Course 2: Becoming a 7 Cups Leader - (Discussion #1) Welcome to Course 2!
Please note: In order to successfully complete Course 2, you must respond to this post. Your comment/response should answer the questions/shows that you completed the given activity (if any). Read the post carefully and follow the instructions given. Save your responses to a document that you can later refer to. You will need to copy/paste your response in the course evaluation form at the end of each course to show that you have done the work and to refresh your memory.
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Congrats! You made it the second course in the LDP! In this course, we focus on the specific interpersonal skills needed to be a strong leader on 7 Cups, including mastery of communication skills, time management, conflict resolution, stress management and empowering new leaders.
I know if you are here, you have read our values and culture guide. I would like to start off by further emphasizing one value that's required for a leader to be successful here, and that is balancing High Expectations & High Warmth.
Work environments with high expectations and minimal warmth tend to result in companies that are very driven, rule-oriented and risk-averse. The people do not tend to grow as much personally or professionally. On the other hand, workplaces that are high in warmth, but have minimal expectations, tend to struggle. Everyone is happy and feels loved, but not a lot of effective or focused work gets done.
7 Cups is high expectations AND high warmth. We expect a lot from you. You might feel like we think you are more capable than other people have suggested or maybe even more capable than how you see yourself. That is okay. Every person on the team has outperformed and done better than they expected. This is largely because warmth, patience, and trust help people make much more progress than they have in other environments. We have high expectations, but we will provide plenty of encouragement and guidance to help you get there.
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Question: What do you think happens if you, a 7 Cups leader, have an imbalance of expectations and warmth? 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?
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As 7 Cups leaders, we should always be able to think about others and have the ability to carry on tasks while carrying the mission of 7cups. If you have low expectations, you would never realize your own potential and you may even hold back your team. However, this can be combated by talking to other leaders and conveying how you may feel which can ultimately help you build a support system. Now, with low warmth, it may impact your community negatively because people may not be able to accurately convey your feelings which can make people feel unmotivated.
@softMusic9759
I love your response! I really like how you mentioned potential, with low expectations we definitely might not be able to realize our own potential. I also liked how you provided how you can combat it!
@Heather225
Hi! How are you?
I think that, with low warmth, the community lacks the much needed and deserved support. It would be a terrible environment. My work with the leaders would also feel very bad. The work wouldn t be as good as it would be with hig warmth, and everyone would feel not good.
With low expectations, a lot of people wouldn t meet the high ones. We would be lacking the quality and the effort we have with those high expectations. The community would be poor, and the work with the leaders would be horrible. We wouldn t even be a shadow of what we are with high ones.
To be what we are, we need both.
@Daf8
Well said!
@ahealingEndoftherainbow22
Thank you! I appreciate your comment
@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?
It will hold back the community and may mean that members don't recieve the correct amount of support. With leaders, they may become unmotivated more easily.
@JessHobson
That's so very true. To be honest, I don't think members would get many listeners at all! And leaders demotivated- we wouldn't have built through community we have now if that happened. Thanks for your insight!
@Heather225, I believe that having too little warmth could maybe make the community less inclined to work with us, and having expectations that are too low could result in others not being the best they can be. It may impact other leaders by their lowering of their own expectations or they may feel pressure to help out if/when needed.
@RebekahRebel
So very true. Nobody wants to work in a hostile environment, right? Whether you're volunteer or not, we need to feel valued and to feel like our work is valued. And with low expectations means no growth. And as humans, I feel we all strive to be the best we can be. :)
@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?
I think balance is very important in nature. So having an imbalance will obviously have a negative impact on every aspect related to the leadership involved.
For the community to not have high warmth and high expectations would mean less inclusivity and less accountability which will have further butterfly effects.
For our fellow leaders, it would mean loss of morale, loss of spirit, and most importantly maybe even loss of respect which is the last thing you need on an enormous platform like 7 Cups
Having said that I know everyone makes mistakes and leaders will too but what will make them better for the future would be that they step up and accept what they did. They might not be able to justify their actions but they should be able to acknowledge their actions.
@VerseArt
Well said! I really liked your response and it helped me develop a better understanding.
@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?
I think balance is very important in nature. So having an imbalance will obviously have a negative impact on every aspect related to the leadership involved.
For the community to not have high warmth and high expectations would mean less inclusivity and less accountability which will have further butterfly effects.
For our fellow leaders, it would mean loss of morale, loss of spirit, and most importantly maybe even loss of respect which is the last thing you need on an enormous platform like 7 Cups
Having said that I know everyone makes mistakes and leaders will too but what will make them better for the future would be that they step up and accept what they did. They might not be able to justify their actions but they should be able to acknowledge their actions.
@VerseArt
This is a great answer with nice wording - you demonstrated your understanding well! :) Good job
@VerseArt I agree! The last paragraph is also really important to remember :)
@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?
If there is an imbalance, I think listeners and leaders may become too complacent and casual to deal with critical problem solving scenarios with professionalism and poise.
This will undermine public credibility in the community and may undermine how fellow leaders judge ourselves.
@SynSavory
Originally, I was going to copy and paste your second paragraph in this response saying how much I loved your summary/explanation of it. But then I read the last paragraph, basically your whole response actually, and I loved it all 😂 so I'll just say you worded everything so well and I loved it.
@rebecca947
Lol I appreciate the honesty!
@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?
🌸 If I as a leader show low expectations, the community would never grow or understand its strength. It would be confined within the limits because higher expectations are not kept hence doesn't thrive. Similarly, my fellow leaders too would be impacted because since the expectations are less, there's less room for growth and improvement and no strict guidelines to monitor growth.
🌸 Having too less of warmth would make it difficult for both my fellow leaders and the community to feel that they belong and that they are valued and appreciated. This is in turn would not create a sense of belonging leading to less productivity.
High warmth and high expectations is indeed the target!
@ahealingEndoftherainbow22
I agree with you. Those stuffs are detrimental.
@ahealingEndoftherainbow22
Couldn't agree more with what you have said rainbow! Mainting a heathy balance between the two should be the goal for our community.
@Heather225
Low expectations can prevent us as a community to reach our full potential! and because it can prevent us from reaching our full potential, this can be detrimental to us leaders because we will not try as hard to reach that potential. Having too little warmth destroys the value of 7 Cups. One of the greatest values of 7 cups as a community is compassion and warmth in order to help others - and if we lack that, then that is detrimental!
@Helpingsoul98
Yup. You are right soul. I agree with you.
@Helpingsoul98
Yes I completely agree! We should strive to reach our full potential for maximum benefit of others!
@Heather225
From my view, as a 7 Cups leader
having low expectations would result in-
1) Compromise of standards and hindering the group from realising her full potential which will eventually cause a setback to the community.
2) Other leaders would not find me trustworthy or dependable which could impact the work and our relationship negatively.
Having low warmth would result in:
1) low social interaction and belonging in the community making any activity or work more like a duty. It won't make the work fun and interesting.
2) a lack of understanding when I work with other leaders as it would make them feel like I am not interested in their work.
@Beaconx
I agree with you. Low expectations will never let us realise our full potential and on the other hand having low warmth would make us not understand each others.