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Oklahomans say business jargon cuts into communication [The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City](Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sept. 15--To the chagrin of Tim Berney, chief executive of Oklahoma City-based VI Marketing and Branding, "leverage" is a word the employees of his Kansas City office tend to overuse. Berney several months ago started a game that when someone utters "leverage" in meetings, everyone else touches their nose. The last colleague to touch his nose has to walk like a crab around the office. "Of course, most of the time employees don't do it, but it gets the point across and I hear the term much less," Berney said. Similarly, any time one of Wolf Gugler's interviewees says "value-added" or "win-win," the president of the Oklahoma and Canada executive search firm asks, "Can you give me an example of that?" "If they can't, I know they're just using a cliche," Gugler said. Stubborn buzzwords Berney's and Gugler's experiences are no surprise, according to survey results released last week by Accountemps, a staffing firm of the Menlo, Calif.-based Robert Half company. Leverage, win-win and value-added were cited in the survey as business buzzwords that refuse to go away, along with "think outside the box," "at the end of the day," "circle back" and "synergy," which were all popular phrases five years and 10 years ago. Today's most overused, annoying cliches include "out of pocket," "deep dive," "forward-thinking," "dynamic," "let me get back to you," "pick your brain," "employee engagement" and "LOL," based on surveys conducted by an independent research firm of 600 human resources executives at U.S. and Canadian companies of 20 or more employees. "Clarity is still king when communicating in the workplace," said Bill Driscoll, New England district president of Accountemps. "Jargon tends to confuse, not clarify. It's generally best to avoid the tired cliches and trendy buzzwords in favor of clear, straightforward language," Driscoll said. Seeking clarity Baltimore-based author and speaker Vicki Hess gets it. Versus the need for workers to embrace "employee engagement"-- or do their jobs with passion, energy and effort over time -- she speaks to something to which almost all individual employees can relate: becoming their own personal Chief Professional paradise Officers. Meanwhile, Oklahoma employers say they're more than worn out with workplace jargon. "The overused phrase that drives me crazy is 'business solutions provider,'" said David Reid, president of Vox Printing Inc. "It's so generic that it means nothing to me," Reid said. In what may be a sign of employee burnout and improved job prospects, some of the phrases in the Accountemps survey suggest workers now feel more comfortable venting about their workloads and salaries. Those include "It's not my job," "It's above my pay grade," "When am I going to get a raise?," "I am overwhelmed" and "crunch time." Verbal vipers Cary Amundsen, president of Oklahoma City-based Amundsen Commercial Kitchens, said the phrase he's hearing a lot lately is, "I wanted to reach out to you." "It's like this person heard in a seminar that these are good words to use to use for personal communication," Amundsen said. Oklahoma City human resources expert Jim Farris finds people still overuse "paradigm" like crazy. "It's so stupid," Farris said, "If they can't fit it into a sentence, they think they're not cool." Other Oklahoma workers report they're tired of "we need to vet," "it is what it is," "doing more with less," "step up," "thoughts?" and "enough said." ___ (c)2014 The Oklahoman Visit The Oklahoman at www.newsok.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |