How did you first discover Working out loud?

I heard about it first on the way back from lunch at work, from a colleague that participated in one of the first WOL-circles at Bosch. I didn’t know anything about it, but as personal development plays a big role in my life, I am always on the look-out for interesting approaches to keep in touch with my inner self and reach out to others in need. So, when this colleague posted that she would start a new circle, I jumped at the opportunity.

What has been your experience of Working out loud?

The experience was life-changing, and empowering! During the course of my first circle, specially the concept of Growth Mindset (Getting Better, instead of being the best) and Purposeful discovery (start with a goal you care and explore the possibilities, step by step) had a very deep impact in my life. Being a perfectionist and a woman, I was always plagued by the irrational thought of always having to be the best and doing everything alone, not showing any vulnerability, so that these two concepts met me at exactly the correct time to teach me how change my mindset.

It was like a kind of revelation! Today I feel like many tons of weight have been lifted from my shoulders, I dare to reach out to people for assistance, exposing my vulnerability and I feel I have found my tribe, in the people that are also working out loud. Going on this discovery journey with peer-group support for 12-weeks allowed me to try things out that I never had the courage to do before, and kept me very focused.

This wolweek, the theme is Deepening relationships and creating a legacy. What have you learned about relationships by Working out loud?

Being an introvert, reaching out to people was always hard for me, especially because I HATE small talk. I am and always have been interested in deeper and meaningful relationships. So, by participating in Working out loud I have found out that there are other people like me and that these skills are valuable also on the digital world.
Generosity has always been one of my biggest value in life, but I always felt out of place since nowadays, it is very difficult to find people that lead with generosity! Now, I know that I am not alone, and due to my increasing network, I know how and where to look for people that belong to my tribe!

How has Working out loud helped you to have a positive effect on others or fulfil a purpose that matters?

During the course of the 12 weeks, especially the exercise 50-facts-about-me played a big role in my transformation process. I have revisited what I have achieved in my life and rediscovered my passion to inspire children, specially girls, to explore technical careers!
So, I decided to start a project in a primary school to fulfill this purpose. I set out to be a multipler of the project “Zauberhafte Physik mit Lesekisten (www.zauberhafte-physik.net ) in my town.

I worked out loud and wrote about my experience in LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/my-personal-wol-moment-getting-interest-primary-cunha-teichert/ John Stepper then reposted it: http://workingoutloud.com/blog//what-empowerment-looks-like-daniellas-story. Katharina Krentz, Bosch WOL-initiator, re-posted it internally at Bosch.

WOW! What a life changing experience! It enabled me to experience the power of leveraging my network to fulfill a goal! Since I posted it, more and more schools have reached out to me to help set-up the project there and more and more engineers have applied to participate in it as a Phisics-mentor for young children, inside and outside of Bosch! We are already preparing to offer to set-up the project in Hildesheim and Hannover, in addition to successfully implementation in Göttingen and Duderstadt.
And talking about increasing visibility: For this initiative I have even been personally congratulated by Mr. Christoph Kübel, Member of the Board of Management and Director of Industrial Relations of Robert Bosch GmbH!

What’s your next goal for Working out loud?

Meanwhile I have already started my 2nd WOL-circle at Bosch. For that I have the goal of exploring ways to help improve digital collaboration at my department by starting a pilot for using our internal networking tools to manage an acquisition project. I have also the goal of starting my own WOL-circle as a moderator in spring 2018 to contribute to spreading the word at Bosch. Last by not least, I have the goal of participating in an external WOL-circle that will enable me to learn about collaboration tools outside of Bosch and be able to improve the collaboration and visibility of the Zauberhafte Physik project in Germany. We are looking for sponsoring other than the VDI (German Engineers Association) and looking to spread the project nation-wide.
All in all, I have become a real WOL-advocate and can only be thankful that I stepped upon the concept during the way back from lunch in November 2016… Thanks, Marie-Anne!

I am also very excited and looking forward to meet John Stepper and Mr. Kuebel in the Bosch 3rd WOL Conference in December!

Daniella Cunha Teichert

Danielle Cunha Reichert is a Production Engineering Manager, Robert Bosch GmbH