Course 2: Becoming a 7 Cups Leader - (Discussion #2) Service Leadership at 7 Cups
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.
-
Being a leader at 7 Cups takes many forms. One thing every listener has in common is that we are all agents of service. Whether we are taking member chats or we are welcoming a new listener to the community, every unique contribution made by listeners is equally wonderful and valuable.
There are many ways to spend our  volunteer time at 7 Cups. Some of you will choose to focus on member chats and others will choose to be involved with our community programs, or both!  No matter which path, all contributions are considered incredibly valuable and special.
The term  Service leadership  (based on the philosophy of servant leadership, in  which the main goal of the leader is to serve)  can be explained in this way:  "Traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the top of the pyramid. By comparison, the servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible."
Sometimes leaders or community members who help with projects receive high praise for their efforts (and they all deserve it) but this is never to take away or undermine the contributions of listeners who fly a little bit more under the radar. How one chooses to spend their volunteer time on 7 Cups is up to them & we love you all the same!
Leadership - Becoming a Teen Star, Mentor, Mentor Leader or Ambassador.
Weve long said⦠that if you want to be a mentor, be a mentor, eventually youll get a badge. These service leadership roles are incredibly important to the functionality of our community. The individuals in these posts do an excellent job helping to keep our community safe and positive. I am very thankful for them.
One misconception I have heard floating around is that once youre in one of these roles you need to do more, be more, show more, etc. The reality could not be any further from the truth. These roles signify contributions that are currently being made & are not about contributions we hope these individuals will make in the future.
Another way to think about this is - Â if youre accepted to be a mentor leader or ambassador, we will not be giving you more work. Our aim is to honor the work you have been previously/currently doing. In fact, wed love for you to add more self-care to your regular routine. These titles are reserved for successful project leaders & community members who are already involved in community engagement projects and actively making a positive impact. In some cases, we may give you more tools to do your specific projects more effectively.
In this sense, service leadership is simply about where you plan to spend your time. To those of you out there who focus 100% on member chats, we LOVE YOU! To those of you out there who focus on community programs, we LOVE YOU TOO! All of these contributions are equally valuable and important. As a collective  community, our aim is to honor your contributions, no matter where or how they manifest.
In this vein, my hope is that you will remember 3 key things:
1. Self-care - always! Make sure self-care is baked into your volunteer work here
2. Dont take on more than you are able. If you dont have the bandwidth to do something, you owe it to yourself and the community to say no. It is 100% okay to say no. (And if you are asking someone to help you with a project, please do not get upset if someone has to say no.)
3. Remember that 7 Cups is an ecosystem. Every single contribution matters! Â
If youd like to be in a service leadership role, my advice would be:
1. Pay attention to how others are contributing
2. Figure out what gets you excited in the community!
3. Once you have an idea of what gets you excited, dive in! You dont need to have a mentor badge to help out, get involved & start learning.
4. If youre not sure how to get involved, you can chat with a mentor or sign up for listener coaching.
5. Once you feel comfortable with your area of attention, apply for the appropriate mentor track.
-
Questions: What do you think of the idea of service leadership? Can you list one example of service leadership you have seen on 7 Cups?
How can you become a better "servant' to our community?
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.
@DonaldDraper
appreciate all ur support and time u take out for others and the community 
@Yourstruly2000
That s amazing! Whatever happens, we do value your work here, and we are thankful for you.
@Heather225
1) What do you think of the idea of service leadership?
I really love the idea that people who have a badge aren't considered "better" or "more important" than people who don't have it. If what matters is helping people or being of benefit, and if there are many different ways of helping that are all necessary, then from that point of view everyone's potentially doing something important or fulfilling some niche. What leaders are doing is not fundamentally different from what non-leaders are doing.
2) Can you list one example of service leadership you have seen on 7 Cups?
@EvelyneRose's Quality Gazebo. 
Basically a section of the site whose purpose is to receive feedback from the community and coordinate responses to any problems, concerns, or areas for improvement.
3) How can you become a better "servant" to our community?
For a period of several years, I had mostly negative experiences and hostile attitudes in relation to 7 Cups:
- Seeking listeners in General Request as a Member and being unable to find anyone who didn't multiply/aggravate whatever negative feelings I already had
- Seeking support and validation as a Listener and being unable to find resources or people that I felt were able to connect with what i was specifically experiencing
- Feeling disenchanted, dissatisfied, alienated, and lonely with respect to the general community
- Feeling skeptical and resentful toward site leaders
When I see other users who feel or experience the types of things I did, I feel a sort of solidarity or kinship with them... and a sharp/painful/desperate desire to not let them be abandoned, rejected, minimized, or cast off to the fringes.
My hope is that no matter how much love, warmth, acceptance, validation, belongingness, satisfaction, or meaning I might now experience on this site, I won't forget what it felt like to be in the opposite situation and I won't turn a blind eye to people similar to my past self.
@shiningDay80 Thanks 
it's really sweet of you to say that--and it's also really kind that you're reading and commenting on people's posts in this thread. (I remember that was something Glen mentioned in one of the first discussion threads, to try to respond to at least 3 posts... but I know that's kind of fallen off and people aren't really doing that anymore, including me.)
