Wider Awareness at Work: How Anticipation Reduces Surprises
Most professional surprises are not sudden — they were visible long before they became unavoidable. This essay explores awareness as a practice, and why clarity of orientation is one of the quiet advantages of experience.
Be surprised less often
Editor’s note: This essay explores one of the central questions behind Cultivated’s work — how clarity shapes the quality of working life.
“My only advice is to stay aware, listen carefully, and yell for help if you need it.”
— Judy Blume
With a wider awareness of what is happening around you, you will be surprised less often.
This is one of the quiet advantages of experience.
Not that seasoned professionals are cleverer — but that they are better oriented.
They see what is forming while others are still reacting.
Awareness Before Action
When I enter a new organisation, I do not begin by changing things.
I begin by studying.
Not academically — but attentively.
I watch how work actually moves.
I listen for what is said, and what is avoided.
I notice where decisions truly form, not just where they are announced.
This is a habit I have seen in effective people again and again.
They do not rush to impress. They rush to understand.
Awareness Is Not a State. It Is a Practice
Awareness is often treated as something you either have or lack.
In reality, it is something you cultivate.
I think of it as a set of fields.
Some things sit close:
Your role. Your work. Your team.
Some things are distant:
Shifts in strategy. New power centres. Emerging tensions.
And beyond that lies a wide territory you cannot yet see.
Skilled professionals do not try to know everything.
They focus on bringing the right things closer.
They reduce distance before it becomes disruption.
Moving Things Closer
Imagine there is another leader whose support you will soon need.
You may know of them.
Know them slightly.
Or not at all.
The task is simple.
Reduce the distance.
A conversation.
A coffee.
A shared piece of work.
As awareness grows, alignment follows.
Friction decreases.
Action becomes easier.
This is how influence really forms — not through authority, but through understanding.
Signals Arrive Before Shocks
Most organisational “surprises” are not sudden.
They were visible — faintly — long before they were unavoidable.
Strategy shifts. Structural changes. Emerging risks.
There are always early signals.
Some people notice them.
Others wait until impact arrives.
Experience is often nothing more mysterious than earlier sight.
People Are Part of the System
This applies as much to people as to processes.
A new colleague arrives.
You know their title, not their temperament.
You could wait to discover their influence the hard way.
Or you could introduce yourself.
Build context early.
Skilled professionals quietly map the human system around them:
Who helps things move.
Who needs support.
Who shapes outcomes.
This is not politics.
It is orientation.
Turning the Lens Inward
Widening awareness is not only external.
It is internal too.
Knowing your strengths.
Recognising your blind spots.
Understanding where you need others.
Self-awareness allows you to shape your environment deliberately.
To build teams that complement rather than mirror you.
Learning begins where certainty ends.
Calm Comes From Orientation
Awareness is not about control.
It is about position.
When you understand the terrain, you do not panic at every movement.
You have options.
Choice increases.
And with choice comes calm.
Be Surprised Less Often
The most effective people are not those who predict the future perfectly.
They are those who notice earlier.
They widen their field of view.
They bring the important things closer.
And because of this, they are rarely caught off guard.
With a wider awareness of what is happening around you, you will be surprised less often.
