CPR: Context, Purpose, & Results
I’d like to provide you a tool for results-driven action, purpose-driven results, and a contextual way of being.
CPR is a powerful tool to focus clearly on what you would like to attain from an event, a project, a meeting, or an action. By clearly stating all the results you would like to obtain, stating the purpose of the activity, and developing a context from which to operate, you focus your intent powerfully and take a direct path to where you wish to go.
Step 1: Make a list of all the results you would like to obtain as a result of the activity. This list should be as rich, deep, and varied as possible. It can include things like “have fun, develop relationships, breathe well. . .” as well as the more obvious, concrete results that you are after. The test of a result is: “Is it attainable? (Is the result something that can happen as a result of the activity?); Is it measurable? (How do we know if we got it?)”
Step 2: Make a clear statement of the purpose of the activity. The purpose is a statement of the “why?” of the activity. It should be as broad and encompassing as possible – your big purpose, or that of your organization. Ultimately purpose is your fundamental reason for existence.
Step 3: Write a statement of your context for the activity. The context is a statement you believe to be true or you wish to be true that contains all the results you wish to obtain. It is the way of being, state of mind or mindset that you bring to the activity; the place from which you operate. If things are not going your way – return to your context.
Step 4: Review your results after the activity. Did we attain them? (Gut gauge is OK as well as objective metrics – “Yes, I believe we communicated clearly as a team.”) Those we did not get, Why not? Did I hold my context? Was my context the right one? Was it big enough?
Part of the “magic” of CPR’s is that by holding a context large enough to contain all your results, the results are arrived at in a holistic way rather than linearly. They are interwoven and interdependent. You don’t have to pound each one out individually.
- Paul Kwiecinski