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!