319 Managing Meetings

Unit Overview

319 Managing Meetings is a unit within the CMI Level 3 module that helps the leader to effectively handle meetings that involve sharing information and reaching deliberations with others. It improves the skills and abilities of middle managers to fulfill their leadership duties and responsibilities within the organisation. This unit makes an effective contribution to the skills and knowledge of the leaders in effectively influencing and mobilising the members of the organisation within their area of operation to effectively conduct meetings that are aimed at achieving specific duties and responsibilities within the organisation.

All leaders within the workplace have a duty of effectively communicating information with junior managers, team leaders, supervisors, and employees, as well as making effective reports to the top management within the organisations. As such, they should ensure that they are able to effectively and conveniently conduct meetings that put into consideration the context of the communication being shared, the location, and the hierarchy of individuals involved in the meeting. It is important that new and aspiring leaders undergo training on approaches to effectively handling meetings to achieve the desired outcomes and results.

319 Managing Meetings is a unit that contributes towards shaping the ability of the individuals within the workplace to effectively coordinate meetings. The new or aspiring leaders pursuing the unit are guided to understand the principles and methods that can be used to plan, summon, and chair meetings to achieve deliberations on critical topics or elements that guide activities within the workplace. The unit is therefore critical in ensuring that there is collaborative working within the workplace to meet set demands and expectations on the team or unit. The unit is taught in 19 hours of guided learning and contributes 5 credit values towards the completion of the module. 

Suitability of the Unit 

319 Managing Meetings is a unit that is highly suitable for leaders within the organisation. It helps to generate a specific level of performance in communication and an understanding of principles that are associated with the management of meetings that is highly relevant to the first-line managers and the supervisors within the workplace. It helps them to understand the required standards of practice and build the capabilities and techniques to achieve these duties and responsibilities. The unit is, however applicable to different other stakeholders who have duties that involve being able to effectively put people together and conduct meetings. the top managers within the organisation must have the information and knowledge that is presented within the unit. 

As such, the unit is suitable for them in improving their skills in their position of leading the general organisation. The unit can also be used to improve the contribution and ability of individuals within the lower levels of management. Junior managers and team leaders can use the information within the unto to boost their ability and competency in effectively managing meetings as well as prepare them for future leadership positions as middle managers or top managers within the organisation hence creating efficiency in the succession plan in the leadership section of the organisation.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the unit, the learners should be able to:

• Understand the purposes of meeting within the workplace and the types of meetings that leaders need to set up in their areas of responsibility

• Identify factors that should be considered in putting up effective meetings within the workplace 

• show knowledge of approaches that can be used in preparing, planning, and inviting attendees to the meeting

• Share information effectively with participants and mobilise resources required for the process of delivery of meetings

• Show understanding of approaches to changing meetings, including the ability to develop and communicate on specific meeting agendas

• Understand approaches to recording meeting actions, such as maintaining minutes

• Monitor the outcomes of the meetings and facilitate the implementation of the deliberations made within the meeting setting.

Key Learning Areas

319 Managing Meetings covers critical areas involving the principles of effectively managing meetings, handling the attendees to the meeting, and ensuring that plans agreed upon within the meeting are implemented to their completion. Some of the main areas of learning covered within the unit include:

Principles of Managing Meetings

This area of learning is aimed at providing the learners with the basic principles that they should use when setting meetings. It includes information such as the different types of meetings and situations or contexts where each meeting is convenient, setting goals and objectives for the meeting, and the process of inviting attendees to the meeting.

Evaluation of Personal Performance

Middle managers must be able to continuously improve their performance in handling and chairing meetings. 319 Managing Meetings focuses on proving them with the necessary information and skills that they need to implement effectively manage their performance and continuously improve hence ensuring that they can make effective contributions to the organisation.

This area of learning provides the learners with the different strategies that they can use to effectively monitor their performance in chairing the meeting. They are able to understand approaches to collecting and analysing feedback from attendees as well as creating personal development plans to improve on weaknesses.

Monitoring Agreements Made in a Meeting

This area of learning ensures the learners are able to monitor and evaluate the process of acting on actions recommended within the meeting. This proves involves being able to set apart the resources that are required to act on the actions as well as assign duties effectively to oversee the actions to completion. In this area of learning, the learners are further guided on effective time management skills that are required to oversee the actions to their completion within the set deadlines within the meeting.

Lastly, the leaders must be able to report the progress to the relevant attendees of the meeting. This area covers the critical information that should be included in reports on the progress of actions agreed upon a meeting, improving the overall communication among attendees within the meeting.

Evaluation

Upon completion of the unit, the learners are put through an evaluation to determine the accomplishment of learning objectives. The learners are required to complete a written assessment that focuses on examining the understanding of theory and practice learned within the unit.