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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@GlenM
I have learned many things from the guide, but the three important things include :
1. Expecting Failure : "Failure is nothing to be scared of and it is nothing to worry about as long as you are focused and trying." Failure is a natural happening that happens to everyone but the point is how you view failure. Failures teach us much more than success thus it is important to learn from it and make them path towards success.
2. Accoundability : This is, according to me a very imporatant aspect. We need to be accountable of our actions. Its important for me to be someone who can effectively, efficiently, and independently meet deadlines, complete tasks and manage your workload.
3. Equality : Every person is valuable and every person is deserve to be treated with equal respect, enjoys equal freedom, and equal rights irrespective of the gender orientation, race, religion, or any other difference. As a part of 7cups community, we embrace diversity and consider it key in bringing varied perspectives and solutions to difficult problems.
@GlenM
Almost certainly one of the best and most important things that I read on the post is that our work matters. We touch millions of lives every month, and through this we can acknowledge that what we do as a community is so important, special and to a degree, essential.
The second important thing I picked up is that basically, failure is expected and perhaps to a degree, encouraged. If we always get everything right the first time around, we don't do any learning! Failure does not mean that we will never succeed. It only means that we have not found the right/perfect way through.
Finally, another very important item I noticed was equality. Our generations are constantly evolving, changing for the greater good! 7 Cups is a platform that embraces all people, regardless of ethnicity, gender, orientation, hair colour, favourite reality TV show - the list is endless! 💙
@GlenM
3 things that stood out to me in the 7 cups guide are:
Friendliness and contientiousness: As a listener here on the site, it is so important to be kind to fellow voluteer listeners and especially members that come here looking for our support. They are the most in need of our kindness and it is so important to uphold that standard. This is already something that I see on the site daily and I am so proud to be a part of such a kind and loving community.
High expectations and accountability: As a listener on this site, I recognize the importance of being held accountable for my actions and for expecting a high standard of myself and my fellow listeners. It is an honor to be a part of a community that upholds standards.
AND
Trust: Throughout my journey on this site, I have learned a lot about trust and what it means to trust other people, all of whom were total strangers to me before working on projects together or in subcommunities together.
@GlenM
I read through the Culture Guide pretty recently when I was applying for a leadership role, so there isn't a lot in here that's too surprising to me at the moment. 
But, here are the things that feel most striking or resonant for me right now as I'm reading through it again.
1) 7 Cups impacts a *lot* of people
According to the Culture Guide, 7 Cups is the world's largest mental health provider and was reaching 1.3 million people per month in August 2017. I don't know what the current tally would be, but I assume there are still a handful of people using the site. 
Implication: even small systematic changes could positively or negatively affect the well-being of tens of thousands of vulnerable people. So, it's something to have pride in ("I might be able to make a significant contribution"), but also something pretty sobering/serious where it feels important to do things well (i.e. high expectations).
2) Matching people to roles that fit
The three-fold scheme of "are you good at it", "do you enjoy it", "is it helpful" is something I've had swirling around in my head ever since I saw it on here. It feels like a really nice framework.
For example, If I'm really into numbers, I might love that and be good at it, while someone else would hate it and find it difficult. On the other hand, that other person might love socializing and have incredible social skills, while maybe for me it's stressful and I'm objectively worse at doing what they're able to do. 
Everyone has strengths and things they like, and it's awesome to imagine everybody ending up where they're meant to be.
3) Embracing diversity
This connects to goodness of fit, but I guess... I just really love the idea of there being a zillion people who are totally different from one another, and yet there might be some niche place where every person is able to thrive or do something of value. I'm always really happy when I watch an anime and there's some really offbeat character who has a skill that seems completely useless in the eyes of others, and yet they find some way to leverage it and do incredible things that only they are able to do.
The 3 important things i learnt from the guide are -
1) High expectations and high warmth. High expectations keep us out of comfortzone, making us strive to deliver our best while raising our bar each time which eventually lead to personal as well as orgainsational development. Similarly warmth keeps us rooted , helps build trust and provides that caring and supportive environment essential for success of the oragnistion
2)Solving Problems. Problems are a part of life or as said "the problem is the path". If seen in a way , all we do in life is solve problems. Our awareness of the problems, and proactively addressing those are instrumental in our success, for as already said. problem is the path so clearing problems clears path for a longer journey
3)Trust. No journey can be completed individually, the whole universe works in tandem . For the growth and success of any organisation or ourselves , its a collaborative effort of so many people involved. having trust in eachother. If we arent able to trust the pople around us, we struggle with work, relations ...so for any orgaization its imperative to cultivate behaviours that increase trust
@GlenM
I wanted to write a little bit about my personal experience on the journey we have taken so in this Program, and my personal journey so far on 7Cups. (with the intention to explain how I have felt its Culture.)
I made my account over 3 years ago. I was away for almost all of that time though, because of school, work and my mental health. I came back about 3 months ago, with the intention to support others again. What I did not know, was how much the culture in this community was going to impact the outlook on my personal life. At the core are the Members, Listeners and Leaders who embodies this, and inspired me. They believed in me. It allowed me to believe in myself. To grow while I was learning new skills. I started taking on roles so that I could give back to the community.
As we have gone through these Discussions in the pursuit of discovering our true strengths over the past weeks, I have learned a lot about myself. Both directly and indirectly thanks to this program. I have learned where my strengths, passion and true values lie, and how I can use this. An unexpected result of this, is that I feel much more motivated and content. Who would have thought that what I needed in my life was to see my strengths and values in perspective in order to understand my purpose.
The program has become much more to me than being a strongly qualified leader. Through this program, I discovered that my creative passion really flourish when I can help create solutions that contributes in positive ways to others. I am an analyzer by nature, so when I learn something I feel very passionate about, I often start to think about how it is all connected. I put it into perspective and look if it can be improved upon and so on. I love having creative discussions like that with the teams I am in.
I guess what I am trying to say is, Thank you. For the existence of 7Cups. For every single one of you that dedicate part of your life to both directly and indirectly change people's lives. For believing in the culture, the values, and the mission. I know I believe in it. I know I will support it, protect it and fight for it.
Thank you.
Please highlight the 3 most important things you learned from our guide and why they are important to you.
High Expectations & High Warmth - This is important to me because it helps us to be highly conscientious while at the same time we can feel comfortable seeking encouragement and guidance. It allows for the comfort and safety needed to go above and beyond our own expectations.
We Expect Failure - Understanding that Failure is an integral part of learning and doing is important to me. When we work hard on achieving something we care about, a big part of success is knowing what doesn't work. And if we are pioneering into unfamiliar territory, we should not be discouraged from failure.
You Have a Gas Tank and 7 Cups Has a Gas Tank - It is without a doubt important ensure a coherent and thriving Global Healthcare Community. To achieve that, we shall continue to be proactive and work on standing in unity. In this unity, we collaborate, we lift each other up and celebrate each others achievements. We are trustful, respectful and honorable. We wish no ill intent upon others, and partake in healthy, respectful discussions.
(Sorry for the long and messy post, had a lot on my mind)
@GlenM I think the three most impactful things I learned from the culture guide are:
1) Failure is okay and a way of learning. I always, ALWAYS beat myself up, especially in my schooling, when I fail. But I always try to remember that it has made me stronger and that as long as I don't give up, I am not failing.
2) I need to learn to take better care of myself. Seriously.
3) I want to have fun all the while helping people. I am so grateful for the amazing community I have found in 7 cups!
@GlenM
The Three things that i learnt are as below.
High Expectations and High Warmth
Have Fun and Keep Full
Conscientiousness
Cleared the test,:D
@GlenM
There were three things that stood out to me as I reviewed the guide.
1. I like the fact that there is a strong sense of accountability, and it is baked within the culture.
2. I learned that effective time management is a cornerstone, not optional at 7 Cups.
3. I learned that challenges will arise, but we do not simply run away or cower in front of them - but, address them and ask for necessary help, when needed. I liked the team aspect of the guide's overall premise.
Nicely done. I especially liked how typical organizations were compared when discussing "High Expectations and High Warmth" and those differences resonated with my experiences in corporate.
1) equality: this is something really important but not that easy to find outside of cups and in real world, to see eachother as "humans" only
2) expecting failure: no one and no community can grow without having failures and learning from there so this is a really good point
3) caring for people with fewer resources: this is also a really important thing the fact that cups is free and accessible for everyone
and it works because anyone who is volunteering is doing it because they care and they want to help make a change *~*
and about the part (we invest in you) the information under that was something to remember lifelong not only in cups but in career outside of here to ^^
@Listeningsarinn
I feel that expecting failure is important as well. Sometimes, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to not mess up or fail, and when we do it feels like the end of the world. Being a part of 7 cups, being that it's expected is a relief. We can learn from our mistakes and continue to grow.
@shiningDay80
yeah! we're on the same page on that ^^❤️❤️❤️