How To Breathe Life into Meetings Using CPR
Having a context, purpose and result (CPR) every time you meet will focus and energize the time you spend together
One of the least productive things about many meetings in entrepreneurial companies is a tendency to ramble between small and big topics in an effort to solve everything at once. In my last blog, I outlined an example of how to shore up your strategic capacity by creating an annual calendar plan that balances strategic versus tactical meetings to build both long-term strategy and run the business.
But this still leaves you with making sure every meeting maximizes your time together. Not long after I had taken the reigns at my last company, our vice president of marketing Jean Lizotte introduced a concept that proved a game-changer for how we approached meetings.
Jean called it “CPR.”
CPR stood for “context, purpose, result,” and every meeting, no matter how large or small, had to have one. Anybody who wanted to call a meeting had to write out its CPR in the invitation or else attendance was optional.
An example of CPR in practice would go like this:
- Context: Several large customers have voiced their displeasure over lower than desired inventories. We’re not shipping enough product. Root causes include x, y and z and the key data you need to know is a, b, c. The VP of Operations calls a meeting and invites all those who impact this process.
- Purpose: VP will use the meeting to learn where the breakdowns are occurring in operations and sales and to brainstorm ideas for fixing the problem.
- Result: VP will use the discussion to pull together a smaller group to fix the problem.
The context of the meeting needn’t be as high-priority as the example offered here; nor does the result have to be as dramatic. This particular meeting’s result might have been alignment on next steps or simply getting on the same page about what was going on. The key is to set the table so everyone comes in knowing what they need to know to actually serve the purpose and help accomplish the result.
What’s more, a thoughtfully written CPR lets invitees see themselves “in or out” of the meeting. After reading one, you can pick up phone and ask, “Do you want me there, because I don’t see myself in it?”
Over time, we added an additional, optional “R” for meetings where the person calling it wanted different participants to play certain “roles.” Sometimes, a role required somebody to step outside their usual responsibilities or inclinations. For example, somebody who was typically prized for her shrewd skepticism but could also shine in brainstorming sessions might be asked to quash her doubts and let loose her creativity!
The beauty of this approach is that it moves you away from the “default” meeting and allows the organizer to purposefully match participants with problem-solving. It’s pretty cool. Bottom line: building clarity around your meetings lets you breathe life into them by focusing everybody on the challenge at hand.
Another approach we used was to designate whether or not a meeting was tactical or strategic and we had different agenda and approaches for each. More on that in a future blog.
What do you do to keep your team on track during meetings?
Robert U. Craven
Change-The-World CEO
PS: All credit to my ghostwriting partner, Dave Moore, who is instrumental in getting my thoughts out in a coherent manner & into these blogs. Thanks Dave!
