Buzzword Bingo: Clichés to
Avoid
Do you employ people
or “resources”?
Are you sure you’re not calling that problem
a
“challenge” just to dress it up?
Every communicator
wants to use the simplest, most effective language to convey
information. Sometimes, however, we get lost in the
management-speak, marketing-speak or techno-speak that has become so
prevalent in every organization. Companies and campuses each devise
their own complex terminology and cultural “buzzwords” that become
the norm, instead of clear, descriptive words and phrases.
(Yes, we know that we are guilty, too.)
We
hope to help you to accomplish two things:
1. Avoid buzzwords and
clichés in your communications
2. Have some fun
with clichés in your next meeting
Buzzword bingo is
easy – just create a bingo-style card with buzzwords and clichés and
tick them off as they are uttered in a meeting or speech. If you
have the guts to yell out “Bingo!” when you get a winner, go for it.
But don’t tell them that we told you to do it. (Believe it or not,
many managers play along in the hopes of cleaning up their
communications, too.)
Below is just a
partial list of “buzzwords” and clichés used every day by managers
and organizational communicators. All of these words and phrases are
useful and descriptive in the right context – the goal is to keep
your communications clear and personable, and to avoid using
overwrought language whenever possible.
