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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3 things that I learned:
• trust is essential for growth in order to reach our goal. We must trust that we are doing what we are meant to be doing to further our mission statement.
• I will be invested to by being assigned fulfilling work that I enjoy. my strengths will be realized and compensated.
•failure is an event that teaches how to be better. This is important because focus can help you succeed.
@GlenM (Highlight the three most important things that you learned from the guide)
@magicmango26
Agree with you..
@GlenM
please highlight the 3 most important things you learned from our guide and why they are important to you.
1) The first thing I learned from the guide and which is extremely important to me is that this community cares for the people with fewer financial resources. Most people are not able to reach professional help because of the lack of financial resources which sometimes make them harm themselves or lose hope. 7cups helps them in this time of need.
2) Second thing is trust. Most of the time we do not share our problems with others because we feel that others are not trustworthy and they would reveal and share our secrets with others or would mock, blackmail us. Here at 7cups, we feel free and safe while sharing our problems and sometimes secrets because of the anonymity and trust that the listener would support and listen.
3) Third thing that I learned and is important to me is that We believe in Equality. When we say that we believe in equality, it means that we value each and every person that comes here in search of support. People are treated with respect, love, and compassion irrespective of their race, caste, status, identity etc.
@Zarram77
Agree with you..
I love how you guys expect failure! We live in a society that we try to be perfect, but sometimes we get stressed and feel like failures when we fail that 'task.' We have to try to accept ourselves as we are. Trying to hold onto the past or present is pointless as our lives are happening right here, right now! Perfection is just a myth and we are all perfectly imperfect, just as they way we are!
@ASilentBunny
Agree with you..
@GlenM
The three things that are important that I have learned from the guide are
Self-Efficacy or Mastery: I believe that the more I practice a skill, it will stay with you permanently or as I say, become a master at it. At 7 cups, I am not a qualified therapist to give the best advice, however, I believe that I may have gone through a situation that someone may be experiencing, and I can offer advice to assist. To build a skill, it is good to start off with the small things, then you build on it
Collaboration: There is a saying it takes a village to get the tasks done. At times, I feel like I can do it all by myself, however, this journey can be lonely. Hence working with others and communicating, I can relate.
Cognitive Skill: This skill is so important, I believe when you expose the mind to knew things, it feeds the brain, making it active. To help others, I believe the mind has to be nourished with knowledge in order to be impactful.
@GlenM
I really appreciated the conversation around culture. Organizational culture is extremely important as it will directly influence every element of the structure. Communicating the values and the organization's mission is imperative. Coming from a background of lecturing, in particular Health Care management, I know very well that when a shared goal is communicated by an organization it drives the mission, vision, and expectations.
@GlenM
The three things that the guide taught me about our culture is
Firstly Trust: Its very important to me that people I trust have the same trust on me. I would not be comfortable working in an environment which is not trustworthy or does not bestowe the same interest and trust on me. It would be very hard to work when you think that people are not trusting you or are probably keeping an eye on your every move or they would question your every move and not allowing me to take risks which are based on my instincts and the training that you have provided.
The second one is High Expectations & High Warmth
This equaly important to me if not more. I would be most comforted to work in an environtment which not only gives me tasks which are a little more than my capacity always expecting me to do better and work better, and upon completion gives me the warmth and care that is due to me.
The Third is Strengths-Based
I like this as we recognize the strength that a person has and allow him/her to capitalise on that rather than forcing him/her to work on a new skill and allowing him to fail or do less than excellent work
- It's so important to stay focused. Acting distracted doesn't help yourself, doesn't help the person you're speaking with, and goes directly against the mission of 7cups.
- Failure is to be expected and not a problem. I particularly like this point, because it's something that has been very integral to my success in life/career.
- Operating out of your strengths creates a better experience and environment for everybody. This is especially relevant when it comes to discussing certain topics on 7cups.
@GlenM
Taking care of myself as well as keeping my "gas tank" full and my car maintained, (Mentally, physically, and emotionally) So that I can be the best me to help people in a more efficient way, whether that be at work, on 7 cups, social life, family life, or anything really. A improved you is an improved life. With whoever, and whatever, is involved.
Trust. Bridges. Maintaining. and Improving.
Flow-stating in my already defined strengths as well as developing them even further to be, as stated above, an improved version of myself to improve my way of life and the things I involve myself in.
@MrS7v7n
I know taking care of yourself can be hard sometimes, I'm glad you pointed this one out because it is very important. Thank you.
@GlenM
@GlenM
1. Trust is the core value of 7 cups. It's important to me because safety has always been one of my concerns in any kind of relationship. The more trust there is, the better work can be done, and more efficiently.
2. Operating out of our strengths. Sometimes we get stuffed into roles that don't fit us, and many times we're silenced from speaking out for a change. I find that very counter-productive.
3. My work matters. It's so easy to forget that when there are so may indicators displayed that encourage competition between listeners for someone with competitive tendencies. It reminds me not to take my work lightly and to uphold the morals I promised to.
@Elise849
Very Good
@Elise849
I feel the exact same way, I love that you mentioned the work we do and how important it is.
