We need to open the kimono on this, really drill down and get granular. At the same time, we need to maintain a ten thousand foot level and not boil the ocean here. For those of us who spend our days toiling in the shareholder value mines, corporate jargon is inescapable. The constant circling back and touching base is exhausting. Why is it that the language of business has become a pandemic of consultant-speak, where we have to use dozens of flowery words, when a succinct few would do?
The Linkedin-fluencer manager class is largely to blame, peppering emails and meetings with buzzwords that make most people sprain their necks from rolling their eyes. Not everything needs thought leadership, sometimes there is simply a list of tasks that needs to be completed to get a project done. When a project is behind schedule, is a series of meetings to determine the go to green plan to present to leadership actually necessary, or would a better use of time simply be for the team to get back to work? When a project is actually finished, nobody wants to talk about an after-action report. We released a piece of software; we didn’t storm a beach and take out a machine gun nest. Instead of learnings, a simple list of what went right and what went wrong would be exponentially clearer and more useful.
I doubt many people these days are paid by the word, so a simple “I agree” would be a refreshing change from “I would agree with that”. Oh you would? You either agree or you don’t, we aren’t dealing in esoteric hypotheicals here. Outlook, Teams, Webex, and Powerpoint, the four horseman of the corporate apocalypse, have run roughshod over plain English holding us hostage to deliverables and action items. No matter how insufferable corporate speak gets though, it is never easier to just jump on a call. Most people would rather jump out a window.
