Avoiding annoying business phrases

2018 is the year to avoid using annoying business phrases. And do you know what: it makes sense as we don’t want to annoy our colleagues, clients and contacts do we!

Business or even motivational jargon is widely used and whilst many of us cringe when we hear some of these phrases, they are still being spoken or written down. Of course different industry sectors or organisations have specific jargon: I know the industry I came from – music, has specific technical jargon, and we all understand this. Likewise in tech: there is ‘Tech Speak’: appropriate for those in the industry but baffling for those outside!

 

And then we have the ‘motivational’ phrases: often used by managers to motivate staff or to explain a task. Today I was sent an intriguing survey conducted by Kit Out My Office; who surveyed 2519 individuals who were in either full time or part time employment in November 2017. So this is a proper survey; not hearsay or 10 people researched….

Guess what: they found the five most irritating office phrases in 2017 were:

1. Think outside the box

2. It’s not rocket science

3. Amazeballs

4. Going forward

5. Can I borrow you for a second?

Amazingly, they were able to come up with the most irritating phrases for 2018 (I suspect they were given a list to choose from).

1.  Think outside the box

2. Hit the ground running

3. Do more with less

4. Can I borrow you for a second?

5. Amazeballs

In true Executive Voice style, I have to share a CRINGEWORTHY performance from our business guru Connie Taylor, who manages to throw in plenty of irrelevant phrases and jargon in her presentation.

SO, how do we try to avoid using these terms with our colleagues, teams AND clients. The survey helpfully offers us suggested phrases that LEAST annoy colleagues. They are:

1. This is what it is (well that is obvious)

2. Best-practice (sounds too clinical for me)

3. No brainer (patronising???)

4. Cool beans (what??? This is making me cringe)

5. Move the goalposts (really, not everyone is interested in football)

The fact is that many of these phrases are ‘lazy’ ‘shortcut’ versions of what we really want to say. The principle rule when we speak to others is to know our audience. A phrase that doesn’t resonate with them, or is irrelevant in their experience/world is meaningless. Rather like a highly technical phrase for a non-techie, it actually makes no sense to them and doesn’t engage. It is better to be honest and authentic then your colleagues and clients will trust you.

If you wish to plan out your career plans using speaking and personal branding for 2018, why not book a Career Success Brainstorming session 

Either contact me or call 08000938464, to book. This is either face to face or virtual.