Digital Knowledge Management – The LEKGOTLA Way!
The Role of Digital Online Platforms! Game Changer!

Written by Sam Tsima

Digital online platforms and new technologies have changed how we manage, distribute, and archive content. This is the most critical part of knowledge management. I never imagined writing my first book and publishing it on one of the most advanced platforms, Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing.

In 2017, I wrote a manual, The LEKGOTLA Way Learning & Development Methodology, to guide the facilitation of our human capital, management and leadership development conversations. I hinted at the impact of technology platforms on knowledge management. I found myself tempted to write about the technology platforms rather than the topic of knowledge Management itself. Today, I would add the word Digital in front of the theme, Knowledge Management, just like what has become common today in the marketing space, where we talk more about Digital Marketing than just Marketing.

The LEKGOTLA is the African Methodology for creating an environment favourable to active thinking, dialogue, engagement, learning, development and conflict resolution. The methodology is informed by the traditional African way of leading and built on cultural beliefs and practices. In the African tradition, the king will have his leaders assemble regularly at the royal palace to attend to the leadership matters affecting his subjects. The meetings are conducted following the LEKGOTLA methodology. Every such sitting generates, develops, shares and archives knowledge.

Today, you are irrelevant if you are a knowledge management expert and need help understanding the application of digital platforms. That has become a fact of life.

The pillars of knowledge management remain the same but enrich them. To give a taste of those pillars that are benefiting from the application of the technology platforms, here are the descriptors of the knowledge management in our manual:

Knowledge Creation: The society that is not creating knowledge “dies” very fast. The LEKGOTLA Methodology is the perfect way of creating new knowledge. The hosts, facilitators, co-facilitators, guest speakers, and participants collectively create the knowledge in their participating sessions. Each of these role players brings new perspectives that inform the LEKGOTLA and society.

Knowledge Consolidation: By hosting and facilitating sessions, meetings, learning classes, forums, conferences, and conversation platforms, applying the LEKGOTLA methodology ensures that the knowledge created and acquired is consolidated. The participants are also introduced to the Ubuntu sharing and collective learning practice. The Africans are known for passing knowledge and information from generation to generation via oral technique. Today, this noble practice benefits immensely from technology platforms like podcasting, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, X, online radios, etc. The LEKGOTLA is a methodology that creates an environment conducive to consolidating knowledge and information.

Knowledge Sharing: The LEKGOTLA is the learning community for the facilitators and participants. By structuring a combination of primary- and mini-LEKGOTLAs, we instantly accelerate the sharing of knowledge and information. The first part of the LEKGOTLA shares the theme and content through formal presentations. The guest speakers enrich the theme with the latest, researched, and bench-marked material. We encourage the participants and all the role players to appreciate the notion that one grows by sharing knowledge and information. With the advent of digital online technology platforms, this is explosive. We encourage the LEKGOTLA facilitators, practitioners and participants to take full advantage of this. The more we use these technologies to share what we know with others and the world, the more we become knowledgeable. That is the growth of knowledge through technology applications and the LEKGOTLA Way.

Knowledge Appreciation: Knowledge is the most critical asset human beings must always treasure. It is risky not to have insights and knowledge about our world and ourselves. Not knowing what you do not know is hugely disempowering. This is clearly defined in Martin M Broadwell’s Conscious Competence Learning Model. The LEKGOTLA methodology is the African gift to humanity as it makes the growth through the four stages of the model simple, that is, 

Stage 1: Unconscious Incompetence (UI), 

Stage 2: Conscious Incompetence (CI), 

Stage 3: Conscious Competence (CC), and 

Stage 4: Unconscious Competence (UC).

Knowledge Exchange: The individuals come to LEKGOTLA with their perspectives and knowledge from their previous and current base or organisations. The LEKGOTLA is the platform where the participants sharpen their knowledge by sharing. We multiply the knowledge and insights by producing podcasts of the conversations and making them available 24/7. Further, such episodes have a lifelong presence on multiple technology platforms. You may listen to the previous discussions at www.CometsaRadioPodcast.Com. Through this knowledge exchange, they enrich and expand their capacity to deal with the complexities in their private and professional lives. The participants also acquire the knowledge and insights for their organisations and communities.

Knowledge Application: For any person to move from the Unconscious Incompetence (UI) stage to Unconscious Competence (UC) as described in the Conscious Competence Learning Model, they need a lot of practice. Applying their knowledge in and outside the LEKGOTLA (i.e. the learning and conversation forums), they are growing their competence to the unconscious level or the point of their Zone of Genius. In his book, The Genius Zone, Gay Hendricks, defines it as a unique mind-body space you enter only when working on tasks that align with your genius. Hendricks differentiates the Genius Zone from other zones—the Incompetence Zone, the Competence Zone, and the Excellence Zone—characterised by your ability and affinity for the tasks in each category. In the Incompetence Zone, you spend your time and attention on things you aren’t good at. These are tasks you could and probably should delegate to someone else. In the Competence Zone, you devote time and attention to things you do well but not better than most others. In the Excellence Zone, you spend time and attention on tasks you’re great at but don’t truly love. Though you have a high skill level at these tasks, they don’t satisfy you. Your skills in this zone are likely in demand (and you may even be well-compensated to use them).

Knowledge Preservation: My definitive chief objective is to share the developments and information from our LEKGOTLA sessions and programmes with our network and the public via the technology platforms. The information and knowledge gained from the LEKGOTLA forums are archived in various formats, primarily as technology products in the cloud, making them accessible instantaneously. So, the preservation of the knowledge created is guaranteed to be available to many generations after us. We continue to inspire and encourage our LEKGOTLA participants to become knowledgeable in applying digital technology platforms. They are supported in consciously preserving their knowledge for future generations, but also as their legacy. They are creating their life stories and preserving their legacies. That is why we ensure they receive the information from participating in the LEKGOTLA.

Growing Together (“Knowledge Beneficiation”): The participation in the LEKGOTLA is our program pf creating a learning family. This is a great phenomenon and we would like to grow it. This is how we will create a progressive, knowledgeable and intellectual society. The learning does not only happen during the LEKGOTLA. The real learning occurs in the field, at their offices, in families, and in the community, as the participants apply and practice their new knowledge and skills acquired from the LEKGOTLA.