The Johari Window concerns the impact which appropriate feedback has on a relationship. It is not a champion of universal feedback. Interpersonal understanding and clarity are the goal, not an expanded Q1. A fundamental question thus remains for the American School (and all advocates of feedback): Why do you want a large Q1 and why do we want feedback and disclosure to expand Q1? I will more fully address these questions and the dynamics of appropriate feedback and disclosure in Chapter Seven.
The matter of feedback doesn’t end here, with regard to the American School perspective. There are many other good reasons to encourage feedback that lead to much more than just the expansion of Q1. First, skillful and thoughtful feedback can involve appreciation. The recipient of the feedback can gain recognition of their own distinctive strengths (see my discussion of the appreciative perspective and the Window of Strength in Chapter Two).
Second, according to the American School, feedback can lead to personal learning. Having received feedback, I can do more of something I am already doing (an appreciation-based perspective). In reaction to this feedback, I can also do less of something or quit doing something (a deficit-based perspective). There is a third alternative, I can do something new (transformational learning/double loop learning). I can make use of the feedback not only as a motivator for this transformation, but also as a guide for discovery of the new direction (a fuller description of these options is provided in Chapter Seven with regard to four models of change).
Third, the American School would suggest that feedback can yield freedom. It gives us more room to move in Q1. When other people are telling us what they think of us, we have many options as to how we can respond to this feedback. This represents the essence of optimism in the American School. While many people would suggest that feedback can lead to conformity, the American School suggests it leads to individuality.
