Stop Buzzing Those Words, Man

[Adm_Hawthorne]

Workplace Buzzwords to Avoid

If you read this, you'll see that it's based on a Robert Half poll.

I use to work for Robert Half (until the recession came and I was laid off... *grumble*). You know what I find funny here? They use these phrases all the time.

Included on that list should be:
Reach Out
Going Forward
Outside the Box

Those are used a great deal as well.

Frankly, though, I think not using business catchphrases, which are what Buzzwords are, makes the people in the industry where you're working think you're out of the loop of things in your field. You know what I mean?

When I started at RHI, I never used "reach out". I always said, "I'll get back with you" or "I'll return their call" or "I'll give them a call"... you get the picture. No one took me seriously until I broke down and started using "reach out" for contact references.

Bottom line, maybe we should just use buzzwords in moderation but not get rid of them. What do you think?

 

[John Picard]

Workplace Buzzwords to Avoid

If you read this, you'll see that it's based on a Robert Half poll.

I use to work for Robert Half (until the recession came and I was laid off... *grumble*). You know what I find funny here? They use these phrases all the time.

Included on that list should be:
Reach Out
Going Forward
Outside the Box

Those are used a great deal as well.

Frankly, though, I think not using business catchphrases, which are what Buzzwords are, makes the people in the industry where you're working think you're out of the loop of things in your field. You know what I mean?

When I started at RHI, I never used "reach out". I always said, "I'll get back with you" or "I'll return their call" or "I'll give them a call"... you get the picture. No one took me seriously until I broke down and started using "reach out" for contact references.

Bottom line, maybe we should just use buzzwords in moderation but not get rid of them. What do you think?

I just read that same article before you started this thread, and you hit the nail on the head regarding Robert Half. That company is the absolute worst about buzz word abuse. I got fed up dealing with Robert Half for I/T when job searching because of their stupid quizzes for correct fits and all that. RH has an ugly habit of coming out with a news release every few months about resume do's and don'ts which always conflict with each other. I think RH's mission is to keep everyone confused so that they (RH) still has some kind of role in the job placement game.

 

[Adm_Hawthorne]

Well, they have been around for 60 years. They must be doing something right.

I worked as an admin. asst, not a recruiter. So, I had a different view of their internal operations.

But, yeah, buzzwords were practically hanging in the air in the offices I worked in. I would catch myself using them outside of the RHI walls, and my friends would look at me like I had lost my mind.

It was sad.

The fact that they set the industry standard for so many things in the hiring and recruiting field does boggle my mind when you consider how many thing they do themselves that they tell others to be sure not to do.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I've gotten sick of the word "ePrescribing," which is a huge buzzword in the healthcare industry these days. They throw it around like it's some amazing new thing. Well, it isn't. It's just transmitting a prescription from doctor to pharmacy without handing the patient a slip of paper. Yeah, that's nice. Welcome to the mid-'90s!

I'm generally okay with buzzwords that actually communicate something. Buzzwords used to make marketing points can fuck off, though: deliverable, productize, synergize, etc.

 

[Adm_Hawthorne]

Oh... how long has synergize been around? We're talking at least a decade. We should have a better word by now.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I know what you mean! I just started volunteer training for my local science centre, which required me to read a lot of documentation, and it was almost nothing but buzzwords. Which is fine to describe things, but I encountered a buzzword I wasn't familiar with and didn't know WTF they were talking about. I bet if you were to take a look at this documentation, you'd see exactly what the article warns about.

If they're terms around the workplace, and they're necessary, then the documentation should explain what it is and not expect the reader to know what they're talking about, because it's training afterall, right? Why expect the trainee to know it? I have an orientation period coming up soon, and I'll probably bring that up. I think it needs to be updated anyway considering it hasn't been updated since the early 90's.

 

[M'Sharak]

What do you think?

I despise buzzwords, especially when they're relied upon to the extent that anyone not using them religiously is disregarded or, as you put it, "not taken seriously". Jargon is one thing--it's normal for that to evolve in specialized working environments, especially heavily-technical ones--but when it becomes more important to adhere to the made-up company-branded code-words and -phrases than to communicate effectively in plain English, then something is sick.

"Reach out"? No, I'll just call you back, if that's quite all right.

 

[Adm_Hawthorne]

I actually had people in the RHI offices blink at me like I wasn't speaking English when I said, "I'll call her back in a moment." It was like their brain couldn't understand the words coming out of my mouth.

Then, I'd correct myself. "I'm sure as soon as I reach out her today, things will be fine."

The 'oh I get it' light would come on, and everything would be fine. But, still... come on...

 

[CorporalClegg]

Workplace buzzwords should be illegal. They're that annoying.

Oh. And Pairs Hilton didn't coin the phrase "That's Hot." I was using it regularly years before she was relevant. (Not to suggest she ever was.)

 

[M'Sharak]

I actually had people in the RHI offices blink at me like I wasn't speaking English when I said, "I'll call her back in a moment." It was like their brain couldn't understand the words coming out of my mouth.

Then, I'd correct myself. "I'm sure as soon as I reach out her today, things will be fine."

The 'oh I get it' light would come on, and everything would be fine. But, still... come on...

Indeed. I'm not understanding why it would be considered desirable to so thoroughly reprogram people's communication modes that ordinary English no longer computes in a working situation. "Doing things the company way" and making sure everyone is on the same page are well and good, and I can understand a certain amount of standardization in terminology for types of exchanges which occur very frequently and very quickly, but most communication can be accomplished easily by employing the very same language which everyone uses outside the workplace.

 

[mari]

Wow. Thank God I work in a law office. We just throw around Latin words.

 

[scotpens]

“Reach out”? No, I'll just call you back, if that's quite all right.

Or we'll “touch base” later in the week. (Do they still use that phrase?)

A lot of business-speak is just unnecessary verbiage. I gnash my teeth every time I read or hear the word “incentivize.” What's wrong with “encourage,” “persuade” or “induce”? And how is a “crisis situation” different from a plain old crisis?

Of course, Hollywood is in a world of its own when it comes to buzzwords. A couple of years ago, Variety quoted a Paramount exec, commenting on Star Trek franchise, as saying something about “re-energizing the pipeline via high-profile tentpoles.” Sounds like you could get electrocuted doing that!

Anyway, gotta fly. I'm taking an eight o'clock meeting. Let's do lunch. I'l have my people call your people.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

"Touch base" is still used frequently, in my experience. So is "follow-up," but then that's a real problem here, so I can understand it.

I just thought of one. "Monetize." Because we really need a word that says "turn our idiotic 'business model' that doesn't make money into one that does."

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

These really frost my shorts:

- Prosumer, Dramedy, Rom-com, "... is the new ...", Tornadic activity (JUST SAY TORNADO, DAMMIT), and of course, "notifying the moderator"

 

[Adm_Hawthorne]

Dotcom... I really hate this term in reference to failed business models.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

"Dotcom" isn't a dirty word anymore, as far as I know, since there are so many successful ones now.

People just fell under the naive assumption that Internet-based businesses would somehow be immune to all the failures and pitfalls of "regular" businesses. Well, sorry--95% of all businesses will still fail!

 

[Goliath]

"Reach out."

 

[Robert Maxwell]

More like "reach-around."

 

[Tan Ru]

Comfort zone. I hate that phrase...

"We all must be willing to leave our comfort zone."

I know that when I hear that phrase it will be applied to me and my life and/or job.

Frankly, I like my comfort zone; so leave me alone big BossMan!!!

 

[scotpens]

Frankly, I like my comfort zone; so leave me alone big BossMan!!!

And I prefer to do my thinking INSIDE the box!