The KAIZEN Way
改善道
Dr.-Ing. Javier Villalba-Diez
www.hoshinkanriforest.com
h4lean@gmail.com

The way is the goal.

The KAIZEN Way or 改善道 is the
way of self discovery and in the end
the way of self fulfilment.
Although the way is long, there are
on this way many rewards.
It all starts with
the first shot…
Why do birds fly in formation?
Do they all know the way?
How do they know the direction?
Let us observe and
try to understand
the flocking
behavior of birds.
Alignment is an emergent property of
complex system that arises out of
individual behavior.
What is the individual bird
behavioral pattern that creates
and sustains such flocking
formation as a group?

Let us observe the behavior of
one individual bird…
The behavior of one bird
depends on the
behavior of other birds
dynamically.
The bird avoids
contact with
others within the
red“Trust Circle”.
The bird adds up the
vector of flying direction
of all birds within the
green“Connectivity Circle”
and adapts its own
direction and speed.
The bird observes
two parameter
dynamically: trust
and connectivity.
The Alignment level depends
on two parameters:
the“circle of trust”and
the“circle of connectivity”.
It is important to
understand that the
average connectivity
degree of a network
influences its
performance.
The behavior of a
network is not linear
As long as the connectivity
degree remains under a certain
threshold, the network
performance follows an almost
constant linear growth.
Once we achieve a
certain critical
point, things
change
dramatically…
… passed a certain
connectivity degree,
the network´s
performance grows
exponentially.

SOJIJI TEMPLE
CLOSE TO TOKYO, JAPAN
SEPTEMBER 2009
SHODO (書道) CAN
TELL A LOT ABOUT
PEOPLE…
LIKE WHAT
FOR
INSTANCE?
SHODO (書道) MEANS
“THE WAY OF CALLIGRAPHY”
SHIT!
WHAT CAN YOU SEE
ON THE PAPER?
HERE
WHAT DO
YOU MEAN? IT IS BEST
IF YOU
LEARN ALL
THE TIME
IT IS THE
MARK THAT
YOU LEAVE IN
A MOMENT…
HOPEFULLY YOU
LEAVE THE MARK
YOU WANTED
BECAUSE IT IS ALL
YOU HAVE…
WELL… A SYMBOL
…AND WHAT IS THE SYMBOL MADE OF?
A LINE
…AND WHAT DOES IT MAKE IT A LINE?
ARE YOU NUTS?
I MEAN IT ALL SERIOUSLY.
THE LINES WERE PAINTED WITH A PINSEL.
WHAT IS SURROUNDING US
IN THE ZENDO?
PAPER WALLS.
… AND WHAT MAKES THEM WALLS?
THE SPACE. WHAT DOES MAKE A LINE UP?
THE SPACE AROUND IT! BOTH THE FORM AND THE SPACE AND
HOW THEY INTERACT ARE IMPORTANT.
THE WAY OF CALLIGRAPHY AND THE WAY
OF KAIZEN ARE ALL ABOUT HOW THESE TO
REALITIES INTERACT.
WHAT YOU MEAN IS…
ZENDO (全道) IS A ROOM WERE TO FIND ZEN.

The natural 道 of a
process is a circle.
If you ask yourself if its better
or worse to start 改善 bottom-
up or top-down, this very
question IS the problem.
But be careful
and aware!
Leaders in
organizations
define the nature
of success.
Always observe
the POWER-
STRUCTURE within
the organization.

“Amicus Plato,
sed magis
amica Veritas.”
I really admire Mike
Rother, but his KATA
related Idea of
“Future States”could
drive you to disaster!
The reason
for this is the
Buddha-
Nature of any
Process.
The problem is
that, whenever I
explain this in
such terms, west
managers make
fun of it and say I
am“outspaced”.
West Managers typically do
not understand this
spirituality.
That´s why I will use natural
science to get those folks to
listen.
If we try to visualize POWER-STRUCTURES in
organizations as gravitational fields, we will soon
see organizations as very complex systems.
The elements in the
organization struggle in a
constant fight for resources.
Just like with the flocking behavior of birds, the
action of every individual influences all the rest.
So, what does all this mean for the
organizational dynamics, and what does
this have to do with the incompleteness
of Rother´s KATA Model?

In the Rother KATA Model,
Goals play the role of the
sun. All turns around them
following a clockwork
PDCA Circle.
But… what if the sun
would move (as it does in
reality)?
The the beautiful clock-
work that KATA describes
would not work anymore.
What we have is a
spiral. Much more
complex in its nature,
because it is
describing a dynamic
non-linear process.
So as the earth is not flat, the reality
of the KAIZEN process is not fully
represented by Rother´s KATA
The dynamic in the
organization
represents the
KAIZEN Way.
This Dynamic
can only be
understood
from an
emergent
perspective.

MANNHEIM
GERMANY
JANUARY 2012
SHODO (書道) CAN
TELL A LOT ABOUT
PEOPLE…
HOPEFULLY IT IS THE SCAR
YOU WANTED TO LEAVE…
LIKE WITH THE SWORD
OF THE SAMURAI…
IF YOU DOUBT, IT WILL
BE SEEN IN THE PAPER.
… BECAUSE YOU DO NOT
HAVE A SECOND CHANCE.
PERFECT!