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

I think. With low expectations

The leaders will. Think they can slack off and that work would be less Quality and finish product would be weak. They will not try they hardest and the team would not get to thier highest leval.

I think low warmth there would be a lot of fighting and work not getting done . It would be toxic and chaos.

i would not do well in there if it was that way.

Too Low Expectations

Community Impact

- Accountability and conscientiousness is not nurtured hence no meaningful work is done. Goals and aspirations have not been set therefore, work has less impact and unfulfilling.

Relationships with other leaders

- When expectations are not set within the committee heads, less collaboration and initiation on prospective activities that the organization was supposed to conduct are expected. Leaders who aren't able to set expectations and goals beforehand fail to reiterate the importance of each and everyone's role in the success and growth of the organization.

Too Low Warmth

Community Impact

- Low warmth means low compassion and less understanding on the receiving end of the two way process we call communication. Members might feel as if they are in a judgemental environment where misunderstanding and conflict thrive. Meaningful connections is far to be seen when there is minimal warmth given.

Relationships with Other Leaders

- In an organization as diverse as 7Cups, leaders come from different walks of life with different stories to tell. This difference might be an enemy if there is little warmth, compassion and understanding thriving amongst them. Leaders have responsibility outside of the organization and it is important to recognize and empathize with each and every individual that makes up the foundation of the organization.

Having too little expectations or warmth will definitely impact the people around me. I will not be as effective in making sure the member is comfortable and it will impact my community as a result. For my fellow leaders I will not be as helpful to them and it will place more pressure on other leaders to go above and beyond if I am not doing my job properly or doing it without high expectations and high warmth.

@Heather225

Having low expectations would be very inefficient for the community as it would not be able to develop to its potential and would get further away from its goal (to be one of the most positive, supportive, and encouraging organizations).

Having low expectations would also impact the work with my fellow leaders in a similar way as it would affect the community. This quote summarizes it well: Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them become what they are capable of being. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe). Otherwise, low expectations could also be interpreted as a lack of trust in the abilities of my fellow leaders. So it is really important to learn how to collaborate and to know how to motivate others to always do their best when at the same time feeling motivated ourselves to have good performance.

Having low warmth would impact the whole environment of the community as people would not feel welcomed and supported. It could ruin the whole reputation of the 7 cups community and result in a lack of trust in it. Therefore, fewer people would be getting the help they need.

Having low warmth would result in a communication barrier between me and other leaders, there would be a lack of cohesion and a sense of belonging that would have significantly lowered the quality of work and enjoyment from it.

@Heather225

High expectations:

Community- I feel like it would be a fast paced robotic world. No one would have time to understand their duties and needs while just rushing to meet goals set by someone.

Impact on fellow leaders- Leaders would not be productive, i.e., they might be fulfilling an organisational goal but don't have the time or resources to reach their own goals

Low expectations:

Community- There might be increased personal fulfillment but low productivity rates.

Impact on leaders- Leaders will be met with a disorganised workplace where co-workers are happy but no motivation or drive exists in the workplace leading it to be stagnant.

I think it would be hard for someone to perform well and flourish in 7cups if they have an imbalance of high expectations and high warmth. Having too low expectations won't help you grow or help build our community, however if you don't practice high warmth I think your motivation and self -growth is hindered. It's much easier to do well in a loving environment. If you don't practice high expectations and high warmth you won't be able to work as well with your fellow leaders because you wouldn't be pushing and helping each other to grow.

Low expectations:

1.) Community: Low motivation → Little Involvement → Slow progress

2.) Relationship: Inefficient teamwork → Being heavily dependent on others

Low warmth:

1.) Community: Division → Working individually → No empathy

2.) Relationship: Tension → Misunderstanding

What an Imbalance of Expectations and Warmth Can Cause

When expectations are too low

1.) Impact on the community

When leaders' expectations of themselves are too low, then the example that they set tends to become a bad example - Leaders who don't bother to read what they are about to publish and who don't fully consider the consequences of what they write set a really poor example for the listeners who they casually embarrass, mislead or demean with inconsiderate remarks, and also a poor example for the other listeners or members who read ambiguous or careless comments that lack of sufficient consideration can lead them to write. It is more important for leaders to realise that being "inconsiderate" means neglecting to consider what they are writing and publishing - either a leader sets an example of being considerate, leading to high morale or an example of being inconsiderate, which leads to the people who read inconsiderate examples becoming inconsiderate themselves, and thus in turn leads to low organisational morale.

When higher echelon leaders' expectations of themselves and others in subordinate leadership roles are too low, this can lead to the higher echelon leader failing to supervise and review decisions and comments made by the volunteer leaders whom they are responsible for. Because 7 Cups leaders are supervising written work on a text-based website, higher echelon leadership would necessarily involve a lot of reading - not of every single comment (because that would be micro-managing), but at least regularly reading a sample of the work they are responsible for supervising. Low expectations and neglected supervisory support by a higher echelon leader can involve higher echelon decisions being made by upper managers at others' request, without the higher echelon leader even bothering to check what has actually been going on; neglecting to review what a volunteer they are responsible to supervise has said (i.e. written or published). Such neglect of a supervisory responsibility would endow a lower-echelon leader with all the power of the higher echelon leader, but without any of the responsibility: an imbalance like this can risk executive managers failing to discover any mistakes which have been made by the leaders they are responsible to supervise. When a lower-echelon leader knows that their work will never be checked or even randomly supervised they may feel a lack of obligation to meet "expectations" at all. A situation like this would risk unsupervised leaders beginning to think of themselves as authorities rather than either remembering or bothering to refer to the references with which they were taught for answers or direction, and the entire system would suffer as a result. Higher-echelon leaders need to read a sample of the work of the team members for which they are responsible, and give feedback and suggestions from time to time, in order to remind their team members that expectations actually exist for leaders at all levels (not just for the listeners that the lower-echelon leaders supervise), and remind them that no leadership role is ever a license to self-dictate or improvise expectations and that the organisational standards and values themselves remain the same no matter who the leader is. Any leader at any level also needs to ask for feedback about their own leadership (usually at the same time as offering feedback to others, particularly if the feedback is negative) - failure to seek and respond proactively to feedback suggestions at high management levels can not only lead to a failure to discover and remedy upper leadership deficiencies, but also can set an example of unapproachability, unresponsiveness and aloofness which filters down through all the tiers and levels of leadership. Negligent upper level administration can lead to mistakes by volunteers in subordinate leaders roles which, remaining undiscovered and unaddressed, can not only be repeated but also compounded, therefore influences poor subordinate leadership which in turn can reduce an entire organisation's morale.

When primary (lower echelon) leaders' expectation of the listeners whom they are leading is too low, then the benchmark listener work standards and productivity levels are reduced more directly., and so is the morale.

2.) Impact on how you work with your fellow leaders?

Leaders who are working with a fellow leader who doesn't pull their own weight often need to work extra to make up for their colleague's deficiencies. This can lead to resentment - the leader with low self-expectations can become unpopular and may be no longer trusted to fulfill their role.

Leaders with lower expectations of their peers and of the team they supervise can tend to try and do all the work themselves rather than collaborate or delegate. A failure to delegate can end up with a leader who doesnt even know how to do a task insisting that they do it themselves and then (expecting praise for) producing low-quality or faulty work, rather than simply asking for contributions from an abundance of volunteers who already get paid for professional quality work with skills that have taken decades to develop. Leaders who fail to delegate are not suitable for upper echelon leadership, because delegation is the primary role of an upper echelon leader.

Leaders who delegate and then neglect to supervise a task which they have delegated have neglected the principle rule of delegation – This rule states that although the task itself can be delegated by a supervisor, the responsibility for seeing that task is actually completed adequately always remains with the supervisor who first delegated the task. Delegation of tasks is a good opportunity for leaders to practice warmth.

Too little warmth

1.) Impact on the community

Warmth is a sign of real friendship and compassion - it is all too easy to pretend to be friendly and considerate to listeners who send flattering comments and who agree with everything a leader says, but real leadership warmth is being warm to all the members of an organisation. The real test of quality leadership is being warm and friendly and taking the time to listen attentively and respond proactively when there is a problem, a mistake or a disagreement - this is the actual time when a leader needs to stretch out the hand of friendship, pay attention and employ assertiveness, rather than aggression or passive aggression (i.e. speaking down to or ignoring volunteers or picking and choosing who "deserves" friendship and compassion or even respect). One impact of feigned warmth is the development of cliques in an organisation. Cliques can be evidenced if, for example, a group of leaders all take turns writing posts to discourage and demean anyone who disagrees with an idea for a new program that one particular member of their clique has put forward to a public forum for feedback. This sort of ganging up* obstructs valid feedback and endangers the growth and functioning of an organisation and significantly risks not only morale but the safe operation of a company. Cliques might also be apparent if certain team or group members are offered opportunities or asked for feedback before or instead of an entire team or group.

(*Ganging up is an Australian or English term that apparently means the same as "piling on" does in the USA - "piling on" means something vastly different and is a quite inappropriate term for an Australian to use or hear).

Feigned warmth is the same as no warmth – empty flattery is obvious to the most unperceptive of people and produces no real positive effect at all, in fact encourages pecking orders and cliques. When warmth is only offered to false flatterers and "yes men", then there is no warmth at all, just manipulation. Real warmth comes from an internal commitment that all people deserve respect, acknowledgement, dignity and consideration (i.e. deserve to be heard) and being warm to all points of view and responding proactively to all issues that are raised, rather than withdrawing warmth as a punishment for disagreement or lack of flattery, can lead to huge leaps in morale.

To avoid sending out messages of artificial or feigned warmth it is important to avoid empty flattery - for instance there is no point in telling someone that their post is well thought out or well worded, when you have literally just reworded their answer as if their words were inadequate (especially if your paraphrase has changed or distorted the meaning of what was originally written). There is no point in making a comment about work (e.g. about a post) that demeans or diminishes a writer and then telling them that you approve of them despite the fault that you have just alleged about them - that's not warmth, it's patronisation. Feigned warmth is the same as no warmth and is not worth publishing or sending in correspondence. Real warmth in a supportive comment by a proficient leader involves finding something specifically positive about what is written or what has been accomplished and complimenting that specific aspect of the work without making any vain attempt to prove you could have said it or done it better yourself.

Real warmth in response to a letter raising an issue involves carefully reading what the person is talking about and imagining yourself being harmed or offended by what they have written to tell you has had an effect on them, and then working out a way to restore a situation where that person can trust that you respect them.

Compliments that are specific, impersonal (i.e. not about your subjective opinion of someone's character) and unpatronising can (for example) encourage and motivate other readers of a post you have complimented to mimick those specific aspects which you have complimented, and therefore can become a teaching technique. Alternatively, compliments to volunteers in subordinate roles which are shallow, subjective and generalised don't offer anything to support or encourage or teach others who hear them (i.e. readers in the forums where feigned compliments are posted). Subjective empty flattery by a negligent leader may only highlight an absence of warmth which might be witheld entirely from their other subordinates, denied this artificial "friendliness", no matter how hard they have worked to present a case or answer a question, simply because they havent made any empty false compliments which would only be flattery and therefore an insult.

Warmth can also include a caring interest in the lives and interests of team members (such as 7 Cups privacy will allow). One of the leaders in one of the forums makes a point of either answering and writing specific encouraging comments or voting up every single post in their forum. It is such a pleasure to visit and be a part of that forum: you get the impression that every one of the members of that forum group feels valued and heard. This same leader even gives up time to personally contact and welcome new members to the forum group in live chats. (Other leaders might well do that too – I haven't become a part of all the forums – I dont mean that only one of the leaders does that, just that Ive witnessed the positive effect of sincere and considerate leadership warmth here in that particular forum group at 7 Cups). There is a carry-on influence from this leaders warmth – the members of that forum group also value and support each other.

2.) Impact on how you work with your fellow leaders?

Working with a leader who only feigns warmth is difficult. It's obstructive for talented or qualified workers to experience a leader who only sends kind words to those who agree with everything the leader says or to those who flatter poor workmanship and lack of effort on the leaders' part, and who are otherwise cold, inattentive and dismissive, even despite hard or careful efforts by other volunteers in subordinate roles who they therefore regard as their subordinates. A leader who only feigns warmth to those who flatter the leader will find it difficult to get talented or qualified volunteers on their team, because their talent and work quality will be ignored and second place to having to kiss the boss's **** to get any credit". Leaders who encourage cliques and empty flattery will find that their teams make up increasingly becomes those who are similarly hungry for the same sort of empty flattery that the leader enjoys giving and receiving themselves. Leaders who themselves crave and demand the same sort of flattery (i.e. vague compliments they don't deserve) will thus attract equally low standards of workmanship, ability and motivation in the members of their teams. A leader who craves and employs employs empty flattery as manipulation, rather than treating all members with equal warmth and rather than paying specific compliments for specific qualities or achievements, can risk forgetting that they themselves are also a part of the team that they supervise, and can risk forgetting that one person is never the most talented nor qualified nor knowledgeable about everything and that the sum of the team is always greater than any single person can achieve, no matter how exceptional that person might think they are. A leader who always expects their subordinates to compliment meagre efforts and who calls those feigned compliments "warmth" will thus always end up with meagre output from their team.

This same sort of leader – a leader who confuses fake compliments with warmth - will be the first one to come up with the excuse that if they are not being paid that justifies them not to do their best and to argue that, being "only" a volunteer, they shouldnt be expected to even try for a professional standard; shouldn't even have to think about what they write.

But they may be able to stay blissfully ignorant of their own mediocracy, because those who communicate with the sort of leaders who only deal in vague and generalised empty compliments to cliques of peers and team members might realise they can also be appeased by the same empty flattery, and will simply send these people whatever hearts and smiles they demand and quietly reduce their expectations about that particular leader and refer important tasks or tasks that require actual leadership skill to someone else.

@Heather225

If a 7 Cups leader has an imbalance in expectations or warmth it can discourage members and other listeners as they would be unable to give proper support and unable to work in group settings but they would strive to complete the set goals but would not be truly successful.It can also do the opposite which would be overwhelmingly supportive but are unable to progress in goals that would have been set. Persons are unable too grow in these environments therefore it would not impact the community or fellow leaders in a positive way.

@Heather225

Lovely post, as always. Thanks so much for posting it. I love it to learn together and become a better leader at 7 Cups as in offline life.

Anyway, here go my insights:

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 believe that if I have an imbalance of Expectations and Warmth (which, as we saw, should both be high), I would be tremendously imbalanced. My work as a 7 Cups leader would be imperfect by being imbalanced, far from its potential, and would also fall very short on what I consider to be my mission here.

Having too low on expectations or too little warmth (or too little of both) would affect the community in a way that my members would not received the support I should normally be able and skilled enough to provide, which would lead to numerous inneficiences and a lack of trust and perceived "status" on my end.

On the other hand, without the combination of High Expectations and High Warm in place, this would too impact the way one would work with fellow leaders, in a way that communication would often be poor, with a lack of meaning and purpose. I wouldn't be as helpful to them as I could/should, so again I would lose efficiency.