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

@Heather225

What do you think happens if you, a 7 Cups leader, have an imbalance of these?
As a leader, having less expectations hinders a space to grow and utilize ones true potential. Less warmth as a leader makes it a less approachable place with less collaboration among the members which in turn reduces growth of the community. An imbalance on these as a leader reduces quality and efficiency of the community

How do you think having too low of expectations, or too little warmth, will impact :
1.) the community
As a community low expectations and low warmth does not provide a space for improvement and growth. It decreases the trust among the community and makes it a less reliable place
2.) Impact how you work with your fellow leaders?
Low expectations from the part of a leader would result in less contributions from the fellow leaders too as often the path become unclear.
Low warmth as a leader create lack of understanding and communication among the team.

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

With only warmth but no expectation, I would probably just hang out in a group support chat and say nice things to others. If I have high expectations in discussions, but no warmth I probably would sound like a boss or a dictator trying to get others to meet my expectations.

How do you think having too low of expectations, or too little warmth, will impact 1.) the community,

The community might feel that nothing gets done here, no support is given, or people are very nice but they do not show up when they say they would.

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

Other leaders might feel I am too dictatorial with high expcectations only, or just a softy that can not be depended on with high warmth only.

Activity: Please reply to 3 of your peers in this thread with encouraging or supportive words!

@Heather225

Question: What do you think happens if you, a 7 Cups leader, have an imbalance of these? 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 warmth will result in our members, who come to us for support and empathy and understanding, feeling like we're a cold and unfeeling group, and that they're wrong in how they feel. Low expectations will result in listeners not being proper supports for our vulnerable members who are opening up to us. We need listeners to take their role seriously because of that vulnerability.

2. One of the things I really appreciate about the listener community is how supportive and helpful other listeners are, even if they're not official support folks. They provide information when questions are asked, and warmth and empathy when other are struggling. Without that, it can be heavy being a listener and supporting some pretty serious topics. And without the high expectations, there would be few people to use as a mentor or as encouragement to learn and improve. I wouldn't want to interact with other listeners if I felt they were here for the wrong reasons, or weren't the quality that I see.

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

—> If there is an imbalance of warmth/expectations it will really negatively effect your full potential as being a leader. You will not only be letting yourself down, but others as well. In order to be a team player and a leader you need to find the balance of high expectations and high warmth, it is what will make you thrive and make the structure of a great team/community. Finding balance will keep everything leveled, positively structured and consistent as well as allowing yourself full potential as a leader.

How do you think having too low of expectations, or too little warmth, will impact:

1.) the community: You will effect not only yourself if you have little warmth and low expectations but everyone in the community that you are apart of as a leader. You will not be giving others the full support they deserved or perhaps will be lacking kindness and respect if you have too little warmth, which will cause you to not be approachable. As a leader you wanf everyone to feel heard and supported and you want them to feel like can count on you. If you have low expectations you may not meet goals or tasks that need to be completed, or you might not do things properly/how they are supposed to be done. The community cannot thrive and grow without high expectations.

2.) impact how you work with your fellow leaders: If you have too little warmth and low expectations I think it will cause great stress on the trust that fellow leaders have with you. They might realize they can’t depend on you as you may have let them down several times. It’s hard to be productive as a leader if you aren’t setting high expectations of yourself, you most likely will end up letting your fellow leaders down. This can result in you having weak/negative relationships with your fellow leaders, which is something you do not want.

What do you think happens if you, a 7 Cups leader, have an imbalance of these? 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. If the expectations are too low, it is likely that I will not be fulfilling my potential, and this in turn would mean I would not be making the best possible contributions to the community. If all listeners and leaders on the site were in this situation, 7 Cups would not be able to reach as many people and provide quality experiences for all its members. If the warmth was low, there would be a lack of trust and support among leaders, which would mean we would not feel able to take risks, which would adversely affect how much progress could be made in the community.

2. If expectations were too low, it is likely I would not be performing to the best of my abilities, which would impact other leaders as all our work is interconnected and it could affect their ability to deliver what is required in their roles. This would lead to a lack of trust between me and the leaders that it affects. If warmth was too low, I would not feel supported and would feel unable to take risks and make suggestions to other leaders, as I would be afraid of a negative reaction.

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

I believe that having low expectations is a weary resignation, not satisfaction. This doesn't mean that you don't want it to work out or you won't work hard toward your goal. It simply means you won't be focusing excessively on the outcome.

- the community: it can decrease the chances of growth. As a leader, you come in with so much potential already that anything that draws you back from performing is like taking a hit at growth. Similarly, having too little warmth can just make everyone around you not as encouraged and empowered.

- how I work with my fellow leaders: we promise quality work when we sign up as these leaders. It would be unfair to fellow peer leaders to have someone who isn't up to date with their work or creates scenarios to build bad relationships.

@Heather225

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

Low expectations would result in:

-7 cups volunteers not trying their best to help the community and not caring enough about others

-unreliable leaders

Too little warmth would result in:

-weakened social interactions within the community

-toxic workplace for leaders where people are not kind and considerate of others

As a 7 Cups leader, having an imbalance between expectations and warmth could lead to me failing to foster an environment of healthy growth in this community. Specifically:

1. Having low expectations would lead to stagnation, causing the areas of the community that I touch to flounder and struggle to achieve goals in an efficient and motivated manner.

2. Having low warmth would lead to the creation of a space that people do not feel safe and encouraged in—which would lead to people not wanting to be a part of that space, which would lead to more struggles with regards to accomplishing goals in a motivated way.

It really is important to achieve the balance between those two values!

@Heather225

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

I think it would lead to us making little to no progress personally and professionally.

Too low expectations (but high warmth):

Though you would be pleasant to interact with, you wouldn't be able to do all the work you're supposed to/ can do.

Even though you're being nice, you are impacted professionally, which isn't ideal.

Too low warmth (but high expectations):

Though you would do the work, you won't be respectful.

Even though work is achieved when you have high expectations and low warmth, it isn't an ideal scenario because it impacts you personally.

I think in both of the scenarios, the community would be negatively impacted because you either aren't being nice or are not doing the work you're supposed to do. Your work with the leaders would also be impacted when you aren't respectful and are not doing the work in the first place.

To have the best possible scenario, you would have to have high expectations AND high warmth (with the worst one being low expectations, low warmth).

Two quotes that I thought fit this perfectly! ✨

@Heather225

@Heather225

As a 7cups Leader, owing to a sense of responsibility I feel certain things as an answer to the question stated.

Having low expectations reduces the sense of responsibility associated with individuals involved in the functioning of this community as a whole. It reduced accountability. Hence I feel things could really go wrong in either of extreme directions ie the community either turning very unresponsive and passive or turning absolutely chaotic with no control. There would be no sense of trust between the listeners and members.

Warmth and empathy itself are one of the driving factors of this platform and if they fall short, this platform loses its essence. Hence warmth needs to nourished here.