Office Buzzwords We Love to Hate

We’re all guilty of using workplace jargon. What’s wrong with that? Well, try these reasons: expressions lose their meaning quickly; they irritate people (as in your boss or colleagues); they tend to be convoluted or indirect ways of saying something (what, exactly, is often a mystery as a result); they mean different things to different people; and cliches aren’t easily understood by international audiences.

So the next time you offer to "talk offline" at a meeting or to "ping" your boss when a project is done, remember this: direct, concise language works so much better — for everyone.

Here's my list of the most abused corporate buzzwords, in alphabetical order (be sure to add your own at bottom):

1. "30,000 foot view"
2. "Action items"
3. "Bandwidth" (as in, “I have no bandwidth.”)
4. "Break down silos"
5. "Bring to the table"
6. "Centers of gravity"
7. "Capture value"
8. "Circle back"
9. "Circle the wagons"
10. "Client centric"
11. "Core competencies"
12. "Cross functional"
13. "Deliverables"
14. "Do you have any spare cycles?" (meaning, "Do you have any free time?")
15. "Drink the Kool-Aid"
16. "Exit strategy"
17. "Flat is the new up"
18. "Green fields"
19. "How are you tracking?"
20. "It is what it is"
21. "In the pipeline"
22. "Low-hanging fruit"
23. "Manage expectations"
24. "My people"
25. "Out of pocket"
26. "Outside the wall"
27. "Paradigm shift"
28. "Ping"
29. "Right-sized"
30. "Run it up the flag pole"
31. "Skin in the game"
32. "Success metrics"
33. "Talk offline"
34. "Team player"
35. "Throw under the bus"
36. "Synergy"
37. "Think outside the box"
38. "Play nice in the sandbox"
39. "Value add" or "Value proposition"
40. "WIIFM" (an acronym for "What’s in it for me?")

In a recent article, Christine Lambden and Casey Conner define 12 workplace phrases that many of us should know but probably don’t. Of their list, I learned six new expressions:

• "Boil the ocean": This scope is too big to do in one project.
• "Going native": When a consultant stops acting like a consultant and starts thinking they are part of the client organization.
• "Greenfield instance": New installation of an application without customizations, configuration or data.
• "Running in parallel:" Processing normal operating data through two systems simultaneously to compare performance and output.
• "Talking to the dog:" Thinking it through by talking it through out loud.

I think it’s time we start to make up some new expressions. (I know. I’m ignoring my own advice.) I’ll start with these two let you decide what they mean:

"Cook the climate"

"Rolling boulders"

Feel free to use the comments area below to add phrases that annoy you or suggest new phrases we can all love to hate.