What’s all the buzz about?

Have you ever been in meetings at work that seemed eerily like scenes from the 1999 movie “Office Space”?

The comedy hit is notable for its stereotypical portrayal of business people, bureaucracy, office politics and the overuse of business buzzwords.

Many people can identify with the business jargon used in the movie as they see it played out daily at their workplace. Typically used by managers, these buzzwords are intended to convey meaning, motivate, establish credibility, gain acceptance or to simply emphasize a point.

Some managers utilize buzzwords so much, it becomes habit and an integral part of their day to day conversations. Unfortunately, buzzword use or overuse can sometimes alienate employees, customers and prospective customers.

Here is just a sampling of buzzwords or phrases used at workplaces with more seemingly being created each day — Think outside of the box, give 110 percent, best practices, deep dive, synergy, paradigm shift, going forward, push the envelope, Web 2.0, valueadded proposition, the 80/20 rule, core competency, outplacement, a leading provider of..., let’s take this off-line.

And how about — take it to the next level, drop the ball, bring our

Buzzwords and business jargon will always be prevalent at work .

‘A’ game, seamless integration, scalable, at the end of the day, brings a lot of value to the table, it is what it is, let’s hit the ground running, 24/7, drinking the Kool-Aid, have a seat at the table, client-centered, touch base, change agent, the bottom line, manage expectations, offline, actionable, multitask, impactful, be proactive, ballpark figure, the 800-pound gorilla in the room, strategic, marketdriven, and ROI.

Then there’s — next generation, circle back, out-of-pocket, go from good to great, get on the bus, has legs and can go really far, we don’t have the bandwidth, let’s get granular, rightsizing, downsizing, put a stake in the ground, gone viral, step up to the plate, don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater, industry standard, worldclass, raise the bar, netnet, manage expectations, user-experience, customer focused, integrated approach, perfect storm, the customer is always right, the elephant in the room, resonate, too many chefs in the kitchen, transparency, and work-life balance.

And still others are — stakeholders, benchmark, user-focused, industry leader, thought leader, team player, company person, game changer, moving up the value chain, brainstorm, crowd-sourcing, boots on the ground, the scenery only changes for the lead dog, cast a wider net, I’m not throwing him under the bus but..., blue-sky thinking, get our ducks in a row, moving forward, boil the ocean, synergy, heavy lifting, face time, hard copy, cube farm,re-boot, desk job, kept in the loop and go after the low hanging fruit.

I almost forgot the alltime overused buzzword phrase - win-win.

There are many more buzzwords and phrases that are generic or industry specific. For instance, those involved with technology have historically used language that can be challenging to understand for those of us not immersed in that profession.

In addition, Information Technology professionals also have buzzwords and phrases that are now finding their way into mainstream business, including mobile first, artificial intelligence (AI), Blockchain, quantum computing, immersive experience, big data, net neutrality, virtual reality (VR), chatbots and machine learning.

Buzzwords and business jargon will always be prevalent at work. If you do incorporate some of these terms in your conversations and/or presentations consider using them with purpose, sparingly and artfully.

By doing so, your chances are pretty good that the message you are attempting to communicate will be heard. And, that will certainly be a win-win for everyone concerned.