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?
Activity: Please reply to 3 of your peers in this thread with encouraging or supportive words!
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@Heather225
What do you think happens if you, a 7 Cups leader, have an imbalance of expectations and warmth?
If I have an imbalance of expectations and warmth as a 7 Cups Leader, this will definately hinder my ability to produce high-quality work from me and other members' best effort. When I have lave low expectations and high warmth, the members will feel less responsbile for the work they need to produce than they need to be. When I have high expectations and and low warmth, the members will feel less encouraged as too much of them is needed from less support. Both of these will lead to a decrease in the work that we produce as a community.
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?
Having low expectations or too little warmth will both impact the community and my work with fellow leaders in a negative way. Low expectations may lead some community members to consider their duties too lightely with lack of responsibility and devotion. It will also have a nagtive impact on my work with fellow leaders when I fail to manage my time or keep up good-quality work as a result of being too lenient on my community members. As 7 Cups is a community which work towards creating stronger bonds with each other, creating a culture of trust and care, having too little warmth will decrease the positive, encouraging atmosphere so that it is more negative. This will definately impact the working atmosphere, demotivating everyone.
@UnicornsCottonCandy
Your reply really reflects your dedication to helping others! I particularly liked the last part where you mentioned that low expectations and low warmth will prove to be a barrier to trust and creating strong bonds! I totally agree with this statement.
@Heather225
Course 2 quiz:
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?
If I have an imbalance of expectations and warmth it could feed back to the rest of my team. That is when I would use self care to balance myself back to being warm and help my team with the duties we perform.
Activity: Please reply to 3 of your peers in this thread with encouraging or supportive words!
Done
completed course 2 today my score was: 11//16
Having too few expectations would undermine the potentials of each member of the community as well as what we could do collectively if we try our best. Naturally people wouldn't go out of their way and try too hard for any task if they are not required or encouraged to do so, so having a high expectation as a part of a leadership role is really essential. It helps make sure that the leaders know what is expected of them, this also works great especially when the organization also offers enough resources and help for the leaders to overcome the expectations.
Having too little warmth would strain the members of the community. When people don't connect with each other, they can hardly be motivated at all times or reach out for help when they really need them. If this goes on for a long time, the members of the community would feel left out, secluded, and not feel their importance as a part of something greater. Their role performances and mental health would inevitably suffers.
@herealways27
Hey hey! Just wanted to say that I really loved the points you mentioned! It shows that you really care for the community! Keep doing what you're doing!
What do you think happens if you, a 7 Cups leader, have an imbalance of expectations and warmth?
If I, as a 7Cups leader, have an imbalance of expectations and warmth, it will highly affect the quality of work. If I had high expectations and low warmth, then the end result would be not up to the mark as I would continue to expect work of high quality from people but not be willing to support them. We need to expect a high quality of work, but, at the same time, be willing to support and guide them towards reaching that expectation. If I have low expectations and high warmth, then people will feel supported but they won't be able to reach their true potential due to low expectations.
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- Having too low expectations will wind up undermining achievements. People will be working, but they won't be able to reach their true capability because so less is expected of them. High expectations will improve performance as it will push people to their limits. Hence, I believe that too low of expectations is bad for the community as the quality of work will be low and people won't get the opportunity to explore hidden potential. Too little warmth will be bad for the community too as leaders should be equipped to expect results as well as guide people towards achieving the required result.
2. How I work with fellow leaders- An imbalance of expectations and warmth will strain my relationship with fellow leaders. If we lack compassion and understanding for each other, we will not be able to work collaboratively due to lack of strong relationships. Too low expectations will mean that my fellow leaders will not be able to trust me with fulfilling my responsibilities properly. If one member on the team has too low expectations, they can bring the whole team down.
Hence, too low of expectations and too little warmth affects both the community and my work with fellow leaders negatively..
@cuteeeezombieeee
your answered are so throughout and carefully laid out! I will learnt from you to use different text color next time! <3
@Heather225
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?
1) having too little warmth might lead to non-connectedness in the 7cups community, we might become strangers without compassions towards each other, finding it hard to share and everyone will start being seperated. having too little expectation might lead to everyone believing less of themselves, not pushing and growing past current limitations.
2) having too little warmth might make fellow ldeaders become competitive towards each others as each person is only solely focusing on developing themselves, thus cannot support each other. having too little expectations might allow fellow leaders to loose motivation and drive to grow upon their own limits and thus they can be lazier and start slacking off.
@Bu123
What do you think happens if you, a 7 Cups leader, have an imbalance of these?
I would be burnt out eventually or I would even quit my role as a leader. If the expectaion is high but the warmth is low, it would feel too competitive and tiring, it would not be fun anymore. If it's very warm and kind but low expectation i would not have the pressure to push my own limitations and creativity, hence i would also quite because of getting bored.
@Heather225
As a 7cups leader having:
Too low of expectations Impact:
- On community would mean my role won't be fulfilled leaving a gap in my team work that can affect the service provided
- On my work with my fellow leaders it's bound to create conflict as they would have to fill the gaps I create. Also that would make me the irresponsible unreliable person among them.
Too little warmth impact:
- On community could result in little personal growth to the teams and thus the community and can have a very negative impact on various roles as 7cups roles are based on volunteering and with volunteering little warmth won't make it work
- On my work with fellow leaders will create more conflict and affect team work and thus would result a negative impact creating disharmony
@Ahmed Wow! Such great ideas! Thanks for sharing :)
@Ahmed
Sorry about that blank entry! I like how you mentioned "disharmony" there. I like how you captured that!
When I have an imbalance of warmth and expectations, I can quickly create an unpleasant environment for my fellow teammates and also might just be annoyed and frustrated constantly.
I think too low expectations will result in the community not realising the full value of 7Cups as a platform, and it would make me, personally, less motivated to contribute. Too low warmth would just make the community itself having no bond, and everyone would treat it as a chore. It would also make me start seeing 7Cups as a burden rather than the wonderful platform it is right now.
@Readylistener I love how you acknowledged the way you make others feel!
@Readylistener
Really like the way you've worded it. Especially the part about how we'd treat it as a chore and the lack of bond that would ensue.
@Readylistener
Thats really a great post
@Readylistener Right, the best potential comes out of us in an environment of both high expectations and high warmth!
@Readylistener
@Readylistener
@Readylistener Oh my gosh! Sorry about the multiple entries there. My browser was flipping out! I wanted to tell you that you are spot on about creating the bond. That is a very important piece of this!
@Readylistener Good point!
@Readylistener
Hello! I liked reading your response. I agree with you and I like how you pointed out that imbalance in those two aspects can create a negative environment for the community and the leaders.
@Readylistener I love your answer, it was spot on and like how you mentioned the relation between personal growth and high expectations and high warmth.
@Readylistener
Wonderfully said !
@Readylistener
It takes a lot to put yourself out there and I'm so glad you could share your self analysis with all of us!
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?
to have an imbalance of expectations and warmth is not a good thing, and i'll try to change myself. I think it will impact the community, less people would come. And with the fellow leaders, they will too be lazy.
@loveagape Yeah, I agree!
@loveagape I definitely agree with the lazy part.
@loveagape Makes sense, with low expectations and low warmth, most would feel lazy and unmotivated to contribute.
@loveagape
yes i agree with you
I think having an imbalance of expectations and warmth can hinder a listeners ability to help members. Having low expectations can cause subpar performance and having too little warmth can drive members away as you may come off cold especially through text messages. I think that having not enough expectations or warmth can definitely impact the way you connect with leaders because it's a lot easier to communicate and work with a leader that has high expectations and is friendly because it motivates the community to do better.
@Lww873 This is such a good point about how too little warmth can come across through text. It is very easy to do if there is not a lot of warmth, careful thought, and support put into responses.
@confidentpanda
Completely agree! Having a leader with high expectations and high warmth also improves the quality of work and the results!