Friday 22 January 2010

#11 Corporate Bullsh*t

This post was inspired after discussing with friends some of the terminology used in companies that we have all worked in. We will all be aware of some of the phrases used within organisations up and down the country, if not worldwide. We all know exactly what they mean, and we cringe as we here senior managers shamelessly band these terms and phrases about the office. So here is my list of some of the worst that I have compiled along with an example, feel free to add any I have missed!

P.s. Some explanations have been included for the less common ones.

‘Make sure we get our house in order’
‘Get all of our ducks in a row’
‘Singing from the same hymn sheet’
‘We will take this offline’
‘Push back’ (saying no)
‘Put some time in my calendar’
‘Going forward’
‘Low hanging fruit’ (quick wins)
‘Roadmap’
‘Reaching out’
‘Touching base’
‘Town Hall’ (A meeting where one person presents then fields questions)
‘Fireside’ (A meeting with an individual, usually a senior manager, where more informal questions are fielded)
‘FYI’ (said as the abbreviation)
‘SPPY’ (Same point previous year)

Example:

FYI

Paul conducted a fireside which I attended regarding the issue moving forward, we decided it best to take it offline making sure we had sufficient time in our calendars after identifying our results compared to the SPPY. We would like to ensure that all our ducks are in a row and that our house is in order, so that we can all be singing from the same hymn sheet. Paul requested that a road map should be drawn up with all low hanging fruit clearly identified so that we can push back if necessary. Feel free to reach out and touch base with me on this if issue if you need to.

2 comments:

  1. hehe, very good!

    Had never heard of 'Low hanging fruit!' Sounded a bit rude to me. But I like it.

    We do a lot of 'Blue sky thinking' here in our office.

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  2. Good addition! Blue sky thinking is one I missed!

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