Buzzwords are not win-win

Looking for a fun way to keep clichéd jargon such as “strategic fit,” “out of the loop” and “24/7” out of your meetings?

An e-mail that’s making its way around the Internet suggests dividing an index card into 25 boxes and writing a buzzword in each box. Words are checked off as they are mentioned in the meeting, and the first person to get five blocks horizontally, vertically or diagonally calls the buzzword bingo.

The game may never catch on, but it’s clear that overused terms and catchphrases won’t help get your message across, says Max Messmer, chairman of staffing firm Accountemps.

“Even though the terms you use may be clear to you, other people must understand them if you hope to communicate your point effectively,” he says. “Instead of saying a project was a ‘win-win,’ explain why it was successful.” 

So what are the most annoying and overused buzzwords in the workplace? The worst offenders, according to an Accountemps poll of 150 US senior executives, are: at the end of the day, solution, thinking outside the box, synergy, paradigm, metrics, take it offline, redeployed people, on the runway, win-win, value-added, get on the same page, customercentric, generation X, accountability management, core competency, alignment and incremental.

And, if you’re looking for more buzzwords to fill out your bingo card, here are a few trendy selections and their meanings:

• Smell test: determining the potential success of a product; formerly “run it up the flagpole.”
• Critical path: determining the appropriate steps to take.
• Low-hanging fruit: easy opportunities for new business.
• Brain dump: providing all info; typically given when some-one is handing over an initiative or preparing a successor.