It’s Friday, and even its unmotivated. I’m sitting in front of the computer and partaking in another virtual meeting. Trying to amuse myself, my mind is parsing through all the words that are being said. Like machine learning only I’m filtering key phrases and tallying how often they come up. It’s my version of office lingo bingo.
It amazes me how often these phrases come up and just how quickly my peers catch on using them. Like vernacular assimilation starting from the top down executives to directors, managers, team leaders and the plebs like myself. Then we perpetuate these phrases by sprinkling them nonchalantly into work conversations.
Example
*Teams meeting started*
A: We need to raise stakeholder engagement.
B: No.
C: You’re on mute!
A: Can everyone hear me? Ok great. So about this stakeholder engagement. We currently going through transformation with the CRM so we can be agile and have the opportunity to build capacity. These are exciting times! Watch this space!
B: How about the previous one on one support we ran for a while?
A: We’ll circle back on that one. Word on the street was that it wasn’t as effective as we hoped. Please reach out if you have feedback or have questions about the strategic alignment.
C: I’m all for this digital transformation enabling us to WFH in this new normal.
D: Just checking in, what is the context of this project?
A: Let’s take that offline D. As discussed, this is a priority for everyone. Thanks guys, have a good day.
*Teams Meeting ended*
While that was made up, it’s still a scary parallel rundown of what actually happened at a previous meeting. Re-reading that gave me slight PTSD feelings. Use the office lingo bingo at your own peril.
Disclaimer: Unverified, but it may more fun with drinks involved.
What are some of the common phrases you have come across in your work? Are they all that different? Share yours below.
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