4  Bringing it all together

Now that you have almost completed the course and reviewed each of the units, this activity will allow you to put that new learning into practice. In the following activity you will rewatch one of the videos of an online meeting to identify good and bad practice.

Activity icon Activity 2 How was it for you?

Timing: Allow around 15 minutes

In Unit 2, you watched a short video of a budget meeting. You may remember that in this meeting, six employees were discussing their department’s financial planning for the coming year. When you first watched this video, you were asked to identify different communication styles and considered how they impacted interactions in the meeting.

Now we would like you to watch the film again, but this time we would like you to consider how equitable, inclusive and productive this meeting was for everyone who took part.

We’d like you to use your knowledge on how to effectively chair and participate in meetings (Unit 3), workplace humour (Unit 4) and managing time (Unit 5). To do this, we’ve included a few questions to help you reflect on the meeting interaction.

Now watch the video again and note down your thoughts in the boxes below.

Download this video clip.Video player: Unit 2 Video 1
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Transcript: Unit 2 Video 1 (repeated)  Carlos' communication style

CARLOS
OK, let's see, so that it doesn't take too long, because we're running out of time, next point on the agenda: budgets.
ISABEL
Yes, is there any news about that or any information on the budget we've been given for the next six-month period? It would be great to know ahead of time. I'm saying that mainly so that we can start planning the department's expenses in advance and we don't get caught out like last year.
CARLOS
Yes, well, let's take it one step at a time. I'm really fed up of finding so many mistakes in the annual reports. The other day, I was reviewing the year-end accounts and I started looking at the breakdown of expenses. You know I'm not usually over-particular with those things, and, to my surprise, I realised that nothing added up. Nothing. Zero. And I said: "What on earth is this?"
ISABEL
Aha.
CARLOS
And I was going to fix it, because the accounts have to add up, and I said: "Wow! People must be pea-brained. It's not that difficult, really it's not." I don't know what kind of training people receive and if they're really qualified to work in an accounts department or if they would be more capable of working somewhere else, anyway...
ISABEL
Thanks for sharing this, Carlos. I get what you mean, but I don't think it's that serious and I think we can try and find a solution together, can't we? Because I'm sure it was just a one-off mistake and that whoever compiled the report didn't look at the figures or the final accounts. It can happen to anyone. So, guys, please let's look twice at the documents before sending them.
CARLOS
The truth is that I think it's unacceptable at this time of the year. We should all have learned to prepare the reports already and to upload them, correctly, to the platform. Please, let's take this into account for next time, OK?
End transcript: Unit 2 Video 1 (repeated)  Carlos' communication style
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Unit 2 Video 1 (repeated)  Carlos' communication style
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By signing in and enrolling on this course you can view and complete all activities within the course, track your progress in My OpenLearn Create. and when you have completed a course, you can download and print a free Statement of Participation - which you can use to demonstrate your learning.

Now that you have almost completed the course and had a chance to try out your skills, we hope you’ll be confident in identifying good and bad practice in online meetings, as well as supporting or challenging it as appropriate.

3  Looking back, going forward

Unit 6 conclusion