but you met a vocal coach who helps people like you... then you developed singing abilities that surprised yourself and others.
This switch in your perspective to life is something that is super important if you truly want to grow and understand the things that are happening around you. Having the awareness to see a situation and realize that you can do, think and act better according to your strengths and weaknesses is a real-life superpower.
If you are looking to learn more coaching methods and are interested in becoming a certified ICF life coach, head on over to our program page to learn more about our next intake. Learn the science-backed FLOW Coaching Methodology while finding a great community of world-class coaching to help you on your coaching path.