22 November 2018 | Münster
On the past 13 November 2018, the Cross-Mentoring event took place in Münster on the topic "Breaking the rules as an innovation method". The cross-mentoring programme is aimed at the development of managers in the Münsterland region. Employees who have taken on a first management position are supported in their professional development and an exchange with other managers is made possible.
The aim of the 5th cross-mentoring event was to give the assembled executives from the Münsterland region a scientifically founded and practice-relevant introduction to the topic of innovation and to discuss what opportunities exist for companies in a constantly changing environment. First, Prof. Dr Kühl from the University of Bielefeld introduced the evening with his lecture on "Rule Breaking as an Innovation Method: Considerations on Concealed Creativity and Efficiency Potentials". He gave critical consideration to the extent to which the balancing of grey areas or the conscious breaking of rules can lead to innovations.
Afterwards Jannik Weichert (Managing Director Hochzehn GmbH & Co. KG), Uwe Rotermund (Managing Director noventum consulting GmbH), Prof. Dr. Stefan Kühl (Professor at the Department of Organizational Sociology, University of Bielefeld), and Neele Petzold (Research Associate and Doctoral Candidate, S2B and Münster University of Applied Sciences) discussed the topic "Rule Breaking and Other Paths to Innovation" under the moderation of Dr. Tschirner (Managing Director Cross Consult GbR). The panel spoke out in favour of a positive understanding of change and underlined the opportunities and possibilities of innovation. It was pointed out that above all disruptive innovations and/or innovations, which have a cannibalizing effect on the company's current business model, are best developed in spin-offs (i.e. outsourced business units, e.g. in the context of Corporate Venturing activities). However, the continuous exchange and the connection of the existing company to these spin-offs were underlined here. The development in spin-offs or the acquisition of start-ups without any knowledge exchange from and to the existing company, however, was regarded as difficult.