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There's a lot of talk about well-being in the workplace: quality of working life (QWL), mental health, company psychologists. At NUMA, we take a more nuanced view: well-being doesn't come from ancillary programs, it also depends on the quality of management.
And it starts with lucidity: the ability to detect weak signals, to clarify what's really going on and to regulate when tensions rise.
A healthy environment isn't an office full of plants or a meditation app available to all. It's a collective where things are said, where problems are faced head-on and dealt with before they fester. That's real prevention.
The manager's first role is to see what others don't: an overload that's setting in, a gradual drop-out, tension that's building without being expressed. These little signals often tell us a lot about the state of a team. Managerial lucidity is precisely this ability to perceive them before they become sticking points.
Being vigilant isn't about controlling, it's about observing. It means paying attention to everyday details: a camera turned off in a meeting, an unusual silence in a usually talkative team, a dry e-mail that may reflect something other than a simple lack of time. It also means knowing how to ask the right questions at the right time, without dramatizing or judging. "How are you really doing?", "What's taking up most of your energy at the moment?", these simple questions help to address tensions before they arise. Being lucid means accepting reality as it is, not as we'd like it to be.
Training managers to observe, listen and regulate means acting at the source of well-being: not in reaction, but in anticipation. This vigilance is not theoretical: it's what enables the manager to act before fatigue, tension or loss of meaning set in. And this is often where the difference lies between a management style that tolerates situations and one that protects its teams.
Managerial lucidity means (re)establishing clarity when the going gets tough. When projects pile up, emergencies multiply and messages contradict each other, teams don't need reassurance: they need to know where they're going. It's not the workload that's exhausting, it's the feeling of running in all directions without a clear course.
Clarification means making situations clear: saying what we're keeping, what we're putting on hold, what we're abandoning and, above all, why. It means taking the time to explain the trade-offs, to spell out what has changed, to set out priorities in black and white. It's not about simplifying reality; it's about providing a transparent framework, where everyone knows where to focus their energy and why these choices have been made.
This clarity restores meaning to the collective. It enables everyone to move forward in the same direction, without losing focus or a sense of priorities. That's what a manager's role is all about: restoring coherence when the going gets tough. And in the end, this coherence is also what nurtures collective well-being: when reference points are clear, the mental load is reduced, and confidence is restored.
Finally, well-being also depends on finding the right rhythm. The challenge is no longer simply to perform, but to keep up over time. Finding the right pace means maintaining high standards without exhausting teams.
Finding the right rhythm is first and foremost a collective task: aligning priorities, adjusting efforts, and preserving time to step back. The manager's role here is central: he or she paces the effort, alternating periods of rush and breathing space, and setting up rituals that allow the team to breathe without slowing down. It's this balance that prevents exhaustion and helps the team to last.
But cultivating this rhythm also means fully assuming your role. Stamina doesn't mean avoiding difficult subjects - in fact, the opposite is true. It takes courage and clear-sightedness to manage tensions when they arise, to say no to a request that's too much, to tackle a disagreement before it gets bogged down. It's gestures like these that preserve collective energy over the long term.
At NUMA, we advocate lucid, responsible management, where taking care does not mean slowing down, but enabling teams to last. Because performance can't be decreed, it has to be nurtured. What if the role of tomorrow's manager were no longer simply to steer performance, but to protect what makes it possible: collective energy?
An article by Anselme Jalon, CEO @ NUMA
There's a lot of talk about well-being in the workplace: quality of working life (QWL), mental health, company psychologists. At NUMA, we take a more nuanced view: well-being doesn't come from ancillary programs, it also depends on the quality of management.
And it starts with lucidity: the ability to detect weak signals, to clarify what's really going on and to regulate when tensions rise.
A healthy environment isn't an office full of plants or a meditation app available to all. It's a collective where things are said, where problems are faced head-on and dealt with before they fester. That's real prevention.
The manager's first role is to see what others don't: an overload that's setting in, a gradual drop-out, tension that's building without being expressed. These little signals often tell us a lot about the state of a team. Managerial lucidity is precisely this ability to perceive them before they become sticking points.
Being vigilant isn't about controlling, it's about observing. It means paying attention to everyday details: a camera turned off in a meeting, an unusual silence in a usually talkative team, a dry e-mail that may reflect something other than a simple lack of time. It also means knowing how to ask the right questions at the right time, without dramatizing or judging. "How are you really doing?", "What's taking up most of your energy at the moment?", these simple questions help to address tensions before they arise. Being lucid means accepting reality as it is, not as we'd like it to be.
Training managers to observe, listen and regulate means acting at the source of well-being: not in reaction, but in anticipation. This vigilance is not theoretical: it's what enables the manager to act before fatigue, tension or loss of meaning set in. And this is often where the difference lies between a management style that tolerates situations and one that protects its teams.
Managerial lucidity means (re)establishing clarity when the going gets tough. When projects pile up, emergencies multiply and messages contradict each other, teams don't need reassurance: they need to know where they're going. It's not the workload that's exhausting, it's the feeling of running in all directions without a clear course.
Clarification means making situations clear: saying what we're keeping, what we're putting on hold, what we're abandoning and, above all, why. It means taking the time to explain the trade-offs, to spell out what has changed, to set out priorities in black and white. It's not about simplifying reality; it's about providing a transparent framework, where everyone knows where to focus their energy and why these choices have been made.
This clarity restores meaning to the collective. It enables everyone to move forward in the same direction, without losing focus or a sense of priorities. That's what a manager's role is all about: restoring coherence when the going gets tough. And in the end, this coherence is also what nurtures collective well-being: when reference points are clear, the mental load is reduced, and confidence is restored.
Finally, well-being also depends on finding the right rhythm. The challenge is no longer simply to perform, but to keep up over time. Finding the right pace means maintaining high standards without exhausting teams.
Finding the right rhythm is first and foremost a collective task: aligning priorities, adjusting efforts, and preserving time to step back. The manager's role here is central: he or she paces the effort, alternating periods of rush and breathing space, and setting up rituals that allow the team to breathe without slowing down. It's this balance that prevents exhaustion and helps the team to last.
But cultivating this rhythm also means fully assuming your role. Stamina doesn't mean avoiding difficult subjects - in fact, the opposite is true. It takes courage and clear-sightedness to manage tensions when they arise, to say no to a request that's too much, to tackle a disagreement before it gets bogged down. It's gestures like these that preserve collective energy over the long term.
At NUMA, we advocate lucid, responsible management, where taking care does not mean slowing down, but enabling teams to last. Because performance can't be decreed, it has to be nurtured. What if the role of tomorrow's manager were no longer simply to steer performance, but to protect what makes it possible: collective energy?
An article by Anselme Jalon, CEO @ NUMA
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