Stop Using These 30 Phrases At Work!
Bernard Marr
?? Internationally Best-selling #Author?? #KeynoteSpeaker?? #Futurist?? #Business, #Tech & #Strategy Advisor
I reckon every office or workplace has one of those people that are just full of jargon-ridden management drivel. Does this kind of 'management speak' remind you of someone at your work place: "Before going forward we have to touch base and reach out to our key stakeholders so that we can drill down into the key issues that are not yet on our radar and catch the low-hanging fruits..."
Are you surrounded by people who annoyingly can't get enough of the management gobbledygook and who utter one jargon buzzword after another? Are your meetings buzzing with so much management lingo that you find it hard to get to the real meaning of what is being said? The problem I have with these phrases is that they sound so pretentious and often are counter-productive because they irritate people so much and deflect from the real meaning.
Below are my top 30 most irritating and overused phrases we hear at work. I am sure you have others that you can add to this list. Let's make it the most comprehensive list of unnecessary management drivel ever - Please add your ones using the comment field!
For me, these are my top 30 most irritating jargon phrases used at work:
- Going forward
- Drill-down
- End of play
- Touch base
- It's on my radar
- No brainer
- Best of breed
- Low hanging fruit
- Reach out
- Dive deeper
- Think outside the box
- Positive momentum
- On my plate
- At the end of the day
- Run the numbers
- Touch points
- Keep your eye on the ball
- Back to the drawing board
- Get the ball rolling
- Bang for your buck
- Close the deal
- When the rubber hits the road
- Shift paradigm
- Move the needle
- Game-changing
- Move the goal post
- Value added
- Win-win
- Across the piece
- All hands on deck
What do you think? Do you agree? Are these the most irritating phrases? Please let me know which ones you would add to this list!
-------------------
Thank you for reading my post. Here at LinkedIn and at Forbes I regularly write about management and technology trends. To read my future posts simply join my network here or click 'Follow'. Also feel free to join me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Slideshare, or YouTube.
About Bernard Marr
Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that reaches millions of readers.
Experienced CSM and CSPO-certified Agile manager of transformational enterprise software projects
2 个月"in alignment"
Change your life by LIVING in the present, and BUILDING for the Future
1 年“You guys” this is s lazy phrase, I would like to throw out completely. It is a habit, we should use “all of us” this includes all genders.
Search Information Officer, Product Level CDO, Director Data Modernization Enterprise Business, Information, Data & Solution Architect AI ML NVIDIA Digital Automation
3 年any thought terminating cliches belong in this list
Owner at Vidalia Ink
3 年I am in a college class and they had us read this article. Very well done. One of my pet peeves is the word, specificity. Can't we say, be specific or specifically? Specificity connotes a buzzword to me and sounds fake or plastic.