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Understanding 7 Cups Culture (LDP Discussion #5)

GlenM July 28th, 2020

Please note: In order to successfully complete Course 1, you must respond to this post. Your comment/response should answer the questions/shows that you completed the given activity. 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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Hello Leadership Crew!

We are wrapping up the first course today with our last discussion on culture. Look for more instructions in this post to take the final evaluation for the course to your graduation. Once you have this course complete, you will be 20% done the Leadership Development Program. Good work!

Let's start by looking at the wikipedia definition of culture:

--Culture (/ÃkÃltÃÃr/) is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.[1]

We take culture seriously on 7 Cups because it is the heart of how we operate. A wise person once said: You teach what you know, but you reproduce who you are. We can have all of the best training content we want, but if our culture is not strong, then we will not be successful in growing a thriving, compassionate, community that will make a global impact.

Every organization has a culture whether by design or by default. When culture (including values and mission are not called out or made explicit, the organization defaults to an implicit or unstated culture. The unnamed culture is not always great for the end users or the community. An example of a common and implicit cultural rule or norm is that the person that makes the most money or the organization is the most important. People that work in this organization then, naturally, because it is the culture, start organizing themselves around ways to make more and more money. The ones at the top of the hierarchy are the ones that make the most money. 7 Cups cares less about money and more about compassion. We call out compassion and celebrate compassionate people because that is central to the work we do.

Please read our guide here to deeply understand our culture. We have made it explicit because we believe it is important to help us all be accountable to what we stand for and believe in. As leaders on 7 Cups, you will be models that emulate our culture and values.

One theme you'll notice in our guide is that it is very proactive, which is the opposite of reactive. We act first, we design first, we implement first in order to make an impact. Companies that react allow events to shape them; we instead try to focus on where we can have influence and shape events before they shape our community.

Part of being proactive is critical because building culture online is more challenging than building a culture offline. Offline interpersonal and group relationships are easier in a number of ways. People are generally much better behaved when they are right in front of you and it is easier for people to sync up and work towards a common goal. Online cultures have less of these natural strengths so you have to be extra proactive to build a strong culture. Look at most communities on the Internet. Unfortunately, they tend to devolve and become less than safe places with a lot of hate, sexual, and harmful behaviors. Our training system, the badges, word filters, moderators, etc. (dozens of behaviors we do) are all designed to proactively build and reinforce our culture so that we do not experience this same kind of entropy. Internet culture can be like an escalator going down. You have to be very proactive and take 2 or 3 steps up at a time to maintain and strengthen gains. As a leader on 7 Cups, you will be part of that group that gets behind us and enables us to continue making forward momentum.

That provides the broader background context to why we care so much about our culture and values at 7 Cups. They are core to our work.

To help make it more real, in this post, please highlight the 3 most important things you learned from our guide and why they are important to you.


After posting, please...

1. Take the course exam here to complete course 1.
2. Take the leadership oath here
3. Fill out the End of Trial form to complete your trial!
4. Proceed to Course 2!


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

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SympatheticStrawberrySmoothie December 30th, 2020

@GlenM

This guide taught me and reminded me a lot about the main message that 7Cups wants to get across. I believe that the three main things that this guide showed me are:

1. ACCOUNTABILITY - It's important to remember that the work here on 7Cups is important and demanding, and that people are counting on each other, something much more difficult to do online. So, it's crucial to remain accountable of all your conversations and roles here to maintain this community a healthy and prosperous environment!

2. YOU HAVE A GAS TANK AND 7CUPS HAS A GAS TANK - This metaphor of a gas tank really resonated with me since I believe it is very accurate. Not only is it important for us, as leaders and members of 7Cups, to fill up the community tank as best as we can, but it is also important to fill our own tanks with positive behaviours and self-care initiatives so that both community and individual can thrive!

3. HAVE FUN AND BE FULFILLED - Sometimes it can feel quite serious and difficult to do some things here on 7Cups. But it is so utterly important to remember that this community is a great place and that this work is fulfilling! Every time I log off of 7Cups I feel warmer inside. And this guide helped me remember that.

Thank you so much for putting everything that 7Cups embodies in one beautiful place!

1 reply
January 11th, 2021

Thoses are some good points

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iwishuwell December 31st, 2020

@GlenM

iwishuwell December 31st, 2020

@GlenM

3 most important things I learned from the guide are:

1) trust is very important, only through this we can help each other out

2) what I do matter here and this doesn't mean that if I fail my whole life is over, failure is human and we must come up, own it, and do a comeback and work harder next time

3) and equality is very important too we must love everyone the same and never judge another cause in the end we all are human

2 replies
January 11th, 2021

Good to keep thoses in mind where being on cups

specialSnow9454 January 12th, 2021

@iwishuwell learnings for life, 💖

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mxmes January 2nd, 2021

@GlenM

The 3 things that are important to me & that I have learned from the guide are:

We Believe in Equality, it's the fact that 7 cups does believe in this. A lot of organizations and places don't, which causes division. I feel as though believing in equality brings us all together as a community with no judgement which allows people to feel welcomed and wanted.

Trust, it plays a big part within the community. Without trust I don't think half the people would be here, you have to trust yourself along with the people you talk to or the people you are building a community with. I believe if you do not trust yourself first then you won't be be able to trust anyone fully at all, see I learned a lot of things from 7 cups and I officially trust this community along with all my wonderful listener friends and member friends I made. As the guide said, "if we do not trust one another, then we will not be able to grow and 7 Cups will not reach its mission.".

Your Work Matters, it's like telling all the people who have signed up to be a leader and/or a listener that you matter & so does your work. It is a great honor to be able to do this for people, some people are studying psychology and is interested in learning about. This gives people a great opportunity to experience things and practice all while learning and working!

2 replies
January 11th, 2021

Knowing that you work matters is a big one.

specialSnow9454 January 12th, 2021

@mxmes Great learning to be on 7 cups❤️

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specialSnow9454 January 3rd, 2021

CARING FOR PEOPLE: We need to care for people, somemay not have adequate resources but that doesn't mean that we should not try to provide it.

BEING PASSIONATE: A work that you are not passionate about doesn't feel like work, it feels fun. And it also makes the work more effective because putting efforts would be easier.

SELF-CARE: Caring about yourself is equally important as caring for others. If you feel drained yourself you can not care for others efficiently.

1 reply
January 11th, 2021

Well said

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January 18th, 2021

@GlenM

The first thing I learned was that our work matters i.e. our efforts are making a change. By volunteering as a listener we are saving the lives of people which is a colossal thing. Being a listener is most definitely a great privilege and honor.
The second thing was how important trust, friendliness, and conscientiousness is. There has to be trust from both the sides i.e. me on the community and community's trust on me. Friendliness and conscientiousness increases trust which enables us to help the community reach its goals. We need to take care of ourselves too and this tells that that community really cares for us and understands that we also might need help at times.

SirenSymphony21 January 20th, 2021

@GlenM

The three things that I learn from your guide was:

1) Trusting each other in the community is an important aspect. It allows us to grow and develop as a human being.

2) It is significant to set high expectations which this community has done well. This community is also very warm and accepting of everyone because it is important to take risks and grow

3) It is also important to work on your strength. when we focus on developing our strengths, we grow faster than when trying to improve our weaknesses. Plus, people who use their strengths are happier, less stressed, and more confident

IceCream4IceCream January 21st, 2021

@GlenM

To help make it more real, in this post, please highlight the 3 most important things you learned from our guide and why they are important to you.

1. Strengths- based: As an individual aspiring to develop and promote strengths-based psychological interventions, this headline in the guide resonanted with me. For too long has the mental health community focused on individual shortcomings which raises the question of whether such an approach actually helps people. In helping others, we must also look at ourselves that way. I also relate when it comes to my values: I don't believe I can a job unless it draws on my strengths because otherwise it will drain me. It will make me question the point of everything because it feels so much less fulfilling.

2. Take care of Yourself: We are often our worst enemies. I can support others but when it comes to myself, I'm not always good at taking care of myself. I am learning to build build a stronger self-care system to improve my own satisfaction in life, and to really thrive in all my endeavours. How can I be there for others if I can't be there for myself.

3. Collaborate: Collaboration is so well implented in the 7cups community and underlies everything 7cups does. I have received so much help from mentors and other community leaders along the way, and this has really helped to integrate into the community. It has also broadened my horizons. I haven't had the best experiences with collaboration in the past when it comes to group projects in an academic setting, but 7cups has proved that collaboration can be successful and incredibly fulfilling.

1 reply
Cristen April 15th, 2021

@jovialButterfly6752
Hello butterfly! I like the way you explained your points especially on the first one! Doing work that's not based on our strengths can really be draining and unfulfilling!

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goldenFriend9335 January 24th, 2021

@GlenM

goldenFriend9335 January 24th, 2021

@GlenM

Sorry not what i meant to do! What I learned is that what we do here really does matter. And that we need to do work we like, are good at and are interested in, that we are all held accountable