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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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?
I will not be able to control the users and will spread negative emotions. I may cause imbalance in the atmosphere of the rooms and may lead to quarrels and non-satisfaction in them.
@Samar19 I agree. There's a chance that we may negatively influence people with our low warmth and expectation attitude. We need to be supportive to help the community grow positively.
@Heather225
If we have an imbalance of expectations and warmth, then there will not be any integrity in our work as having high expectations and low warmth can result in a lessened development, but focused. having low expectations can cause people within a community to develop these low expectations and cause a weakened work effort. Low expectations can impact how I work with fellow leaders as we need to set the bar reasonably enough to be comfortable with the work that we are doing.
@HereToHelp135 i completely agree with you. too much warmth can definitely make people feel like they don't need to work as much or do a good job just because don't feel like doing their part and this really can cause a weakened team effort <3
@Heather225
I think having low expectations and warmth would not allow 7 cups community as a whole for improvisation and enhancement. This wouldn't be welcoming for members and would not really encourage them to open up much. It would case the results to be really inconsistent, unstable and the community as a whole will fall apart soon.
These would also not give me any room to work and be a better version of myself when I work with other 7 cups leaders. This would also hamper a leader from giving their best and recognize their true potential. I think this would also lead to misunderstandings, negative comments, low teamwork and this ultimately creates more conflicts.
@DancingHeart4982
I agree! I think it wouldn't leave room for improvement and would lead to instability, and ultimately the community would fall apart! It's important to prevent this with high warmth and expectation!
@DancingHeart4982
I agree with your answer, having low expectations and warmth can cause an individual asking for help to have a very negative experience. They wouldn't come back for a conversation with you again.
@Heather225
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?
I think what happens is that either work does not get completed, or good work does not get completed. The output will be affected in some negative way, and will hinder improvement and progress in the community if a leader has an imbalance.
With too little expectation, the community will suffer because leaders will not fulfill their jobs. If one leader doesn't fulfill their job, it may lead to a domino effect in which it will spread stress/incompleteness to other areas of the 7Cups community becoming a bigger problem. Everything is interconnected. With little warmth, there will be no improvement. Here, as in other areas of our life, we want to learn how to make the community even better as it is now to help more members, listeners, and others. With no warmth, we do not evaluate or analyze our performance now, and no progress toward an even better community will be made, and as a shared mission, this is what we want as leaders on 7Cups!
With little expectation, this will affect communication with other leaders because often roles rely on other roles to work, as stated: everything is overlapped. If mentors aren't doing their job, their mentees will suffer. If group supporters aren't doing their job, the group members/listeners will suffer. The responsibility and work may go to other leaders who have their own work to do, and accountability may not happen for each leader without set expectations. There would not be a good flow of communication between leaders. With no warmth, it would be hard to approach other leaders for support or help. Without feeling able to reach out for a helping hand, leaders will not be able to improve their work/selves to strive for goals/missions they hold. Leaders all have different strengths and experiences, and without warmth, we would not be able to share those with each other to help one another in their roles.
@mikacv
You have really thought about your answer, very good!
Having low expectations would result in disappointment to members and people who expect highly of you. Especially in a position where we are supposed to work harder. It's a responsibility that has to be taken seriously.
Having low warmth will result in lack of bonding between members. We need to empathise with people who are struggling in their life. Lack of warmth will automatically reduce the bonding
@DarkPiT23 I completely agree with you! Bonding is important since it builds trust and makes this community stronger. And we shouldn't disappoint members and leaders so we work hard! High warmth and expectations will help us in both of these scenarios!
Hello there!
the empathizing point is extremeeelyyyyy important. I love that you pointes it out!
Sending strenght and energy!
Lots of love,
🌸Hana🌸
@Heather225
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?
I think if I was to have an imbalance of expectations and warmth, that you wouldn't do the best that you can and the individual you are helping may not feel like you want to be there.
It will impact the community because they would feel like your not very approachable as well as they might feel a bit ignored by you.
It could have an impact on fellow leaders because they might think this is the way to be, having very little warmth, and expectation. You need to set an example especially to new leaders and to have a balance of high expectations and high warmth.
@Kindwords2000
I totally agree with all of it especially with the community feeling ignored as they feel that you are unapproachable, which will also eventually affect you because we are here to help people and if we can't we will feel like we failed which will make us want to work even less
@Kindwords2000
Great point about not being approachable by the community if we give off low expectations and low warmth. I think you really hit the nail on the head with that point.
Course 2: Becoming a 7 Cups Leader - (Discussion #1) Welcome to Course 2!
- 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?
= The goals won’t be achieved, I won’t be helping enough people and/or I won’t be able to grow and that will also lead to less people being helped as I won’t be motivated to proceed.
@Listeningstars I agree with your point. Goals are important and we constantly need to thrive. With balanced expectations and warmth, we will surely achieve them.
@Listeningstars
Great point about the fact that goals will not be achieved if there is low expectations and low warmth!
@Heather225 As a 7 cups leader if I have an imbalance of expectations and warmth it will not only affect me as a leader but also the community. 7 cups is a warm place and it’s the result of persisting high expectations and high warmth behaviour. In order to sustain its warmth each and every one of us has to be driven by those values.
As a leader, I have more responsibility to make 7 cups a better place by building trust and solving more pressing problems here. If I am having too little warmth or too low of expectations, I can’t achieve them and the community will not progress as well.
Actions are contagious! The ambiguous 7 cup environment is making me more kind day by day. Likewise, I believe if I act with more compassion and am driven by high values it will be contagious to other leaders too. They’ll be cheerful and it, in turn, creates a chain effect. It will thus lead to good teamwork and a better community. Too little expectations and warmth will hamper other leaders work mood directly or indirectly. If we didn’t meet our goals due to low motivation our peers will have to face more work which will be a burden. So, it must be avoided at all costs.
@hopezzy
You make some really excellent points about having low expectations and low warmth and how impactful that can be in the community.
@hopezzy i think "Actions are contagious!" is a one of good ideas that is shared here.
@hopezzy great response, and I really like the point you made about kindness being contagious. We can all do our parts to create a loving community :)
@Heather225
I believe having low expectations or too little warmth could impact the community in various ways. Having low expectations could result in a lack of boundaries and non-effective communication. Having low warmth could really turn members off.
I also believe that having low expectations or too little warmth could impact how I work with my fellow leaders in that by having low expectations, I don't expect much from my fellow leaders, and too little warmth could really impact my relationship with them as it might cause them not to trust me.
@Gnibellen there are good answers in this thread and yours are also have some key points that are important.
@Gnibellen that's a great way to think about it-- low expectations can really result in a lack of boundaries. boundaries are important for each member of the community to follow and it is essential in helping a community to succeed <3
@Gnibellen great response, we need a good balance of warmth and professionalism, as well as boundaries for ourselves.
@Heather225
At 7 cups, having an imbalance of expectations and warmth can totally derail from the mission as a leader.
Having too low expectation is supporting your community and fellow leaders less. It might be hard for the community and fellow leaders to rely/trust on the leader. It might become hard to collaborate and support each other.
Have too little warmth will not lead towards a kind and compassionate conversation with community and fellow colleagues. Further, the whole idea of helping, supporting and saving lives cannot be fulfilled for the community. Furthermore, if the leader has too little warmth with the fellow leaders, he/she won’t be empathetic with them and collaboration, supporting each other won’t be impactful.
@AliveandAlive it is good points to share and possible pitfalls to avoid are also included.
@AliveandAlive i agree <3 having too much warmth with too little expectations can definitely affect the way a listener works with other people and can cause them to not collaborate with others when it is really needed just because they have the freedom to do what they want.
@AliveandAlive
absolutely!! Good points and properly put.
