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...
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.
@GlenM
Hello, a lovely guide there, and here the key points i think are the most vital:
1. Trust : A good community is always built on trust. Here at 7 cups, If we dont have the ability to trust each other and support one another through the thick and thin, we are nothing,
2. Investing in us: Here at 7cups, i learned alot of things. there are some great courses out there. the leaders here make sure each and every one of us becomes a perfect and good Leader in the future.
3. We all matter: Every bit of goodness we do here, every bit of help we give here, every smile that comes because of us, its collecting and making sure the world is a good place. All of us matter!
Thanks for the great guide <3
@DigitalKnight How beautiful words you have shared.
If we dont have the ability to trust each other and support one another through the thick and thin, we are nothing.
Every bit of goodness we do here, every bit of help we give here, every smile that comes because of us, its collecting and making sure the world is a good place.
Best wishes for your journey.
@GlenM
The three things that matter most to me is that my work matters, being in a trustful environment and being around warm and caring people..
Please highlight the 3 most important things you learned from our guide and why they are important to you.
Strengths-Based - I like that we are supposed to only the best as in accordance with our already established strengths. It feels good to know that we are not supposed to go out of our way everytime in order to be good at something. It helps in removing some kind of pressure which on a personal level can do more harm than good.
Collaborate - I like doing various things with people. It feels good to be self-reliant, but working/being at a place such as 7 Cups which thrives on being a "community" - it's important to know that you don't have to do things alone and actually do much better with more minds working towards the same goals.
Take Care of Yourself - This is actually the most important thing to me. No matter who you are and what you do on this site, you are the first priority for yourself. One should NEVER compromise on their sleep, time, real life responsibilities just to do more here. You are more than allowed to say no when needed and always make sure that you are doing things that make you happy and feel fulfilled.
You can't give your life more time, so give the time you have, more life.
@lueurspace
I love the quote in the end 😃❤❤❤
@GlenM
It's an amazing guide. I learned lots of things. I guess whatever it was written in it it was just awesome. And moreover, 7 cups is just awesome place, I don't have words to explain the goodness of 7 cups,and it's like shelter umbrella to the people who needs to talk, to share their problems and feelings with someone. I learned the three things which are useful for me are -:
1. Trust-: Trust is really important in any relationship, community, institution or anything. Trust makes the people to depend on each other, it makes people to feel good and caring. And in the 7 cups, for sure members and listeners truly trust on each others. And trust is gonna help me a lot in building strong relationships with my family and friends. 😊
2. Strengths-: Strengths really helps us to motivate us and to know ourselves better. And, moreover, in the previous two tests I am really glad to know about my strengths and it will help me in my life 😃
3. Try hard -: We should always try hard, no matters what will the results. And 7 cups really try hards to help their members as well as listeners to improve in their listener journey. And trying hard really proceeds us to achieve our goals. 😊
@LovetoGod Good to read your progress about building trust, identifying strengths, and striving to work hard no matter what the results. Hope the program continues to contribute to your self-development.
@Fristo
Yup, Thanks❤
Your answer is amazing as well. 😃
The 3 most important things I learned from our guide and why they are important to me.
1. Operating out of weaknesses is a drain ... Doubling down on your strengths enables you to level up much faster and it helps 7 Cups make much more progress.
It is an important point to realise. I need to know my best talents so that I can be fully exploring my potentials (than putting my energy in those tasks where my natural inclinations are less/absent).
2. You should feel cognitively tired at the end of the day. When this happens you’ll feel good, because you’ll know that you worked hard and that your work has made a difference.
I know the sense of satisfaction that a day full of inspired work can bring at the end of the day.
3. You are going to try 12 things and none of them will work, but then the 13th thing will work ... The key is to stay focused and keep trying.
Agreed, staying focussed in a good-direction is the key.
3 most important things I learned from the guide and why they’re important...
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Your Work Matters - I enjoy helping others and I know I'm making a difference in someone else’s life with the work I do on 7cups.
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Strength-based - I get to play to my strengths and be efficient and productive in what I do while enjoying my work. If I were to do something I wasn't good at, it would probably become more of a chore and I would lose interest pretty quickly.
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Collaboration - I get to work with others with a diverse range of strengths and weaknesses. This means there's a wide range of skills to help build the team. Diversity also comes with many new opinions and ideas which will contribute greatly to the team.
@richuyulin I am glad to hear that you enjoy your work and that you are making a difference. I'm happy to hear that you get to work with with a diverse range of strengths and weaknesses and building the tem with those wide range of skills.
One of the most important things I learned from the 7Cups Culture Guide is how much the work we do here at 7Cups really matters, whether it is the Admin team, Listener Coaches, Group Moderators, Developers, or Verified Listeners. Each and everyone of us plays into how 7Cups work. Without Developers there wouldn’t be a website, without Listener Coaches there wouldn’t be anybody to help Listeners improve, without Group Moderators the site could become a very toxic and hurtful space. We are all important here, and the work we do as a whole literally helps to save peoples lives.
Taking care of yourself is also important. You have to take care of yourself in order to help someone else, which is one of 7Cups main goals. We need to eat and sleep well, stay hydrated, and take breaks. We need to ask for help, surround ourselves with loving people, and face our personal problems. If we don’t take care of ourselves, then we won’t be able to complete the best work, and as mentioned above the work we do on 7Cups is extremely important.
And finally, we need to have fun. If we aren’t having fun while doing what we do, then we aren’t going to complete it in the best way possible, and we probably are not going to be as passionate. This means we have to enjoy listening to others, engaging in forum or group support conversations, helping out the community, supporting others, etc. Again, this plays into knowing how important the work we do here is. By enjoying the work you do it will help you succeed and grow, and you will likely have a passion for that work and want to keep improving, and by doing this at 7Cups we are able to support more and more people as we continue to grow.
@IcedEthan
Hey Ethan! I totally agree with all that you said; the work we do here is so meaningful and self-care is just as important. As well, if we don't enjoy what we do, then we probably won't make the best out of it. I'm glad you're here on 7 Cups and able to make a difference in someone's life!
The three most important takeaways for me were 1) the importance of self-care 2) volunteer work helps the person volunteering almost as much as the recipient 3) pro activity is better than reactivity in exchanges These are important to me because they are areas that I need to work on further. Thank you for this post.
@ThisIsLauren Yes. I agree that self-care is really important and that the volunteer work ends up helping more than just the volunteer. Proactiveness is important.
The three most important things I learned in the guide was equality, collaboration, and realizing that your work matters! In terms of equality, everyone deserves to be shown respect and love and kindness regardless of who they are! They may feel left out so it's important as a 7 cups listener to make them feel welcome. With collaboration, it can be scary doing things alone. It's easier and more efficient to talk and collaborate with other people to come up with good ideas! Lastly, realizing your work matters is important because you have to make sure you are doing good mentally before you can help others and realizing how big of an impact you have is important so you can keep doing that since you know how big of an impact you're making.
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