The weight of words. In the workplace, certain words spoken by superiors or even colleagues can have an impact on performance. Some good, some bad. Here’s what our readers have to say.
“‘I trust you, just go with the flow.’ That’s the phrase that gives me the most energy. When a manager says that, you feel responsible and recognised,” confides Julie, 34, a project manager.
For her part, Sylvie, aged 65, HR director, says: “One time, a major CAC40 boss said to me: ‘Your objective is to get our employees to adhere to our values. You’ll be able to do that because of your personality and your experience of working with people.’ A fine mark of confidence.”
“Hard to digest”
On the contrary, for Maya, 29, working in the finance sector: “The worst sentence heard: ‘It’s obvious that you have enormous confidence in yourself, but in this company, your confidence, you leave it outside...’ Hard to digest.”
“There are phrases that boost, like ‘I trust you on this’, and others that have the opposite effect, like ‘we should have had it’”, reckons Stéphane, 55, client manager.
Yvan, 33, working in the craft industry, recounts that “one day my manager told me I was ‘off the mark’. That could have demotivated me, but in the end it gave me the drive to show him what I could do (and nail him).”
“For me, what demotivates me is behaviour rather than words, people blowing off steam, or showing that they don’t want to be there, that really has an effect on me,” confides Émilie, 35, from the communications sector.
At work, some phrases give impetus, open up possibilities and strengthen commitment; others, more insidious, slow down, discourage and end up putting the brakes on initiative... (Illustration: Bernard Hage)
For David, 40, in the marketing sector, it’s more “phrases like ‘we’re a team’, ‘together, we go further’, I know, it’s cliché! But it motivates me because I like the idea of being part of a collective, feeling that special emulation when you’re in the middle of a work session....”
“Knowing that you have the right to make mistakes”
“Every time I suggest a solution, I get a reply: ‘It’s a good idea, but it won’t change much.’ It’s always said with a smile, almost benevolent. But deep down, it’s taken away any desire I had to get more involved,” reports Théo, 32, event coordinator.
From Alexandre, 38, IT, “the most frustrating sentence is: ‘We’ll see later.’ Because you can’t even argue against that. But ‘later’ never comes. In the long run, you understand that it just means no, without assuming to say it.”
“The best sentence is a very simple one: ‘Go ahead and test!’ Up until now, I’ve been proposing but never deciding, and that’s motivated me. But above all I find that it changes the way we work to know that we have the right to make mistakes if we try something good,” finishes Claire, 29, a business developer.
Anecdotes, experiences, surprises... Share your stories at temoignage@paperjam.lu before the dates indicated. In future issues, we’ll be exploring new themes: routines and habits for staying focused at work (to be sent by 1 April); your worst job interview experiences (by 25 April).
This article was written for Paperjam magazine for the month of April 2026, published on 25 March. The content is produced exclusively for the magazine. It is published on the site to contribute to Paperjam’s comprehensive archive. Click this link to subscribe to the magazine.
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