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?