We've all done it. Go on, admit it! There's plenty of terrible expressions that we regularly use in the workplace which we'd never dream of saying at home. So should they really have any place at work either?
The phrases I hear all the time (and yes, I admit to having used some of them myself as well!) are the infamous "Can I borrow you for a sec?" ( which was voted the most annoying in Reed's recent survey) "reach out" (a personal bugbear of mine), "Thinking outside the box" (?????) and "touching base" (why??!!)
Can you imagine saying any of these to your partner at home? Or your kids? If I told my seven year old to think outside the box, he'd assume there was an actual box. He'd probably get quite excited by the prospect of playing with it. Likewise my husband would think I'd gone mad if I mentioned blue sky thinking. Or - God forbid - told him that we were going to touch base with some of our friends at the weekend.
So come on people - let's rid our workplaces of some of these tired, hackneyed phrases and metaphors and start saying what we actually mean. I'll get the ball rolling by close of play...
Overall, 94% of those questioned by Reed said they were exposed to workplace jargon on a daily basis. Lynn Cahillane, Reed’s communications manager, said that while business jargon could help workers identify with colleagues, it could also prove one of the most irritating aspects of life in a modern corporate environment. She highlighted the fact that many companies are now trying to implement ‘jargon-free’ policies to make workplace conversation ‘easier to digest’, and said that some business jargon leaves employees feeling confused.
Read the original article here