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

Heather225 August 6th, 2020

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!

After fulfilling the requirements of this post, please check out the next post here! You must take part in the brainstorming/activities given in all of these posts to successfully complete the program.


This post is brought to you by the Leadership Development Program Team, find out more information about the program here.

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blissfulTouch29 July 15th, 2022

I think these tests have multiple answers and arent very friendly to people who have disabilites


blissfulTouch29 July 22nd, 2022

What do you think happens if you, a 7 Cups leader, have an imbalance of expectations and warmth? I think if you have an imbalance of expectations and warmth you could experience burnout or just be withdrawn from the 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? I think it is a sticky thing because if you have too little warmth such as in the community like 7 cups or in your personal life people might not think you care and it could impact how you work with fellow leaders because they might also feel like you don't care or they aren't being heard. When it comes to low expectations that's a vague thing because if you have very high expectations people might think you are being nitpicky and that they will never meet your expectations however if you have really low expectations then you could have some carelessness when it comes to work because the people will feel like you don't care. There has to be a balance where you know when to push someone and when to back off and just encourage them just like some of your favorite teachers would do.

1 reply
WarmLightXO July 28th, 2022

@blissfulTouch29

Everything in balance, for sure. Nitpicky was exactly the word I couldn't think of hehe

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WarmLightXO July 28th, 2022

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 community: We don't do our best work when we're cold or unreliable, members deserve consistent support.

Within teams: No one wants to be on a cold, uncommunicative team

1 reply
blissfulForest7074 August 9th, 2022

@WarmLightXO

You're right. No one wants to be in cold un-communicative teams. You have highlighted the need for both high warmth and high expectations in an organisation or a community

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Ninziesss July 30th, 2022

@Heather225

Low expectations would result in:

1. Not letting the community thrive to it's full potential.

2. Me coming off as unreliable which would impact the work in a negative way

having low warmth would result in:

1. a feeling that activity or work for the community is more like an obligation when there's not really a nice environment.

2. Fellow leaders can get the sense there's a lack of understanding or that there's no motivation do so some work.


1 reply
blissfulForest7074 August 9th, 2022

@Ninziesss

I agree with your first point explained under the impact of having low warmth in a community. Your answer was concise and to the point


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kenzolena August 1st, 2022

@Heather225

Q1: What do you think happens if you, a 7 cups leader, have an imbalance of expectations and warmth?:

A: if a leader on 7 cups is having an imbalance of expectations and warmth it will result that the work won’t get done efficiently and that it won’t allow the group to realize that they can do much more and because of the imbalance of expectations and warmth they won’t grow to their full potential, and if the imbalance continues it will lead to a setback for the community.


Q2: How do you think having too low of expectations, or too little warmth, will impact the community?:

A: If the leader has low/minimal expectations but high warmt, the community tends to struggle even though that it has high warmth and that this community is happy and feeling loved there are downsides to this community and those are: that the work that needs to get done in this community with the low/minimal expectations wouldn’t be a lot of effective work for the community or it didn’t focus on the focused areas that this community is supposed to work on.


And it’s similar in a community with high expectations and low/minimal warmth, because this community will be very driven but these people won’t reach their potential, this is because the community has low/minimal warmth.


Q3: How do you think having too low of expectations, or too little warmth, will impact how you work with your fellow leaders?:

A: It can have an impact in different ways. Other leaders would think that I’m not a reliable person and that if they needed help they wouldn’t ask me because they wouldn’t be able to rely or count on me, this will result in having trouble in socializing and that you feel like you don’t belong in the community and this will result in having the feeling that you need to do the work and not bc you want too. Leaders can also think that I don’t care about their projects or work.

- Lena

1 reply
blissfulForest7074 August 9th, 2022

@kenzolena

I agree with your points. Your answers were well descriptive.


August 22nd, 2022

@kenzolena

You've made very good points, Lena.

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blissfulForest7074 August 9th, 2022

@Heather225

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

Having an imbalance of expectations can cause us to stop being driven to grow, eventually to stagnate in our roles, and having an imbalance of warmth can cause us to feel frustrated and purposeless as we do fulfil our roles as we don't have enough support to step up or overcome the bend in the road.

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) As a community, having low expectations or low warmth can make the community go backwards in terms of growth as it does not provide any space for the right encouragement for the members to grow

2) Low expectations and low warmth can give rise to lesser ideas to improve and raise the community as the leaders themselves do not get the drive to be competent or to push themselves for the community



1 reply
August 22nd, 2022

@blissfulForest7074

Yes, I agree that low expectations and low warmth can lead to fewer ideas to improve and elevate the community because the leaders themselves do not have the drive to be competent or committed to the community.

November 5th, 2022

@blissfulForest7074

i totally think both of those can bring a community backward and stoped growth.

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StarrrGirl20 August 20th, 2022

@Heather225

1) The imbalance of warmth or expectations will result in an inefficient community which will neither evolve and better itself nor the members of that community.

Low expectations will push everyone in the comfort zone and nobody will be able to thrive. As for too little warmth, it will infuse insecurity in all, resulting in the much-dreaded fear of failure.

2) If a situation of this sort arises the team will end up losing confidence and respect for the leader.

1 reply
August 22nd, 2022

@StarrrGirl20

Well said, I agree, especially when you said that low expectations push everyone into their comfort zone.

SirenOfSerenity September 4th, 2022

Fantastic job @StarrrGirl20 showing your understanding of the discussion as well as showing your capability as an effective leader!

Two of my favorite statements you made were "Low expectations will push everyone in the comfort zone and nobody will be able to thrive." and "the team will end up losing confidence and respect for the leader." for question 2. Good job!

zareya November 11th, 2022

@StarrrGirl20

Well said! That is all so true.

Josh3889 December 7th, 2022

@StarrrGirl20

Great Wording!

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August 22nd, 2022

@Heather225

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

If a 7 Cups leader has an imbalance in any of these traits, the team will struggle and lose hope in their leader, plus my teammates will lose trust in me, and I'll have a hard time leading. It could also create a toxic work environment if things are not managed well, and that creates discomfort.

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

1.) the community

If expectations are not met, the team would be inefficient and people would lose confidence in me as a leader, and we would not be able to reach our full potential. If expectations are not met, there could be misunderstandings and conflict, which would also cause people to not feel valued or wanted.

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

The work will not have quality, things cannot be managed together if we do not achieve what we have to do in time, and procrastination occurs.

1 reply
SirenOfSerenity September 4th, 2022

@Helpingheart23

I really like your focus on your team having confidence and trust in you as a leader, that's so important. And what's even better that this is not a selfish focus, as you stated this is important for "us to reach reach our full potential". Excellent job!

sincereMelon7870 September 17th, 2022

@Helpingheart23. Thank you for your insightful words. I have hope that others recognize that sometimes we do not achieve all of our goals on here but that is okay and the 🎯 is large enough to get more bullseyes in the future discussions.

yourbuddy30 October 6th, 2022

@Helpingheart23 Yes, losing confidence from your leaders is one of things that can happen, and we must surely avoid that as working as a team helps us to deal things with more efficiency

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niceworldmnd August 24th, 2022

@Heather225

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

An imbalanced leader might focuses solely on getting the job done instead of using the job as a way to help their people develop new competencies and skills. so people who follow him/her might not notice this and so there is no any sign of growth.

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?

Community:
In my opinion , to have low expectations can limit the community's ability to grow.

Fellow Leaders:

If there's a limit of warmth I personally tend to not enjoy it as much. I think this happens to other leaders as well. its like getting the same amount of warmth and mean while giving others the same vibes can make a great difference , which its going to be full of love and joy.

1 reply
Here4good74 September 1st, 2022

@niceworldmnd these are such thoughtful and good points!

KimByeongIn September 4th, 2022

@niceworldmnd

You've answered this so thoroughly. I'm truly impressed!

sincereMelon7870 September 17th, 2022

@niceworldmnd I agree that by just following and getting the job done we may not develop our emotional center and have an exceptional and our own locus of control.

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Here4good74 September 1st, 2022

@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?


If I'm having imbalance of expectations and warmth, I think this will affect my productivity, less work will get done with low expectations and high warmth for instance. More work will get done, but me feeling burnt-out and running out of energy with high expectations and low warmth. Both are extremely important together.

I think this will cause the community to be inconsistent, unable to be a welcoming and fulfilling place.

If I'm having too little warmth or low expectations that will result a bad attitude with fellow leaders, maybe not cooperating to achieve our goal.

1 reply
SirenOfSerenity September 4th, 2022

@Here4good74

You have a wonderful profile photo and username! :) Your focus on productivity and your clear understanding of the discussion already show how great you will be/are as a Leader :)

1 reply
Here4good74 September 4th, 2022

@SirenOfSerenity aw thank you so much ♥️

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KimByeongIn September 4th, 2022

@Here4good74

That's a nice sum up of your answers. You're doing great!

Mari228 September 13th, 2022

@Here4good74

thode are awesome examples of low expectations and low warmth. On ourselves low expectations will not get us as far as we can and low warmth will has experience a breakdown. In the community things won’t be stable and between leaders tension can rise.

yourbuddy30 October 6th, 2022

@Here4good74 Burning out or less productivity definitely affects our tasks, and we cannot contribute as much as we want to. Thank you for mentioning that

November 5th, 2022

@Here4good74

i totally agree with all the points you brought up.

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