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
Please highlight the 3 most important things you learned from our guide and why they are important to you.
I have learned that our as listeners, we are improving lives.
I have learned to be a better listener.
I have learned that its alright to refer a person, if I ain't able to help him/her.
Please highlight the 3 most important things you learned from our guide and why they are important to you.
1. Artistic support, as the community is strongly supporting all the users in all ways that can make them comfortable and satisfied.
2. Cooperation, as the community is always gathered on one purpose which is supporting the users.
3. Social opening, as it allows more ability to know more people from different cultures so it can enrich the knowledge for each one.
They are important to me because I'm a very supporting person who like to support always as I believe it is my job to do so and that is the thing I'm creative in so that I study clinical psychology.
The foremost thing i learnt is that my
workmatters
While joining this site, i had a hope that my
efforts make a difference in someone's life
even if it is as simple as bringing a smile to
someone's face
Friendliness and conscientiousness
These two are very essential for the
conversation we have with the members
they must feel comfortable and at ease
while sharing their thoughts and feelings
and must feel like they are talking to a friend
Equality
Its very very important to treat all equally.
the community grows in a better pace if we
respect and cooperate with one another. If
we can support each other throught the
highs and lows we build a stronger "us" and
a stronger
"me" as well.
@GlenM
@GlenM the three things that the guide taught me about our culture is firstly �trust, �its
trust and the ability to rely on others that make this community what
it is now. The second one
is �accountability, �this site is huge and its growing
exponentially by passing day. if we are not held accountable for what we do, the whole
site will lose its depth and richnessFinally the most important thing that I
learned is �MY WORK MATTERS.
@GlenM
The first important thing I learned is to trust. To trust that the person will not abuse the information we give, not judge or make fun of our situations or reactions. It isn't really that easy opening up to complete strangers and trusting that they will make out day better.
Second thing will be our work. By willing to spend out free-time and our attention to those people who wants to talk and not only making them feel better but making this world a better place.
The third thing would be kindness. It help people to open up and helps in forming a better connection with them.
@GlenM
First more important thing is trust, to do the work that 7 Cups do has to exist trust, 7 Cups for me is such an important service that provides hope, compassion, love, equality, positivity, this community is one of the most beautiful things that i ever seen. Bring people together, promotes love, it is an mission that comes from the heart, with goodness, kindness... everything that exist of more beautiful and we can promote and give for the ones who is in need.
Trust in people, in their struggles, to helps they but never forget that trust come first.
Second one is Solving Problems that Matter, emotional health , mental health, anxiety is really a big problem in all the world, people struggle and they don't know what to do in some cases, 7 Cups exists for this reason, to help solve the big problem of our humanity , for the ones who do not have financial resources to seek for help, for the ones who are desperate, feeling that they do not matter, that they do not want to live, they are not loved, they are alone, this is our mission being a member on 7 Cups.
Last one is believing in equality, we are a part of this enormous planet and each person is valid, is important, they have gifts that are unique, we all deserve to be loved, respected , cared, happy, treatened gentle, we are all the same, we are all made of the same things, the only thing that differers us is our personality, our behaviors, we think diferently, act diferently, everyone deserves to be treated as equal and do not let those differences tells us the oposite.
@GlenM
This guide is wonderful and I am happy to see that these topics are what outline our culture here on 7Cups. The three most meaningful to me are as follows: Skin in the Game, Take Care of Yourself, and Have Fun and Be Fulfilled.
I personally think Skin in the Game is extremely important to this community. As listeners, and future leaders on this site, you really shouldn't even be on this website at all if one of your missions was NOT to help others. That is kind of the whole basis of this site, and something I find AMAZING in all the listeners, mentors, etc. I speak to. I find it so cool and awesome that all these people volunteer this time, energy, and efforts here to improve other people's lives. That is my personal motivation to come on this site and volunteer and I find it highly important.
Take Care of Yourself is also important, as I am an advocate of self-care and practice self-care myself after experiencing TRUE burnout in college. Ignoring this need can be damaging, and I have gone through this myself. Though we do have our own goals, responsibilities, deadlines, etc., it's important to remember our mental health status and physical health affect our performance and ability to tend to these things. Though sometimes it feels like we may be wasting time/energy or guilty for spending time on yourselves, I have learned this is detrimental. You cannot help others without helping yourself too.
Lastly, I find that Having Fun and Being Fulfilled is important to live by too in our community. As a listener, I often encounter very tough, and serious topics... but other times I meet members and other listeners that bring up my spirits too, and sometimes, I find that those that brought up serious/sad topics to me can be the ones doing that for me too! Even though our work here can be stressful, it is also okay to "let-loose" and accept any fun or happy things we come across too on 7Cups. It is important to take note of the stressful things of course, but also to recognize the happy and good things that come out of 7Cups.
The three most important features of my character are love, humor and spirituality. I value close relationships with others. I like to laugh and tease and bringing smiles to others. I have a coherent belief about the higher purpose and meaning of the universe.
-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.
= Expecting Failure, because although it is pretty normal to fail or mess up, lots of places don’t expect it or accept it, so you make it more applicable for humans.
= Investing in us, makes me what to invest in you as well. Makes it feel like a two-way street.
= Believing that our work matters, as that will keep us motivated to help because we know we are appreciated.
@Listeningstars believing that your work matters is great <3 it really gives you a lot of motivation to continue doing work and even helps you to face your failures as well which is also extremely important !