I am sick of buzz words.  Every time I search the net, look at career boards a new phrase of the week seems to pop up.  Here are some of my least favorites:

Best Practices – why do you need this?  Does anyone go into a meeting or schedule time with their supervisor to go over worst practices?  I actually think this may be more worthwhile.  Most people know what they SHOULD be doing – it is actually more effective to give people a list of things you should NOT be doing.  For instance –

• Thou shalt not Facebook for more than 15 min per workday.
• Thou shalt not print flyers for your child’s school play in color.
• Thou shalt not wait until 5 min before a presentation to senior management to disclose that you don’t know how to transition slides in ppt.

Action Plan – These are usually created for employees that are struggling.  It is the equivalent of receiving 3 demerits in one semester.  Let’s call an Action Plan what it actually is – a save your job plan.  Everyone rushes home to tell their spouse about a promotion or recognition – no one rushes home to tell their spouse they had a great day developing an action plan.  Action plans are usually created for someone that didn’t actually take action.

Outside the Box – This is my absolute favorite.  When all else fails, call a meeting where everyone can “think outside the box”.  I guess this is a nice way to say – your original ideas were pretty vanilla.  Can anyone give us a new idea?  Can anyone bring us something that expands beyond the 4 walls that are holding us in this conference room?  Let’s brainstorm or white board it!

Maybe Hallmark should make a card line specifically based around corporate buzz words.  Wouldn’t it be fantastic to come to work and provide a co-worker with an Outside the Box card?