Course 2: Becoming a 7 Cups Leader - (Discussion #1) Welcome to Course 2!

@Heather225

Low expectations would result in:

1. A lack of efficiency (a demand for quantity cannot be met), but also a lack of quality work. Demands for a certain quantity of involvement could refer to a certain quantity of messages in a support room in order for people to feel like you care, like you can create a comfortable environment. If this is not met, it has a big impact on how the members perceive not only me as a leader, but also 7Cups as a potential safe haven—a place they can communicate their vulnerable feelings and thoughts. A lack of quality work would lead to the same consequences but through a different route in this example; I might come across insensitive because I don’t analyze the room well enough and think enough about the appropriate response to a conflict happening in a support room.

2. Low expectations leads to, again, a low quantity AND quality of work. A low quantity could potentially lead to overwhelming other leaders who then have to pick up the slack—who might consequently have more on their plates than if I would have had higher expectations for myself. The ultimate consequences would then be appearing less reliable to my fellow leaders. A low quality of work would, likewise, ultimately lead to appearing less reliable. I might create conflict or unnecessary friction that other leaders would need to solve.

Low warmth would result in:

1. Low warmth would not be helpful towards members, especially in a support room setting as they may feel misunderstood. In the context of fellow listeners, I might cause friction, demotivate them or make them unnecessarily uncomfortable if I were a peer support.

2. Low warmth towards fellow leaders would, likewise, generate friction (or even unnecessary competitiveness), a lack of understanding and empathy and a lessened inclination to collaborate with me.

@Heather225

If a 7 cups leader has an imbalance of expectations and warmth , it may often affect the leadership role creating negativity and insecurities among the person and the people working with him or her. Its is always so important to maintain a good environment to make everyone present feel welcomed and loved and the positiveness may get compromised in such a case.

i) Its no doubt that the community will be hugely affected. They won't feel safe and secured with the leader and may also inflict self doubt and confusions on themselves due to this

ii) As a leader it may also affect me hugely because it not only the others but also me who would be suffereing from low self esteem and lack of positiveness thus making me degrade as an ideal leader .

@Heather225

What do you think happens if you, a 7 Cups leader, have an imbalance of expectations and warmth?

If I have too many expectations and not enough warmth, I'll discourage my peers and put too much pressure on them. Regarding myself, I wouldn't be patient enough and wouldn't be forgiving to myself and others.

If it's the other way around, I wouldn't be able to help my peers grow and would risk a decrease of quality on 7 Cups.

How do you think having too low of expectations, or too little warmth, will impact 1.) the community, and 2.) impact how you work with your fellow leaders?

1.)

Too little expectations would decrease the quality and safety of the 7 Cups community.

Too little warmth would destroy the supportive atmosphere of the community and therefore also decrease the base of trust which is the basis for all our actions.

2.)

Too little expectations would make me a weaker leader, it would decrease my reliability, and therefore, in the worst case, I could threaten a whole program.

Too little warmth would decrease the working morale of my fellow leaders and make me someone that nobody wants to work with. This could lead to a situation where peers don't want to reach out to me anymore, and I would weaken the system.

@Heather225

What do you think happens if you, a 7 Cups leader, have an imbalance of these?

A leader usually has people who follow them. If the leader is imbalanced, the people who are following will notice this and they'll lose trust in their leader. Or if the leader's work is not going well, the followers' work will also suffer under it.

How do you think having too low of expectations, or too little warmth, will impact 1.) the community, and 2.) impact how you work with your fellow leaders?

Community: To have low expectations for a person can result in not giving them more assignments. This can limit their ability to grow and also limit the community's ability to grow.

Fellow Leaders:
If there's a limit of warmth I personally tend to not enjoy it as much. I then won't be so enthusiastic towards another leader and get discouraged if I don't receive the same kind of positive vibe.

@Heather225

How do you think having too low of expectations, or too little warmth, will impact 1.) the community, and 2.) impact how you work with your fellow leaders?

Too Low of expectations - this really a situation, this expectation level is directly proportional to our self-esteem/dignity I would say. As rightly said , while 7cups expects from us more, we see the positive part of that we strive hard to push our own boundaries this inturn raise the bar of our self esteem and working hard for better tomorrow.

Too little warmth- makes us a less competitor. For ex- in 7 cups, I would say this for listeners, we need to trust ourselves and the member same time. We need to patiently listen and then to react to every problems we encounter here

@Heather225

1) If I, as a 7 cups leader, have an imbalance of expectations and warmth it will create a negative environment that feels less inclusive. Warmth and expectations must work together to create a safe and encouraging environment. It is important to have expectations so that we can set standards to meet high quality. It is important to have high warmth to encourage people to express themselves and feel safe and comfortable in chats and groups. An imbalance can cause mistrust among people and confusion. It is essential that people feel united.

2) Having two low expectations can cause the community to feel confused. Expectations can help people feel safe as it creates a framework for actions and guide people to act appropriately. Expectations also help to keep people equal with things such as responsibilities and standards.

Too little warmth can cause the community to feel unwelcome and potentially make individuals feel they can not express themselves. Warmth helps to reassure individuals that they are valued and encouraged to participate. Without warmth, a community will begin to fall apart and will be less likely to join in conversations and activities.

3) Having low expectations can cause a barrier to communication and it will impact how you work with your fellow leaders as without expectations the quality of leadership will decrease. Having expectations are important to maintain the quality of leadership and to encourage people to continue to develop their leadership skills. As expectations get higher so does the quality of listening. Expectations encourage leaders to learn from each other meaning more team working with other leaders!

High warmth is important to communicate effectively with fellow leaders as it encourages other leaders to reach out for support when needed. It helps people feel they are not being judged. Low warmth can stop other leaders from working together. It can cause a barrier to teamworking. Teamworking is essential for a leader therefore with low warmth the system may begin to fall apart.

@Heather225


What do you think happens if you, a 7 Cups leader, have an imbalance of expectations and warmth?
i will not be able to serve my members with the support they need. i have to be able to provide high expectations for my members and listeners to succeed. without both in balance, it can throw off the 7 cup values.


How do you think having too low of expectations, or too little warmth, will impact 1.) the community, and 2.) impact how you work with your fellow leaders?

1) The community works together to achieve the goals they need in their own roles, without adequate love and harmony it will throw it off, low expectations of our community wont send the message that we want this for people it will show that we really don't care and do what you want vibe hope you all get better. and not showing support for people who really need it.

2) low expectations and low warmth will not work well with my fellow leaders as it's a team effort, everyone has a role and is expected to do the very best they can do. if the warmth is to low it won't feel as if they want to do anything because if we are whatever about what are leaders are doing and not acknowledging the good things, they are doing they won't want to do anything to succeed they both go together balanced for a reason.

@Heather225

A leader's expectations towards the community are important to set boundaries and so that members of the community have a clear understanding of what is required. Too many and people may becomes less willing to aim to live up towards the expectations, feeling they are unacheiveable perhaps. Too little and people may take advantage, or feel lost, and the work may not be effective. Too little warmth may impact the community in a negative way if they do not feel self or welcome, especially in a 7cups environment, where trust and warmth is important to be able to open up engage, on often sensitive topics.

Working with fellow leaders, a balance of expectations is essential so that fellow leaders do not become overly stressed and want to give up, feeling they are unreasonable, perhaps. But they also need to be challenging, laid out to the other leaders, so that tasks are achieved efficienctly and to the right standards. Knowledge is key to achieving a goal, or system as talked about in course one, and some of this is expectations. Warmth is important to be shown towards other leaders, to show kindness and compassion, more likely people will be compliant and communication will be improved, more open, more friendly and less daunting.

1. Low expectations and high warmth will make the community less active and less organized

High expectation but low warmth will make the community heartless and not supportive

2. That's the same impact of how I work with fellow leaders

Low expectations will make us less active or not even a leader anymore

Low warmth will prevent us from helping each others

@Heather225

2.) impact how you work with your fellow leaders?

Too low expectations- Leaders are always to be the best. Therefore, with such qualities am sure, the fellow leader will look us down and may even doubt the capability on this platform.

Too low warmth- This makes us less competitive with our fellow peers.