BASIC KNOWLEDGE TRAINING FOR COUNCILLORS AND

OFFICIALS

Dr T. Norushe

Knowledge Management and Research Unit

Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality

Presentation to KMRG Quarterly Meeting

Ethekweni

14-15 March 2013

Background

At BCMM it has been realized that KM is an importantenabler in:

Policy development

Improving the basic services

Enhancing economic planning

Managing the municipality efficiently and effectivelyin the overall process of implementing theIntegrated Development Plan (IDP) which is the blueprint for all activities in the municipality.

The KM strategy has been available for the pasttwo years, and it was imperative that the strategybe implemented across BCMM.

In order for the KM strategy to be effectivelyimplemented;

A training to empower staff memberswas considered as a pre-requisite.

It is against this necessity that BCMM and in

particular the Knowledge Management, Research

and Policy Unit (KMR&PU) decided to source a

service provider to conduct a basic training on

Knowledge Management.

The course content was basic and tailor-made forBCMM training needs of various categories suchas:-

• Executive leadership,

• Middle Management,

• Champions and Councilors.

The course included;

Training material,

Certificates for different categories such as:

• Councilors, (NQF LEVEL 3)

• Middle Managers &

• Leadership. (NQF Level 5)

There were different manuals for each group andone with basic concepts which was a universalManual.

This basic course was about introducing knowledgemanagement and creating awareness.

The course began with;

• Introduction to knowledge management,

• Practicing knowledge management, and

• linked these to IDP.

The course defined and explained the concept –

KM and the importance of implementing it inBCMM.

and how it should support the basicimplementation of KM strategy of BCMM towardsmaking the municipality efficient and effective.

The course tackled the aspects of how data iscollected and transformed into information andutilized in decision making.

Objectives

The Training Aimed to;

Promote Understanding of differences between ;

Data,

Information,

Knowledge,

Wisdom.

Provide skills, and knowledge on KM

Objectives (Continued)

Assist and empower BCMM Directorates to developtheir own effective knowledge managementstrategies and implementation thereof in variousdirectorates.

Develop understanding of leadership roles in KMimplementation and how these can be used for thebenefit of directorates and BCMM.

objectives (Cont..)

Developing basic knowledge and skills ofcapturing and managing data and informationthereby improving processes which are already inplace at BCMM.

Creating an environment to discuss knowledgesharing.

Outcomes

Better understanding of Knowledge Management.

Understanding of knowledge aspects: data, information, knowledge and wisdom.

Understanding procurement in KM

Understanding the need for knowledge harvesting within BCMM.

Outcomes (Continued)

Competency to practice KM within anorganization and sharing of lessons learned(this is critical to inform future policies atBCMM.)

Develop skills and knowledge on KM strategydevelopment and implementation.

The approach which was used throughout thecourse was, where definition of concepts and KMwere being explained to provide theoretical andconceptual understanding of KM to participants.

Live examples were given in such a way thatmade participants understand the importance ofKM in their examples.

Participants in different groups understoodconcept as they made examples from theirenvironment.

Participatory Approach

Participatory approach which used scenarios andCase Studies as provided by theparticipants, nationally and internationally for allstaff categories was used.

This included robust debates of Case Studies andapplying these within local context and inexamining the local situations.

The groups tackled issues, expressing theirexperience and how they would deal with suchchallenges supported by KM.

These exercises, debates and discussions became alearning and knowledge sharing platform,

Including sharing of experiences and challengesand collaborative learning creating a scaffolding forthose who were a bit behind in some work issues.

It provided an opportunity for participants to learnhow to capture lessons learned and how to applythis information in their local projects.

Experiential Learning And Knowledge Sharing.

This was an approach which allowed participantsto share their experiences of their work and askothers to input in each experience.

This process was part of knowledge harvestingwhich assisted in tapping to tacit knowledge.

Theory and experience to classify and explaineach issue within available KM models were usedso that they could be able to explore different KMmodels in providing BCMM services and oversightin the case of Councilors.

Participants engaged in:-

Determining the nature and extent of the informationneeded by them

Selecting the most appropriate data and informationmanagement methods

Identifying appropriate information and knowledgemanagement tools

Identifying sources of information and knowledge intheir work environment

Participant articulate and apply such knowledgebase in various work scenarios.

This approach helped to identify data, informationand knowledge management priorities.

It provided methods and sources of identifiedpriority areas for participants to apply in their workenvironment.

Exercises to evaluate understanding of theconcepts and applicability of KM within workenvironment were conducted for all the groupsincluding Councilors.

Most exercises were based on the followingquestions:-

• What knowledge has been shared in the course

• Think about your own work environment andidentify what you think is knowledge andinformation?

• What are the sources of information?

Exercises for participants were not many since thetraining was Basic KM Training focusing mainly ondefinition and description of concepts.

KM Champions

During training councilors were divided into 3groups.

Each one chose a KM Champion,

And the chosen three were:-

• Councilor Pat. Naicker;

• Councilor Sindiswa. Gomba; and

• Councilor Helen. Neal-May.

Roles of the Councilor KM Champions

1. The Councilor KM Champs (CKMCs) are toconvene Information and KM Forums ormeeting.

2. They draw up their KM plan within the BCMMKM Framework

3. In these Meeting they Identify Information &Knowledge needs for their work environment

4. They identify areas for Information andKnowledge sharing

5. They implement knowledge sharing andlesson learning template as discussed inthe training

6. Prioritise KM activities and pilot them.

7. Each Champion will find a repository for theinformation and knowledge shared and otherinformation collected for policy making,oversight and service delivery.

8.Develop a data, information and knowledgebank which is linked to the BCMM Informationand Knowledge Repository

Roles (Conti..)

9.Conduct Knowledge sharing Forums

10. Information and knowledge shared to bedisseminated to all Councilors and ultimately to theBCMM KM unit to be shared within the whole BCMM

11. CKMCs form an information flow link betweenthem and KM unit.

CKMC inter flows : knowledge exchange and sharing

Council and Mayoral Meeting

decision- making –policy –making

etc

KM COUNCILOR 1

CKMC Personal

Computer

KM COUNCIlOR 2

CKMC Personal

Computer

KM COUNCILLOR 3

CKMC Personal

Computer

Sources of Information and Knowledge: - BCMM KM unit - Ward Councillors – Communities

- Other Councillors – Forums- Mayoral Meetings.

Communities

Councilor Information and

Knowledge Bank in KM Unit

The Councilor KM Champions (CKMCs) work asinformation and knowledge managers within thecouncil function.

The Ward Councilors in their specific wardscollect information that is needed to informdecisions, policy-making and services deliveryand forward such information to CKMCs.

The KM Champions of Councilors are tocoordinate knowledge shared and lessonslearned which will be sent to the KM Unit to bedisseminated to all Councilors and staff memberswithin BCMM

Developing Qualities and Roles of KM Champions

It seemed necessary that qualities and roles of KMChampions for different directorates be developed.

This process was seen as important in context ofinstitutionalizing KM within BCMM.

Therefore, all groups of General Managers andother senior staff members developed qualities, androles of different KM Champions, Committees andSteering Committee.

The following were developed:-

• Qualities of KM Champions

• KM Champion’s roles

• KM Technical Committees Roles

• KM Operations Committee

• KM Steering Committee

The qualities considered in selecting KMchampions were based on the roles of the KMchampions.

A KM champion was described as a people’sperson because such a person will have tointeract with various staff members in anendeavor to institutionalize KM in BCMM

Roles of a KM Champions

Roles KM Champions Roles of the KM Champions Continues

Collect data & interpret it

Custodian of information

Safeguard information

Facilitator of knowledge

transfer/dissemination

Act as catalyst of strategic

knowledge

Catalyst for sharing ad utilisation

Ensure knowledge creation

Ensure implementation with

Directorates

Conduct information session

Organise feedback

Monitor and control

Identify Case Studies and

document

Measure KM

Identify internal and external

expert

Asses and communicate

knowledge needs

• Create awareness in Directorates

• Facilitate culture of sharing and

learning

• Encourage commitment to KM

• Transfer Knowledge

• Plan KM activities within

Directorate supported KM Unit

• Co- ordinates KM activities within

the Directorate and report to KM

Unit

• Ensure capturing of information

within and to report to KM Unit

• Identify critical Knowledge within

the Directorate

• Conduct KM in the Directorate

• To ensure sustainability of the

Programme

• Establish Expert Locator within

Directorate

• Establish Communities of Practice

(CoPs, Learning Networks

Table 3: Qualities of KM Champions

Quality of KM Champions Qualities of KM Champions Continues

Organised person

Good communication skills

Leadership skills

Informed and a good sharer of

knowledge

Flexible

Open-minded

Transparent

Computer literate

Team Player

Innovative and creative

People’s person

Approachable

Passionate about KM

Presentation skills

Assertiveness

Confident

Good listening skills

Sensitive to confidential

information

Patience

Ambitious

Each director as soon as is possible should appoint aKM Champion in order to coordinate KM andfacilitate KM institutionalization within BCMM.

Knowledge harvesting was considered byparticipants as one of the critical KM activities assuch an activity will improve the preservation of theinstitutional memory of the City

Roles of Operational Committee Roles of Operational Committee

Continues

Report on KM Implementations

Report on challenges and issues

Support KM Practice

Organising KM workshop for

directorates

Improve KM Practice

Ensure utilisation of data

Discuss challenges

Conduct assessment of KM tools

Report back to technical

Committee

Entrench legal framework

Collate information and report in

meeting

Draft operational strategy

Present strategy to the steering

committee

Implement on approval of

technical committee

Pilot KM activities

Give feedback on departmental

progress

Recommendation for tools

improvement

The KM operational committee is more than animplementation task team as it ensures thesuitability of KM tools on the ground.

While the KM Champions are mandated by theparticipants to entrench KM legal framework, it isimportant to note that currently there is not legalframework that covers KM.

This situation does not support the effectiveimplementation and institutionalization of KM.

The development of a KM legislative framework is anational responsibility; however, BCMM can developa KM policy while awaiting the drafting of the Act.

Members of the Operational Committee

• KM Unit

• Heads of Departments

• Office Managers

• KM Champion of all Directorate

• IT Technician

• GIS

• KM Manager

• Scriber

• Research Unit

The suggestion of an Operational Committeebecomes relevant in the process of implementingKM activities.

It was thought that when implementing KMactivities issues regarding challenges of KMimplementation will arise.

It is therefore, the responsibility of this team tosupport implementation and be a source ofstrength to support one another.

Important in this Committee was the inclusion ofHeads of Department so that they become part oftrouble shooting when KM implementation isshowing challenges.

This is important as Heads of departments shouldhave a KM Performance Indicator or key result area.

The Operating Committee should include IT as it isimportant in enabling KM. The KM Unit should chairthe Operational Committee meetings anddiscussions.

Such discussions to be submitted to the Technicalcommittee.

The need for a Technical committee was raisedduring the training and the roles were defined.

This is the Committee responsible for engaging inKM implementation challenges

Roles of Technical Committee Roles of Technical Committee Continues

Develop KM Tools

Conduct KM monitoring,

evaluation and impact

Consider resources necessary for

KM and discuss with the Steering

Committee

Develop KM architecture

Benchmark KM

Improve KM operational reportto

the Steering Committee

Submit technical

recommendations to the Steering

Committee

Members of the Technical Committee

• KM Unit (Chair)

• Information Technology (IT)

• GIS

• Library

• Records Management

• Archives

• General Managers

• KM Managers

The Technical Committee is the engine of KMtools, mechanisms and techniques development.

This Committee is made up of specialist in KM suchas the Information and Knowledge ManagementSpecialists.

This Committee is meant to be a centre ofexcellence that is supporting technical activities inthe process of KM implementation.

The inclusion of various KM and KM relatedspecialists arise from the idea of developing anintegrated KM within BCMM.

This is the committee that is responsible forevaluation of KM and KM tools within BCMM aswell as benchmarking KM.

The Technical Committee is to meet with theOperational Committee to discuss challengesrelated to KM tools.

Also, the Technical Committee is to develop newKM tools as needed.

The meeting of both the Technical Committee andthe Operational Committee is to be recorded andbe presented to the Steering Committee.

Roles of the Steering Committee Roles of the Steering CommitteeCont…

Submit KM report to various

Portfolios

KM implementation approval

KM budget approval

Provide KM leadership

Improve KM awareness

Advocate for KM staff

Promote organisational learning

KM Oversight

KM strategy/Policy approval

Consider the development of

institutional KM

Ensure integration of KM to

functions of the organisation

All Directors to get KM key

Performance

Members of the Steering Committee

• City Manager (chair)

• Executive Directors

• Directors

• KM Manager

Participants in the training thought that for KMinstitutionalization to happen in BCMM there shouldbe a Steering committee formed of seniorleadership in order to give strength to KMimplementation.

The Steering committee is responsible for theinstitutionalization of KM in BCMM by advocatingfor, KM Directorate, budget, KM staff and allocationof a Portfolio head for KM.

The technical committee is to present the KM jointreport of both technical and operational committeeto the steering committee and the steeringcommittee to endorse and approve KM resourcesand resolve the challenges raised for KM.

Level of authority of KM Champs Level of Authority Continues

Have delegated authority to perform

the function

Appointed by the Head of the

directorate

Accounting Officer to delegate to

Executive Directors to appoint KM

Champions

Mandate to liaise with other KM

Champions in other Directorates

The groups in the training thought that it will benecessary to assign some level of authority to KMchampions as they need to function in a crosscutting fashion.

Also for departments to give time to champions todo their roles as well as being allowed to visit otherdirectorates on a KM mandate.

The Mayor, City Manager and Directors shouldsupport the KM Champions if KM is to beimplemented successfully.

The participants in the training suggested acollective and collaborative approach to BCMM KMinstitutionalization plan.

The pertinent question raised was;

”What is the way forward towards KMinstitutionalization after the training?”

Various groups indicated that KM is a cross cuttingfunction therefore, various directorates wereassigned to play different roles in institutionalizingKM.

Various departments were given responsibilitiesreflecting a collective commitment to KM.

Actions within the next 3 Months

• KM Unit to design a tool to be used to conductKM baseline within different Directorates

• Assess and pilot the tools

• Develop a KM awareness strategy

• Assist department to define their KM plan inworkshops

KM Strategic Priorities for the Next 3-5 Years

• Engage in Awareness outlining the benefits

• Improve KM Policy

• Improve KM Structure

• Place KM structure in appropriate position forUniversal Interaction

Implementation Plan of the Strategy in Directorates

• City Manager to become Sponsor for KM

• KM to be in the Agenda of Mayoral Committee, CouncilCommittee and MM meetings

• KM to get a Portfolio Head

• Directorates to workshop KM Plan and Prioritise KMactivities

• More marketing of the strategy by KM unit and variousDirectorates

• Appoint dedicated staff in KM Unit to support otherDirectorates

• Fill Vacancies in KM Unit

• Appoint KM Champions in Directorates

Implementation Plan of the Strategy in Directorates

• Dedicated server for KM linked to KM Champions

• Formalise Sharing and dissemination of informationand knowledge

• More training to build capacity

• Municipal Manager to own KM strategic Intent aftertraining and drive KM

• KM Study Tours by Leaderships with objectives

• KM must be in Score cards of Units and Directorates

The participants had concerns which they thoughtshould be known by senior leadership which willbecome barriers to KM implementation.

It is important that leadership take cognizance ofthese concerns as they impact not only the KMimplementation but on how activities are conductedand how to improve the situation.

These concerns should not be taken as criticism butas constructive critiques to improve theorganization’s efficiency and effectiveness.

Certain activities to institutionalize KM in BCMMwere presented in the training and were adopted byparticipants.

Institutionalization of KM in BCMM

The following culture driving tools must beimplemented:

• Knowledge sharing reward system must be inplace.

• Lesson learning, capturing and documentationmust be rewarded.

• Knowledge sharing sessions must be compulsoryat least once a month.

• KM Days must be set and recognized.

• KM leadership to be recognized.

Measuring Practice of KM in BCMM

• Number of programmes that adopted PoKM habits

• % of staff, including managers who have adopted PoKM habits

• Number of programmes utilising KM principles and techniques effectively

• % of lessons learned, shared and documented in a year

• Number of programmes applying lessons

• Number of knowledge sharing sessions

• A number of sharing Events, sessions, seminars in a year

• Number of best practices identified and replicated in a year

• % of knowledge workers receiving awards for PoKM

These measures are not cast in stone; BCMM can come up with other measures.

Support of KM Unit and the Upgrade of the Unit to Directorate Level,

Some of the long-serving Councilors indicated that they hadbeen introduced to the concept of KM as far back as 2001 bythe then Mayor, S. Mclean, without any further elaboration orprogress in operationalizing the concept, and where the idea ofKM had met with only a lukewarm reception due to the subjectand function being new in SA.

They all agreed that they had learnt a great deal from theworkshops and vowed to give their complete support to the KMfunction and the KM and Research Unit as the main facilitator ofthis vital tool, and nominated KM Champions to drive theprocess from the political side from each of the three groups asindicated earlier in the report.

The Councilors unanimously acknowledged theimportance of Knowledge Management, Research& Policy in meeting BCMM’s, objectives andmandate.

An important recognition was towards the roleplayed by the KM Unit and work that it undertakesin this regard despite chronic shortage of staffsince 2005.

It appears that the current training has coveredmost Councilors and have agreed in the trainingthat they were able to understand and see thevalue of the concept of KM and how it can beinstitutionalized in BCMM leading to improvedperformance and service delivery.

They promised to support the Unit in its mandateand to ensure that it is sufficiently capacitated toperform its functions, particularly through theappointment of sufficient and relevant staff.

Some of them asked about the properorganizational structure for the Unit seeing thatthey were now trained and the KM Strategy was inplace.

The service provider advised them on theimportance of developing the ideal organizationalstructure for KM and this structure can beimproved step by step.

Adequate Resources for KM Unit

It was mentioned by staff who attended the trainingthat KM Unit should get the resources to enable it to doits work efficiently and effectively. Two people whoconstitute KM unit cannot be expected to support thewhole of BCMM.

Also, the fact that the Unit is not at department levelwas concerning as such a Unit is strategic and needs tointeract with Directors and senior leadership regardingknowledge and knowledge policies of the City.

Middle Management and KM Champs felt that KM is asimportant for them, as it is for Top Management, andthat they should also be recognised as a crucialstakeholder in the implementation and mainstreamingof KM in the institution.

Challenges

The absence of a large proportion of Top Managementfrom the Basic KM Training Workshops poses a seriouschallenge in terms of mainstreaming KnowledgeManagement in the institution

And in obtaining the buy-in of senior management officialsin order to alter the perception that KM is a non-integraladd-on function at BCMM, rather than as a corecompetency of all BCMM employees, as knowledgeworkers, and to inform action in terms of theimplementation of the BCMM KM Framework and Strategy.

Without the commitment of Senior Management towardsthe mainstreaming of KM, and without adequate trainingin this regard, serious challenges are posed regardingcascading the knowledge and commitment required forKM to succeed as a vital key component of all BCMMoperations.

The End

Thank You