Cultiv8 Leadership

03/09/2026

🌿 Sometimes the person keeping everything moving is also quietly compensating for the gaps around them.

The question isn’t only “How valuable are they?” but “What stops working when they’re not there?”

Read more in the latest Through the Founder’s Lens.🪴

🔗 https://www.cultiv8leadership.com/post/through-the-founders-lens-the-competent-person-trap

02/09/2026

🌿 There’s usually someone in every workplace who just knows.

Who to call, where to look and what to do when the process doesn’t quite work the way it was designed to.

Having people like this is incredibly valuable. But it can also make it very difficult to see where capability ends and dependency begins.

Because sometimes everything looks like it’s working exactly as it should...

Until Sarah goes on annual leave. 🤨

My latest Founder’s Lens looks at the Competent Person Trap, and what our most capable people might unknowingly be hiding in plain sight.

Through the Founder’s Lens: The Competent Person Trap

🔗 https://www.cultiv8leadership.com/post/through-the-founders-lens-the-competent-person-trap

Most workplaces have at least one person who seems to know how everything actually works.They know which process to follow, but more importantly, they know what to do when the process doesn’t work. They know who to call, where the information is hidden, which system talks to which system and the w...

30/08/2026

🌿 We often enter conversations certain that we know what someone meant.

We heard the words, understood the context and connected the dots.

Except sometimes, we connected the wrong ones.

There is a quiet humility in good communication: recognising that our interpretation is still just that, an interpretation.

🔗 https://www.cultiv8leadership.com/post/we-talk-constantly-but-are-we-curious

28/08/2026

🌿 We tend to judge our communication by what we intended to say.

But intention is only one side of the exchange.

The person receiving our message brings their own context, experiences and understanding to it.

That doesn’t make communication inherently difficult, but it does mean clarity can’t always be assumed simply because the words were said.

Sometimes the most useful thing we can do is get curious about what landed on the other side.

🔗 https://www.cultiv8leadership.com/post/we-talk-constantly-but-are-we-curious

24/08/2026

🌿 I often tell people, “Listen to what isn’t being said.”

Not because we should try to interpret someone’s thoughts or make assumptions about what they mean, but because communication gives us information beyond the words themselves.

A hesitation. A change in tone. The question that gets answered without really being answered. The subject someone keeps returning to. Sometimes these are simply moments worth noticing.

And that’s where curiosity matters.

Good communication isn’t only about creating space for people to speak. It’s about paying enough attention to notice when there might be more to understand.

🔗 https://www.cultiv8leadership.com/post/we-talk-constantly-but-are-we-curious

21/08/2026

🌿 We can spend an entire day in conversation and still know very little about the people we work with.

Because communicating and being curious aren’t quite the same thing.

Curiosity changes the way we listen, the questions we ask and what we choose to explore when someone gives us an answer we weren’t expecting.

Sometimes better communication isn’t about talking more. It’s about being more interested in what comes back.

Latest article out now 👇

https://www.cultiv8leadership.com/post/we-talk-constantly-but-are-we-curious

19/08/2026

🌿 We spend a lot of time talking at work.

Meetings, emails, Teams messages, one-on-ones, updates, presentations. Our working lives are built around communication.

But the amount we communicate tells us surprisingly little about the quality of the relationships we build.

Research into the science of conversation suggests that some of the smallest things can change how an interaction is experienced: the questions we ask, whether we follow up on what someone has said, the warmth we bring and, perhaps most importantly, whether we're genuinely curious about the person in front of us.

Because there is a difference between exchanging information and actually being in conversation with someone.

Our latest article explores the research behind that difference and why better workplace communication might have less to do with talking more and more to do with how we talk to one another.

We Talk Constantly. But Are We Curious?

🔗 https://www.cultiv8leadership.com/post/we-talk-constantly-but-are-we-curious

Communication is fundamental to the human experience. It is how we exchange ideas, make sense of one another, navigate difference and build relationships. At work, we do it constantly: through meetings, emails, instant messages, presentations, one-on-ones and increasingly sophisticated digital platf...

12/08/2026

🌿 We have an interesting relationship with uncertainty.

Most of us want to resolve it as quickly as possible. We look for answers, make plans and search for the next decision that will make things feel settled again.

But not every period of uncertainty needs to be resolved immediately.

When the familiar no longer fits as comfortably as it once did and the next step isn’t obvious yet, we’re forced to think differently. We question assumptions, reconsider what matters and become open to possibilities we may not have considered before.

Liminality. The threshold between what was and what comes next.

It can be uncomfortable and incredibly messy. But that doesn’t mean nothing is happening.

Maybe we don’t always need to know what’s next. Sometimes we need to stay curious long enough to discover it.

🔗 https://www.cultiv8leadership.com/post/the-uneasy-space-caught-in-the-in-between

10/08/2026

🌿 Safety, security and comfort are things most of us naturally seek. They provide stability and familiarity, and there is genuine value in both.

But stability and growth don’t always ask the same things of us.

Growth often requires some form of disruption to what we already know. A different perspective, difficult question or an unfamiliar experience. A challenge that asks more of us than we’ve previously had to give.

It’s in those moments that our existing thinking is tested. We become curious, question assumptions and discover perspectives, ideas and capabilities that may never have emerged had everything remained familiar.

That doesn’t make discomfort inherently good, nor does it mean we need to constantly pursue it.

It simply means that if we always choose what feels safest, most certain and most familiar, we may also be choosing the boundaries of what we already know.

Growth asks us to occasionally find out what exists beyond them. 🪴

Our latest article discussed this further through the psychology of transition, uncertainty and liminality.

🔗 Read The Uneasy Space: Caught in the In-Between
https://www.cultiv8leadership.com/post/the-uneasy-space-caught-in-the-in-between

07/08/2026

🌿 Some experiences are so common that almost everyone has felt them, yet very few people know there’s a name for them.

Liminality is one of those experiences.

It’s the uneasy space between what was and what comes next. A season of uncertainty that can feel isolating, uncomfortable and difficult to explain.

In our latest article, I explore the psychology behind liminality, why it feels the way it does, and why these seasons may be where some of our most significant growth begins. 🪴

Read the full article:
🔗 https://www.cultiv8leadership.com/post/the-uneasy-space-caught-in-the-in-between