Meet our newest WOL Coach: Janine Kirchhof
There’s a new program to certify WOL Coaches, and the first person I reached out to was Janine Kirchhof.
I was thrilled when she said “Yes.”
We first met in 2017 when WOL started spreading inside Mercedes-Benz. Though she’s in Stuttgart and I’m in New York, we stayed in touch since then.
Janine is smart, generous, encouraging, creative. She’s the kind of person who makes the people around her more effective and also happier. Perfect for a WOL Coach.
I asked her to answer three questions so you can get to know her a bit. (You can also visit Janine’s WOL Coach profile on workingoutloud.com, connect with her on LinkedIn, or reach her directly at wol@janinekirchhof.com.)
I’m proud to call Janine a friend as well as a Coach. And I can’t wait to see what she does with WOL.
1. Would you share 5 facts about you so people get to know you?
I’m a humanities scholar by education and endlessly curious about how people think, grow, and connect.
Through dancing, I train my body intelligence, which I use to diagnose systems as the starting point of my work - like a human seismograph.
I believe good work should feel meaningful, human, and energizing.
I’m deeply inspired by visual thinking and use it often in my facilitation and coaching.
I care a lot about creating spaces where people feel safe enough to be real.
2. What positive difference do you aspire to make?
I aspire to create spaces where real encounters between people become possible. Spaces where individuals can reconnect with their own potential, and where groups can unlock their collective intelligence and strength.
Whether in one-on-one coaching or in group settings, my work is about enabling people to move beyond surface-level interaction and into genuine collaboration. When people truly meet, with openness, trust, and curiosity - something shifts. New perspectives emerge, creativity increases, and a shared sense of possibility develops.
I work very deliberately and methodically to design these spaces. By combining clear structures with creative approaches, I challenge individuals and groups to think differently, work differently, and reach a level of performance that feels both fulfilling and impactful. The goal is not just better results, but a better future - for people themselves and for the organizations they shape together.
3. Why Working Out Loud®?
I believe that the way we work matters deeply. Working in ways that nourish us, that feel meaningful, human, and connected, is not only more desirable, it actually makes us happier and more successful.
Too often, work still happens in isolation or in subtle competition that makes people smaller instead of stronger. Working Out Loud offers a different path. It creates spaces where people work with each other rather than against each other, where connection replaces comparison, and where progress is shared instead of hidden.
For me, WOL represents a much-needed shift in how we think about work: toward collaboration, generosity, and shared learning. These ways of working don’t reduce productivity, they enhance it. When people feel connected, supported, and safe enough to be real, they naturally become more engaged, creative, and effective.
Working Out Loud helps establish new ways of working that truly nourish people and precisely because of that, lead to sustainable success.
