Understanding 7 Cups Culture (LDP Discussion #5)
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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...
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The 3 Main things that i have learned
1. Trust; I learned that working with 7cups there is a lot of trust involved and that it is with everyone. From the fellow listeners to the moderators right down to the members. Trust is an important factor here and it has to go both ways.
2. Collaboration; To this day here at 7cups it still amazes me how everyone can be there for one another at any time. The people here do not need to know me or much about me but will help out with anything i need and i think that is incredabile.
3. Positivity; I always viewed positivity more as a buzz word than an actual thing. I did not used to be a really positive person when i was growning up and i really didnt realise how powerful it actuall is. The effect your own positivity has on some can completly change their outlook and vis versa. Since being with 7cups it has really made me concious of my own positivity and those that i surround myself with. If i have negative people around me then i used to be negative myself but now that i am aware of it i try to surround myself with positive people and it helps me to stay positive.
@Fergie12299 Good/positive company indeed leads to good mind(:
@Fergie12299
These are all great things to learn about and I loved reading about your third point. People spew out the word “positivity” here and there but actually trying to be positive and remaining positive can have such a great effect on both yourself and others.
@Fergie12299 @Fristo @greatfulSmiles6152 I agree with all of you.
1. "Our accountability comes from the recognition of the fact that if we do not deliver more people in need will be left without help taking us away from our mission."
2. "We do not believe that you can plan your way to success. Rather, we believe you become successful through solving the next biggest and most pressing problem that is in front of you."
3. "We welcome ideas from everyone. We are all on the same mission, on the same path, out here to solve a very important problem. No one is too distant to approach when it comes to problem solving and collaboration."
@BellatheHappyHelper i forgot to mention why they are important to me
1. This is important to me because if I didn't show accountability, then others would not be getting the help they deserve, which depletes 7 Cups whole mission.
2. By solving the biggest problem right in front of you, you are taking down a roadblock and learning from mistakes along the way which will lead you to success.
3. Knowing that someone is always going to be there to help and provide feedback and support me through whatever is very comforting, it really makes me feel welcomed and understood.
Hey LDP <3
So the three things I learnt from the guide are ;
1 - Taking care of yourself is important!
Sleeping well, Eating properly, and scheduling some self care down time is so important! How can we care for others if we cant learn to take care of ourselves?
2- Trust
We need to trust cups leaders and vice versa.. And are members need to trust us as leaders that we are there to do whats right for the community. Trust is a major component of keeping everyone in the community safe and happy.
3 - Our work matters!
Being apart of this fantastic community is an honour! Speaking to people who may not have spoken to anyone in months due to lonliness issues is heartwarming. Reaching out to people and letting them know we care and we are here is an amazing feeling. What we do matters :)
@GlenM
1. Solving Problems that Matter
Finding out what is most important in the bigger picture of life…we are not just some small, insignificant creature that has no power to influence others
2. Take Care of Yourself
The inner child in all of us needs our time to play and to acknowledge our love. Without that there is little ways to care for another.
3. We Expect Failure
Thomas Edison once said while commenting on one of his successful inventions, "I have not failed. I just found 1000 ways that did not work."
This is important to me because failure becomes a part of your success and deserves its recognition in the process.
@GlenM
What I have learnt
7cups is based on trust. 7cups will promote good trust and celebrate it and remove people who don't build up trust to keep the community as safe as possible.
We are all accountable for our actions. We need to do all of our work ourselves and it is our responsibility to do it well and on time.
Falure is expected. Everyone will make mistakes, we need to use these mistakes to make ourselves better.
@GlenM
1. The importance of trying your best to help others, our work on 7 cups matters.
2. Failure is key to learning. If we never fail, we will never learn.
3. I learned that I need to take care of myself too so I can be able to help others.
@GlenM
I enjoyed going through the guide describing 7Cups culture because it reminded me why I came here to become a Listener in the first place.
Three important points I learnt in this guide are:
1) Trust is a vital aspect of the 7Cups culture. This encompasses the trust between Member and Listener, but goes even farther beyond that and includes the trust that exists between 7Cups and Listeners and between individual Listeners. Trust is the catalyst for change, growth and connection between people and the work done here could not be successful without that basis of trust between all people engaged on 7Cups. Trust can only be built over time, through our behaviours in how we treat and interact with one another.
2) One way to build this trust, is to focus on the warmth and friendliness values 7Cups encourages. Being described as a superpower, warmth and friendless is important because who would trust a person who seems like they don't care, or feel safe sharing intimate stresses with people who feel like they are not going to be nice or compassionate to one's cares and woes. Warmth and friendliness is connected to conscientious - a form of cautiousness and carful care for this person who is sharing their deep selves with you. These abilities are great strengths of Listeners and Leaders.
3) Finally, I found the self-care aspect of the 7Cups culture. This is so important because you cannot pour from an empty cup. To take care of yourself first is not unfair, nor is it abandoning the Members here. Rather, it is creating an environment for Listeners, Members and Leaders to all thrive and be able to participate for long-term. Avoiding burnout and overload is important in all aspects of life, but to have patience and warmth and create a conductive environment for all participants here.
@GlenM
Caring for People with Fewer Financial Resources -
This is the most important thing to me. Every single person deserves support and to feel like they are being heard. This should not only be exclusive to those who have money. Anyone in any position should feel like if they were to reach out they would get support in return. I grew up in a financially poor family, so I can understand why help should be available to all. In my opinion, Support should be considered as a necessity and a basic right for all.
Trust -
This is another incredibly important part of 7Cup culture and indeed life. Without trust, nobody will have any faith in the support they receive from 7cups and the site will slowly fail. Having trust in one another will allow us to give and receive the best possible support at all times without fear.
Friendliness and Conscientiousness-
This is my third choice, despite all aspects being incredibly important. To me support that is delivered without friendliness is pointless. People respond to kindness, and will be much more receptive to our support if we engage positively with them.
@JordanPeraltaa It's said great about the first. For me, that doesn't matter who and which is the person, as more importantly that person might need my help, and being kind to anyone is one of great things I learnt here.
@GlenM
1. Expectation of Failure - Learning from our failures and using them as lessons to grow as a person
2. Accountability - Acknowledging our shortcomings and being responsible
3. My Work Matters- Knowing that my work has the potential to change lives and that is powerful. Therefore, we need to adhere to the 7 Cups values in order to ensure a productive and supportive environment.
@GlenM
I have learned and realized a lot while reading the guide but the top three things I've learned are:
The power of listening: i joined this community almost a yer ago and my life has changed so much because of how much I learned about listening, how effective and important it is. Sometimes when a friend comes to talk to me about something, I then know that it's not always about solving their problem but about validating their feelings and making them feel heard like giving them a shoulder to rest their heads on and automatically the feelings started becoming mutual between us.
Being passionate: Passionate is the driving wave of everything, it's better to not do anything at all than doing something you aren't passionate about because you won't do it in a good way. I tried pressuring myself sometimes to do things because I thought that I had to learn them but here on 7 cups, I learned that it's ok not to like certain things but I have to embrace my strengths and work on my circle of influence
Self care: If your cup is empty then you can't fill any other cup. This is how it works, you need to love yourself, care about yourself, embrace yourself and be there for yourself while taking breaks when you feel drained, when you feel like you have to do something rather than you wanting to do it. I've first started meditating here and I lived it, it always made me feel better and I learned a lot of self care techniques thanks to 7 cups
@generousBreeze169
I feel the same as you do especially on that first point! 
I've learnt a lot as well from 7 Cups when it comes to lending an ear to listen to the problems of the people in my life, which was something that I wasn't really able to do before.