Understanding 7 Cups Culture (LDP Discussion #5)
Please note: In order to successfully complete Course 1, you must respond to this post. Your comment/response should answer the questions/shows that you completed the given activity. Read the post carefully and follow the instructions given. Save your responses to a document that you can later refer to. You will need to copy/paste your response in the course evaluation form at the end of each course to show that you have done the work and to refresh your memory.
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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.
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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
3 things that stood out to me in the 7 cups guide are:
Friendliness and contientiousness: As a listener here on the site, it is so important to be kind to other voluteer listeners and especially members that come here looking for our support. They are the most in need of our kindness and friendliness and it is so important to uphold that standard. This is already something that I see on the site daily and I am so proud to be a part of such a kind and loving community.
High expectations and accountability: I recognize the importance of being held accountable for my actions and for expecting a high standard of myself and my fellow listeners. It is an honor to be a part of a community that upholds standards.
And last but definitely not least is trust: Throughout my journey in this community, I have learned a lot about trust and what it means to trust other people, all of whom were total strangers to me before working on projects together or in subcommunities together.
@victoriousVoice21
I agree with all of what you said, nicely put. Thank you.
@GlenM
Three of the most important things that I learned from the guide are about trust, accountability, and conscientiousness. I believe that with what we do comes a level of trust from people who are seeking help. We need to keep a high level of standards for ourselves and those around us. We have to be aware of what we do and what we say and hold ourselves accountable, while staying focused and aware of the people or person we are helping.
@GlenM
The 3 most important things you learned from our guide and why they are important to you.
There
are many important things in the guide and therefore it is hard to just narrow
it down to 3. But the things that struck me as being important I will list
below.
Collaborate
I really like the idea of working with a
team that supports you. Already in my time at 7 cups I have found many people
are willing to help and be supportive. They do this in a very kind and caring
way, which makes me want to pay it forward to the members and other listeners
that I work with.
We Want to Help You Be a World-Class Expert
The idea that the 7cups team are supportive of making me an expert is a great thing. I can feel that I will have the ambition to not only understand and do my job well but I will be able to become an expert and be able to be someone that other people will seek out when they are in the quest for knowledge on issues such as mental health.
Try hard
The analogy to sport is mentioned in the guide here. I am a lover of sport and
to think that I can apply the same ideas to learning to become a leader in 7
cups to my sport and becoming high on endorphins from all the training I am
doing in 7cups is really appealing to me.
The three that hit with me the most are (1) we value high expectations and high warmth, (2) we believe in equality; and, (3) we invest in you. Those easily seen at 7 Cups and part of why it's such a great space.
@GoldenNest2727
I agree Golden, those, especially equality, mean a lot to me too!
@GlenM
Caring for People with Fewer Financial Resources
This is really special to me since I have found myself unemployed due to Covid-19 and mental health is such an important factor so the fact this is free to people is essential. It offers a reaching hand to those who would benefit from chatting with somebody for free
Collaborate
Working in teams like the anonymous evaluations team, collaboration is essential, we need to work together to ensure we're raising the quality of 7 Cups by finding those listeners whose purpose is to not listen but to troll, by working together we're achieving a common goal.
Accountability
If there is someone in the team who does not meet their deadlines, it affects the rest of us and it means we're having to constantly fix this, if we were all accountable for our own work, 7 cups would be unstoppable!
@FrenchMarbles
Thanks for sharing this. I agree with you about providing support for everyone regardless of financial situation. It feels great to be part of such an important and kind organization.
@GlenM
I feel like that guide is really thought through and explains the Culture on 7Cups in much detail. So thank you for writing this and putting so much effort into it!
Please highlight the 3 most important things you learned from our guide and why they are important to you
The most important thing for me is trust. We are all volunteering here, we are here on our own free will and we are dedicating our time to support people from all around the world. But when teamwork is involved, we need to be able to trust each other, otherwise it simply won't work.
So far I have only made good experiences with all my peers, I was always able to trust them and I hope they were and are able to trust me.
The next one I would like to mention is trying hard. We all are giving our very best, trying to improve, learn and grow each day. I can not only see myself growing, I can see others growing too, and it is an honor to be part of that. Thank you each and everyone for always trying your very best.
I would like to conclude this with Equality. There are people from almost every known culture on the Cupsland and it is not easy to build one that can be respected by everyone. But as long as everyone is treating each other as equals, no matter where they are from, what they believe in, what their identity or orientation might be, the interaction can still work out. And that is just an amazing thing to see.
So again, thank you for this insightful post, it really helped me to understand the 7Cups culture better. 💜
@MelodyoftheOcean
those 3 traits are on top of my list that I value a lot. I see those points in work from you. Keep up all the hard work.
I has been nice seeing you around cups
@MelodyoftheOcean
I really like how you've answered this question. It's beautifully presented and your last answer about equality really resonated with me :)
@Goalsforlife @gentleFox20
Thank you, both of you, I am really grateful that you found this website and that you keep spreading kindness everywhere! ❤️
@GlenM
The first thing I find important is trust. Trust enable people to open themselves up and receive support from listeners, which makes it important for mental health system like 7cups.
The second thing I find important is warmth. It's kind of the extension of trust, since people would trust us more if we are kind to them and does not judge what they do. Being warm also means to support each other in the community and encourage each other to grow.
The third thing I find important is accountability. Although the guide said that 7cups expect failure, we have to try our best to focus and manage the workload so that the community can work efficiently and thus help more people.
@Glencia89
@Glencia89
I really liked reading your responses :)
@GlenM
Please highlight the 3 most important things you learned from our guide and why they are important to you.
The important things I have learned from the guide is
Trust - Allows the community to grow as it enables 7 Cups to reach its mission. How is that important to me? Personally, I have learned that trust strengthen the bond between each individual and builds a strong foundation that helps one to share their weakness and strength without being shamed or judged.
Friendliness- 7cups Community deeply value warmth and friendliness as its the key to increases trust. How is that important to me? Being kind and approachable are primary qualities during socialising, as one tend to feel more comfortable to communicate or work with someone who is friendly, warm and kind because a sense of safety and reliability is evoked.
Conscientiousness - According to the guide, it helps the community to increase trust. Someone who is conscientious is trustable to work hard, work smart, and get the job done. It's also an indicator of success. How is that important to me? I think it's important to be organised and diligent in order to complete a task efficiently. Apart from that, being organised and having a good time management is also a crucial.
@Harsvin
Those are 3 traits that need to be in top order for cups to work smoothly. Like I say cups is a machine that needs all it. Parts to work.
Trust is Important in one parts of life. I think it can help cups run more smoothly if everyone trust that things will get down on time. As some you have trusting. Issues it will help me trust that I not get hurt here.
take care of ones self. Self care is important so you would not be burned out and put cups in jeopardy. This is one thing I am working on right now recognizing when I need self care,
Self-Efficacy or Mastery
I think it’s important to master your skills for one role before you moved up to higher role. Right now I am working on mastering the skills of rs so I can move up to mod
@GlenM
1. The importance of high warmth alongside high expectations feels like a priority and I hadn't realised just how much effort is put into creating that culture here at cups. Having high expectations of ourselves enables us all to grow and I love that cups pushes us to do our best.
2. Expecting failure is a really wonderful concept and I was delighted to see it here. I struggle with this in my personal life and so to know that it is actively welcomed here at cups is important.
3. Taking care of yourself - I believe this to be incredibly important and it's so refreshing to see this being placed so highly in this space.