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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Things I learned:
Trust- Fostering trust building behaviors is highly important as it helps each one of us personally grow and it guides 7Cups on the right path to achieving its aims.
Strengths-Based- In my opinion, this is one of the most important things. When we do work that falls into our strengths, we tend to perform better and this increases productivity. On the other hand, trying to work in areas we are weak in only decreases the quality of our work.
Take Care of Yourself- This is pretty obvious. We can't pour from an empty cup so it's important for us to take breaks ,engage in activities we enjoy, and ask for help when we need. This will help us to work better because our own health matters too!
@GlenM
1. Accountability
I think it plays a major role in a team success or failure and its one of the qualities that I need to have I in mind upon choosing a leadership role and as I work in that role
2. Expecting Failure
I see failure is a great opportunity to grow and I'm happy that 7cups sees this and supports its team members to rise after a failure
3.Trust
It made me feel like working in a leadership role is like being in a big family that supports and believes in one another
The 3 things that I've just learned from the guide are that 7 Cups believe in self-efficacy, not everyone will be a good fit, and expecting failure. These are important to me because I sometimes identify with them personally. I believe deeply in self-efficacy so I always try hard to believe in myself and my ability. I'm also quite surprised at not everyone will be a good fit because that's not what I typically here in other organizations. But I'm really glad that 7 Cups has quite a realistic view on their listeners and members, I believe that would be very beneficial for everyone who come and go at 7 Cups. I love the culture I'm involved in here!!
@GlenM
The most important thing I learned that I want to highlight is how much impact 7cups has in caring for others with fewer financial resources which connects to the second important thing I learned relating to trust because building a culture of trust is vital to everything thriving and a safe culture being built on 7cups. Lastly, the fact that 7cups highlights their belief in equality and everyone is valuable is consistent with the other highlights I listed and something that is at the core of how I want to have conversations with others.
The guide was such a lovely read. While I have so much to say about it, I'll restrict myself to three key takeaways :) :
1. Equality is of utmost importance. People from different walks of life, bring about new and unique perspectives. It's important to give everyone a fair chance and to celebrate each and every person's achievements.
2. Being kind- Kindness is simply one of the best things. It allows you to open up, trust and just appreciate people.
3. Working hard- It's important to try our best. And also, it's ok if we fail! We can always learn from our mistakes and try another time, slowly improving along the way and becoming better versions of ourselves :) <3
@Readylistener
Agreed! A little bit of kindness can go a long way and that's what makes the 7 Cups community so trusting and appreciative of each other 
@GlenM
1.Having negative thoughts and treating others badly drains yourself. I really like this thought because it shows that all human beings feel better when they are kind, generous, empathetic and positive.
2. We save lives through every single small thing we do here on a positive note. Every small effort counts. Our hard work, saves lives. Our work matters. It’s applicable for both short term and in the long term.
3.I believe that it’s very important to treat everyone equally, and not on the basis of religion, country, etc. Our community grows in a better pace if we respect and cooperate with each other. If we can support each other throught the highs and lows, then we can actually bring a great difference to this world.
@GlenM
Your Work Matters
7 Cups is the largest mental health system in the world. Reviews in the app store frequently discuss how 7 Cups keeps people from suicide, helps them overcome addictions, and brings them back to a place of light and hope. This isn’t an exaggeration. Your work saves lives.
We believe that it is a privilege to do this type of work, we consider it an honor, and we take it very seriously.
Caring for People with Fewer Financial Resources
7 Cups reaches and supports over a million people each month. The vast majority of the people we care for do not have a lot of money. We wouldn’t have it any other way. These folks pour into 7 Cups, they inform it, and they make us much better than we would otherwise be. We will always serve those with fewer resources. It is core to who we are and it keeps us on the right path. In order to thrive at 7 Cups, you need to 100% align with this way of thinking.
We Invest in You
If you are joining our team or community, then we want to invest in you so that you can flourish. A big part of flourishing is doing work that is personally fulfilling. Fulfilling work means that it is a) work you are good at; b) work that is interesting to you; and c) work that solves an important problem or meets an important goal (Thiel, 2015).
Trust
Trust is really important to me because I like to be trusted, and in order for that to occur, I need to trust others. Trust is valuable and it can make or break a community, which is why here at 7cups the trust is outstanding.
Strengths-Based
The 7cups System works so well because everyone can embrace strengths and be supported in weakness, and it helps everyone feel valued and confident.
Try Hard
This is important to me because I believe you should put maximum effort into anything to see results, and that all effort should be celebrated.
@Lww873
I agree that having that trust and working our strengths and working hard a really important for development and growth.
The three most important things I learned from the guide is: - 1) Trust. Without trust, there's nothing. Trust allows people to work together as a community and helps them reach their goals. Without trust, a person as well as community cannot grow. 2) My work matters. I'm helping someone and I make them feel better. I believe that the most happiest thing you can experience is making others smile because of you. And for a very long time, I've been trying my best to make atleast one person smile around me or here on 7 cups. 3) Try Hard Unless you don't try and level up, you'll be where you are. Trying hard makes you level up and you learn new things along the way. Understand yourself and have a complete new perspective on various new things that you come across. You guys have an amazing culture! Kudos to you all! 👏🏻👏🏻
@SweetDreamer69
I like to see that you care about a trusting environment and helping people.
Please highlight the 3 most important things you learned from our guide and why they are important to you.
Have Fun and Be Fulfilled
This is the one that resonated with me the most from the guide, because this has basically been my approach to volunteering as an active listener on 7 Cups thus far. Taking the time to listen to people, to ask questions, to learn about them and of course to ultimately support them – has altogether been a fun, fulfilling and enlightening experience for me, which is why I continue to do it.
Self-efficacy/Mastery
Every hurdle encountered can be a learning experience in one way or another. I call it training – hence I very much agree with the guide that problems are like disguised gifts and tackling them helps you level up in life. Here’s a silly example of mine – I like watching horror films a lot and even though I do get spooked at times, I continue to watch more so that I can train myself and increase my horror tolerance level XD
Take Care of Yourself
Self-care is crucial for everyone and even more so for me since I’m terribly introverted. I can sometimes feel pretty drained when I have to interact with groups of people or engage in small talk – so spending time to care for myself and relax helps me recharge.
@Cristen
I agree that those three things are a good way to look at things. Self-care and fun and fulfillement are really important. It's important to have a positive attitude about things especially the challenges that we face. Seeing the challenges as opportunities really helps with the positive mindset.
@peacefulIris56
Exactly! So true~ Wishing you all the best in the program Iris~
@Cristen Thank you!!!