You need to think outside the box!

Posted on November 20, 2008 at 6:39 pm by admin

“You need to think outside the box”, “Let’s touch base”, “Once we’ve got all our ducks in a row”.

Business jargon - We’ve all heard it. We’ve probably all used it. But just how common is it and is it causing a problem for businesses today? If it is, then what should a small business do about it.

According to recent research carried out by MWB Business Exchange, 41% of Britons admit to using business jargon every day, whilst over 55% of us use it at least two or three times a week. In offices all across the UK people are using phrases such as the ones above to communicate with their fellow-workers, their clients and even potential customers. But could this trend actually be harming British businesses?

72% of us believe that the use of jargon can hinder good business practice. This means that staff using too many buzz words around clients and potential customers is potentially damaging the reputation of businesses. Although research has shown that small businesses are far better than their larger counterparts, with only 25% of employees admitting to using business jargon compared to 98% at large corporates, it is still important that all businesses, whatever size, work to create an environment in which excessive and unnecessary business jargon is not used.

‘Business jargon’ really means the language peculiar to business , but has now come to be synonymous with ‘buzzwords’. This has far more negative connotations as it refers to “a word or phrase that usually sounds important or technical and is used primarily to impress laypersons” . It is for this reason that people now think that business jargon is not only annoying, but unproductive and damaging.

Trying to impress

One of the main reasons why business jargon can be damaging is that, as the definition implies, it is used by people who are trying to impress others, without putting any thought into what the phrase actually means or how it could be interpreted. The phrase “I want to get into bed with…” is often used by managers to suggest that they would like to develop good relationships or work with specific organisations or people. However, anybody not used to this phrase could find it horrendously inappropriate because of its sexual overtones. This is an especially important point to consider when you are doing business with foreign companies or clients as they may be more prone to interpret phrases literally, which can lead to misunderstandings and, in the worst situations, cause grave offence.

Whilst many people might laugh at situations and misunderstandings like this, it is important to remember that business reputation is hugely important, especially in these days of the internet, blogs and social networking. So what might start off as a simply misunderstanding can have a much wider impact.

Morale

Business jargon can also be very detrimental to the morale of your staff. 23% of us think that senior managers are the worst culprits when it comes to using buzzwords in the office, and junior employees often believe that their bosses use jargon to cover something up. For instance, many people hearing a senior manager telling staff that “in order to make an omelette you need to break a few eggs” would probably conclude that there are going to be redundancies. Such feelings of confusion and mistrust will not benefit your business.

New starters

It is particularly important to consider the impact excessive business jargon will have on new employees in your company. We all know how daunting it is starting a new job, but this is made much worse if you find that everybody else in the office is speaking a language that you don’t understand. Some business jargon, including most people’s most hated phrase “thinking outside the box”, has become so commonplace that almost everybody knows what it means. However, buzzwords that are industry specific or peculiar to your company should be avoided at all costs when talking to new starters as well as to clients and customers. It is important that all companies, including small businesses, make sure that all their staff are aware of the risks of putting off new starters from the outset by using unnecessary jargon.

So, what can you do?

So, we know that jargon can be confusing, annoying and can even damage a company’s reputation. But what should small businesses do to avoid these problems?

1) Disambiguate

Small businesses need to do everything they can to make sure they are communicating clearly with their employees. This means that important announcements should be carefully planned and checked over to make sure that they don’t include overlooked jargon or phrases that could be misinterpreted.

It is also important that when staff are being briefed about their role or a specific task you would like them to undertake, that this briefing is clear. Huge amounts of time and energy can be wasted by managers failing to make it clear what they would like employees to do. More junior employees will often pretend to understand an instruction for fear of coming across as stupid.

2) Clear out the larder

It might be worth sitting down with your staff to discuss which words and phrases your company uses. This can include general business jargon if its use has got out of hand, but also words and phrases that are particular to your company. Every organisation has them and they are often completely incomprehensible to an outsider. Why not ask your employees to watch out for buzzwords they hear being used around the office for a week and get them to write them down so that you can have a clearer idea of how much of a problem jargon is.

Once you have a list of the buzzwords that you use, it is important to think through what these words and phrases actually mean. For example, what are you are trying to say when you use them? Once you’ve worked this out you can find a clearer ways to say it. There is no point using long and clever words just for the sake of it if there is a simpler and clearer way of making the same point. It would also be a good idea to go through your company’s literature to identify and remove unnecessary buzzwords so that staff, clients and potential customers are not negatively influenced by it.

3) Win-Win

Whilst it is important to be aware of the problems that business jargon can cause and, as suggested above, do whatever you can to make sure that there is no excessive or unnecessary use of buzzwords in your company, we must also remember that business jargon should not be taken too seriously. So why not find a fun way of drawing your staff’s attention to its overuse?

You could start a ‘buzz box’ so employees have to put in a charity donation anytime they are heard to utter an outlawed buzzword or jargon phrase. If you have a regular company meeting, you could give a prize to the person who goes for the longest without using jargon or, alternatively, provide a wooden spoon prize for the person who uses the worst jargon each month.

However you approach the problem, remember that the words we use have more power than we realise, and that businesses can lose custom and staff if they are not careful about the language they use. But always remember to keep a sense of perspective and don’t go so overboard that you end up ‘throwing the baby out with the bathwater’!