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.
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@GlenM
After reading the 7 Cups Culture Guide, what stood out to me is that my work matters. To some, talking with another individual for an hour can seem like a miniscule task. However, the work we do here is so meaningful because we are providing somebody with the compassion and comfort that they needed to keep them going. My work really does matter and I do not take it for granted at all. I am honoured to be able to provide emotional support to make a difference in one’s day.
Another point that stood out to me was that I need to flourish in the work I do, for 7 Cups to invest in me. I am glad to say that by providing emotional support, I am being personally fulfilled. I believe I am a good listener, I am interested in providing emotional relief, and I work toward solving the concern that people reach out with.
Lastly, another important thing that I learned was that failure is expected. I have a big fear of failure and rejection, so I normally don’t partake in situations where there is a large possibility for failure. I have had a couple instances where I did not meet the needs of my Member, and this was discouraging. However, as the guide mentioned, the key is to stay focused and keep trying. I am happy to say that I have had success in majority of the chats I have taken. It is comforting to know that no one is perfect, and failure is natural. But we must always keep moving forward. :)
I learned that my work here does matter and I do make a difference in the lives of the members.
I learned that trust is the most important thing in 1-1 chats, so the member can feel safe and can open up about their problem. They entrust us to be caring, supportive, judgment-free, and empathetic. As listeners, being worthy of that trust is our greatest responsibility. There is honor in integrity.
I also believe that you need to try hard and be there for members. Trying hard makes you level up and you learn new things along the way.
1. Learning how many people are supported
- I've always known how amazing this place is and feels but seeing the numbers of how many people are helped each month, how many countries, and how many languages just really made me feel happy/proud/honored to be able to be a part of this! Seeing how it has helped people. And that it can sometimes help those with financial limitations, It feels good to know that I am a tiny piece of that and able to be a part of this very important cause.
2. Not everyone will be a good fit.
- I appreciate the honesty here and I appreciate the care that goes into continuing making this place, 'work', which includes sometimes being honest about those that are not a good fit for their roles, etc.
3. How to keep our tanks full
- It's important to learn and understand how to keep things flowing in a supportive way where we can continue growing, trusting, and depending on one another.
@FlourishingDimensions
@FlourishingDimensions
@FlourishingDimensions
Hi! Sorry, my computer went crazy and submitted 2 blank replies just out of nowhere, haha. Anyways, I wanted to say that I like that you pointed out keeping our tank full since balance is essential in order to make things work.
@Andyallen haha I thought that only happened to me? I can't tell you how many times I have accidentally posted a couple of times like that hehehe. And thank you btw for the comment. I hope you're doing well!
I totally agree with learning about the numbers. It's really crazy to think how many listeners contributed to making so much progress towards helping the members here. It really feels great to know how much of a difference we are making because every digit of that number is a real person with real problems. I'm really happy to know that they were able to receive the help they needed.
- “Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.” —Dale Carnegie
Please highlight the 3 most important things you learned from our guide and why they are important to you.
1) Your Work Matters- As listeners, we have felt and listened to our members' problems first-hand. The support we provide to them through Active Listening is more than we can imagine. Knowing that we support over a million people each month, personally makes me proud of this community as well as myself, because this wouldn't be possible without all of us together.
2) High Expectations & High Warmth- This is my favourite point from the guide. I love how its explained that having high expectations and high warmth at the same time is essential for this platform and community to thrive. Following this motto would enable us to get a lot of work done and receive the tremendous amount of support we'd all love to have, at the same time.
3) We Believe in Equality- I believe setting aside our differences like religion, race, gender, etc and treating each other with respect, empathy, trust and honesty is the only way by which we can grow collectively. There is just no other way. We first need to be open minded and accepting, before we can help others.
@BecauseImBatman22
Hello! :)
I am very happy you pointed out that our work matters. I really agree with you and sometimes it is very easy to forget that we should value ourselves for the things that we do, even if we don't succeed the first time! :) <3
I like all ur points happy to.be a part of 7cups
@BecauseImBatman22
I find these interesting as well! 
- “There are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind.” —Mister Rogers
@GlenM
(1) My work matters - That even if I feel like the 1-1 chat I had with a member didn't help the member to figure the path forward, yet still by listening we gave the member space to vent and talk freely, and sometimes the small thing mean a lot.
(2)Collaborate - When you help someone in need, the good deed will always circle and come back to you.
(3)We expect Failure - failure is a way of learning where to improve and by failing you keep learning and it is the pillar to success.
@JustOneMoreEpisode
Hey there, Good to see you working on this program and you put some interesting points, thank you for mentioning about collaborating too !❤
@JustOneMoreEpisode
I agree with you on these points..
@JustOneMoreEpisode
Hi Just! Failure is really a good teacher. I'm glad on 7Cups that means to get up, learn, and try again rather than ridicule. So many companies and websites make this mistake and demotivate their team. But on 7Cups, it's a learning opportunity. I believe that's why we have such competent leaders here.
The 3 most important things I learned from the guide and why they are important to me.
- High expectations and high warmth. It is important to me because I believe having the right guidance and encouragement in the environment of warmth, patience, and trust can help a person grow while high expectations will keep the person stay driven, and achieve goals.
- Failure is alright as far as we are focused and trying. I have faced a lot of failures in my personal as well as professional life and eventually got the best. I can relate to this completely. I believe failure is part of success and keeping in a never giving up attitude.
- Keeping the tank full. I feel there are times in life I have felt distracted, even on 7cups and it has really drained me out. So learning about it is important.
@ResilientLucky
Hello! Thank you for sharing. The things you highlighted are of high importance!
@ResilientLucky
Important points made there! I agree with "keeping our tanks full" too. Thank you for sharing! ❤
@ResilientLucky flowers for you:
Thank you!
@ResilientLucky
I also like the fact that you mentioned "keeping your tank full" as well. As it's something equally important to every one of us.
@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- Trust: I know that trust is important, but I never thought of how important it is to trust one another in order to allow ourselves to grow and help others.
2- Trying Hard: I couldn't agree more with this one. There is just not a way around it. It is very important to be perseverant in order to help. This involves not giving up even when things look too hard.
3- Accountability: I like this one because it is important to be responsible for the things that we do in general. It is very important to also meet deadlines and be there when we say we will be there.
@GlenM
Please highlight the 3 most important things you learned from our guide and why they are important to you.
☆Your work matters: I believe this is something that keeps us going, knowing that what we do here as listeners, as volunteers and as leaders, our every effort, every work counts and it matters a lot more than we know. As listeners, the most important thing we do is we "listen", in a world where lots of people just need someone who can listen and they can share anything freely without the fear of being judged or misunderstood. Being a listener here is one of the things I am proud of and knowing that the work we all do here can save lives, can bring hope to lots of people's lives, can spread positivity and smiles, is something very important and something to be proud of.
☆High Expectations & High Warmth: I love how the guide explains that having high expectations and high warmth can help the community deliver quality work supported through learning. Creating a belief that we're capable of lots of things and also providing a warm and supportive environment helps us become successful and so helpful in individual's personal and professional growth.
☆ Failure is not something to be scared of but something we can learn from: It is okay to fail, it gives us an opportunity to learn from our mistakes and eventually help us grow. To learn to accept failure and stay focused on improving our mistakes and trying hard is an essential part of learning. As the guide says, the key is to stay focused and keep trying.
Hi, the three things that most important to me are: 1) Being invested in and from reading this its genuinly and full heartedly being invested in. I've NEVER had this before so this alone excites me. 2) Being an Expert, Yes we all want to be an expert at something. Or like myself to know I've always had it in me but never had the vehicle to drive it. I've always wanted to have a role in helping others with mental health. I thank you for this opportunity and giving me the keys to this vehicle. Promise to drive carefully lol 3) Self-Efficancy & Mastery. Wow okay!!! So as an example you have given me the keys to vehicle thats from the scrap heap (thanks lol) I wish to transform it into a Ferrari or Lamborghini. It will take me quite some time to build this vehicle, it will require a lot of self-efficacy and learning to create my mastery. The outside will be the easiest BUT the inside the engine ( heart) will take time to ensure the engine runs smoothly and can handle all weather's & storms ( obstacles) it will face. Many times it may need a re-tweaking here or there but all the time we are re-crafting our Mastery and building our vehicles stronger.
@GlenM
"We expect failure" - This was big for me because I am a perfectionist. When I fail at something I always worry if I will get in trouble or something. In reality it has to be expected that as listeners we won't be perfect. If there is a situation about a breakup and they need only a place to vent and you start talking this may upset them. You just never know until you start talking with the member how the chat is going to go, and that it is ok to fail.
"Equality" is something I always speak about. Every human being has a right, in my opinion, to the same treatment as anyone else. It shouldn't matter the race, ethnicity, religion, or gender what someone is to be treated nice and fair. As listeners we have that role when we are engaging with anyone, but especially our members. Members are reaching out for help and it is our job to make them feel like they are heard and understood
"Your Work Matters" - When I first became a listener I was unsure of how much of an impact I'd be able to make. After a while though I understood that even if I helped one person then that was enough. Our roles really do matter because we are there for those who are having a rough day and some who are having the worst day of their life.