Job swap at the opera and sustainability institute
The Wuppertal Opera Director and the President of the Wuppertal Institute are swapping jobs for three weeks under the motto Change/Effect. The swap is intended to inspire and initiate sustainable organizational development. The participants are hoping for imitators.
For exactly three weeks, Berthold Schneider, Artistic Director of Wuppertal Opera, and Uwe Schneidewind, President of the Wuppertal Institute, are swapping roles. The role swap is not a job shadowing arrangement, where the two heads simply sit in each other's chair and observe how opera and institute operations are run. By swapping roles, the heads of both institutions want to take a fresh look at their understanding of leadership, their own work processes and even their work objectives on the basis of their experiences.
The exchange of offices is intended to motivate both institutions to reflect on their organizational culture and organizational processes, and the opera director and institute president hope that the Wechsel/Wirkung project will set a precedent and inspire imitation. Both are open to further changes of office with other institutions and companies.
The Wuppertal Institute researches and develops "models, strategies and instruments for transitions to sustainable development at regional, national and international level". According to the institution's own characterization, the focus is on resource, climate and energy challenges in their interactions with the economy and society. The analysis and induction of innovations to decouple the consumption of natural resources from the development of prosperity is a focal point of research.
