The 25 Most Annoying Business Phrases Managers Use Ask The Manager Management Training and Leadership Development

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The 25 Most Annoying Business Phrases

Posted on November 8, 2008 by TheManager

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The 25 Most Annoying Business Phrases Managers Use Ask The Manager Management Training and Leadership Development | AskTheManager.com

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The 25 Most Annoying Business Phrases Managers Use From the overused to the clichd, we are inundated on a daily basis with annoying and ridiculous business phrases from the lips of well-meaning managers. Why so many of us, present company included, rely on the latest catch phrases or tired business jargon to relay a particular message is unclear. Whether lazy, blocked or we really think it makes us sound important, we too often reach for the prepackaged word grouping instead of constructing an original sentence. Tired of the constant use and misuse of worthless wordings, we decided to assemble a list of formulaic business phrases still in (over)use today. Of course, simply compiling a list of the worst or most annoying business phrases was too easy narrowing that list to just twenty-five proved to be the hard part. To add a little complexity to this project, we decided to author a single speech using all twenty-five of the most annoying business phrases. That speech, which you are encouraged to deliver at your companys holiday party this year, is located at the bottom of this article. After countless hours of debate, here is our list of the 25 Most Annoying Business Phrases Managers Use. For those wishing to sound more like true leaders, we included very simple replacement expressions for each.

1. Think Outside of the Box We cringe even writing this one. Inarguably the

very worst, most annoying business phrase of all time, Think Outside of the Box has become such an overused clich that Taco Bell coined their own version for a national ad campaign: Think Outside the Bun. Once the likes of Taco Bell, Sears, General Motors or 7-11 latch onto a popular phrase and add it to their lexicon, that phrase has officially become a caricature of its former self. The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Think Creatively. 110% and the sheer belief that somehow, if you could actually give 110%, that this would be good enough. Why stop at 110%? What are you, a slacker? We know Nigel Tufnel would give 111%, anyway. The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Do Your Best. immediately, this overused idiom generally has the opposite effect. Usually the person telling their team to hit the ground running is some do-nothing who only hits the ground running when five oclock rolls around. The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Get Started Immediately.

2. Give 110% Our problems with this phrase are both the impossibility of giving

3. Hit the Ground Running Meant to energize a team to start work on a project

4. The 30,000-Foot View Though not the only use or misuse of this phrase, the

30,000-foot view is often uttered by pompous managers who believe they see the big picture that the rest of us are somehow missing. We get it, okay, you want us to believe youre considering every outcome of a particular decision. The origins of this phrase, which is meant to describe the view from a commercial airplane (flying at 30,000 feet), have become so misunderstood that we often hear our colleagues

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The 25 Most Annoying Business Phrases Managers Use Ask The Manager Management Training and Leadership Development | AskTheManager.com

refer to everything from the 5,000-foot view to the 100,000-foot view clearly different views. The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: The Big Picture (we know this is also clichd, but at least everyone will understand the meaning).
5. FYI The overused acronym meaning For Your Information, has become such an

annoyance to hear uttered (writing FYI is sometimes useful) that one of our editors believes FYI actually means Fornicate You, Idiot. (Of course, he replaces fornicate with a common expletive.) He claims that it becomes a little more palatable to hear someone say FYI when you think of it in his context. Like putting the words in bed after your read the saying from a fortune cookie, this immature habit of his works well and is quite funny. The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: nothing (uttering FYI adds no value and does not need to be replaced just stop saying it). basics and fails, managers will often say its just blocking and tackling to signify that the simplest of tasks were not completed. Of all the overused sports analogies applied to business, this is the most annoying because it implies that blocking and tackling are easy tasks. In football blocking and tackling are the most important tasks, and not necessarily the easiest. Without blocking, the offense cannot score. Without tackling, the defense cannot stop the offense. Since we dont actually block or tackle at work, lets drop this silly misuse. The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Primary Tasks or Basic Tasks. uncontrollable (because of their power or size) that others must show respect/ consideration, the term 800-pound gorilla is so overused we feel like throwing poop. Given that the average gorilla weighs about 400 pounds (and usually likes to throw poop at zoo visitors), you can imagine the damage that an 800-pound gorilla would cause. Annoying because it is unnecessary, this phrase is so often misused (like 30,000-foot view) that we once heard 200-pound gorilla and 1,000-pound gorilla uttered in the same meeting ugh! The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Industry Leader. workplace that provide a minor advantage to the one doing the throwing: he really threw him under the bus, this relatively new business phrase has quickly become an annoyance by its watered-down overuse. The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Sacrifice.

6. Blocking and Tackling Whenever someone in your business skips the

7. 800-Pound Gorilla Used in business to mean some entity so dominating or

8. Throw Under the Bus Often correctly used to describe acts of betrayal in the

9. Rightsizing This politically correct term for cutting expenses vaults into our top

ten by virtue of a recent explosion in usage. The current economic climate has forced businesses to make tough decisions, and these decisions most often include expense reductions and layoffs. Managers who feel uneasy using real world terminology to describe their actions take the cowards course and declare they are rightsizing their organizations. If it was truly rightsizing we were doing, then wed be doing it during good times too, wouldnt we? The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Downsizing (thats if youre afraid of the word layoff). calls or emails anymore, they just reach out its usage has certainly exploded. The image of someone reaching out to us is more than a little creepy, and yet more and more of our colleagues tell us they are reaching out to us wed prefer they just email. The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Contact. use: Easy.

10. Reaching Out This phrase is probably most annoying because it seems no one

11. Low-Hanging Fruit The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should 12. Incremental Improvement The AskTheManager replacement phrase

leaders should use: Improvement.

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The 25 Most Annoying Business Phrases Managers Use Ask The Manager Management Training and Leadership Development | AskTheManager.com

13. My Two Cents The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use:

My Opinion.

14. Solutions Provider The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should

use: Vendor.

15. Bring Your A Game The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders

should use: Arrive Prepared.

16. Tear Down the Silos The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders

should use: Remove Barriers. Fundamental Change. should use: Improve.

17. Paradigm Shift The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: 18. Take it to the Next Level The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders 19. Light a Fire Under Him/Her The AskTheManager replacement phrase

leaders should use: Motivate. use: Meeting.

20. Client Engagement The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should 21. Take it Offline The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use:

Discuss it Later.

22. At This Point in Time The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders

should use: Now, Currently or Today. should use: Provide Notice. Collaboration. Task.

23. Give You a Heads Up The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders 24. Synergy The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: 25. Action Item The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use:

As promised, here is a speech you can deliver at your holiday party this year that will surely make you sound like either the most intelligent or most pompous person in the room. Intelligence is in the ear of the receiver. Im reaching out to you today to thank you for helping us make 2008 a solid year for our business. Despite the economic turmoil we face at this point in time, your dedication to synergy and out of the box thinking has allowed us to make incremental improvement in our rightsizing efforts. FYI, In order for us to take it to the next level, we need everyone to hit the ground running on their 09 action items and give 110%. As I take a 30,000-foot view of our industry, I see competitive solutions providers who must light a fire under their teams, tear down their silos and make significant paradigm shifts if they expect to catch us, the 800-Pound Gorilla. To these companies I say, let me give you a heads up, youd better bring your A game if you want to beat us. We are the industrys best because we are superior in every way. We are better at blocking and tackling, we are better at gathering the low hanging fruit and we are better at exceeding expectations during client engagements.
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The 25 Most Annoying Business Phrases Managers Use Ask The Manager Management Training and Leadership Development | AskTheManager.com

If we have disagreements, we take it offline we never throw each other under the bus. If you want my two cents, I would rather work with this group than with the finest people on earth. Now sit back and bask in the applause.

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This entry was posted in Digression, Management Training, Rankings and tagged leadership observations, management 101, Management Advice, management mistakes, typical manager by TheManager. Bookmark the permalink.

22 thoughts on The 25 Most Annoying Business Phrases

1.

Andy on November 10, 2008 at 12:57 AM said: You forgot one It is what it is.
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Reply 2.

TheManager on November 10, 2008 at 9:55 AM said: Andy is 100% right we missed a bunch. As we wrote in the article, the hardest part was narrowing the list to just 25. It is what it is is awful and we cringe when we hear it (did Yogi Berra say it?). It is what it is was among about 200 phrases on our cut list, as were the following: win-win situation net-net elephant in the room eat your own dog food value-added proposition ________ space (instead of just saying industry, like ecommerce space) team player change agent bandwidth (to describe someones ability to handle additional tasks) the 80-20 rule seamless integration drop the ball Reply 3.

George in Ohio on November 21, 2008 at 3:38 PM said: What about Chase Shiny Objects and Reinvent The Wheel? I hate hearing people in business use those phrases. Reply 4.

TheManager on November 21, 2008 at 3:44 PM said: Great catch, George. Yes, we HATE those sayings, as well. They probably could have cracked our Top 25 if there were intuitive replacement phrases we could suggest. The fact is that some people do chase shiny objects and some people do continually try to reinvent the wheel. Reply 5.

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Chaz on November 26, 2008 at 5:14 PM said: Its not brain surgery. This is the most annoying saying at my work, although its not rocket science is a close second. Reply 6.

TheManager on November 26, 2008 at 10:42 PM said: Ugh! Ours ears bleed when we hear those two Nice call, Chaz. Reply 7.

ash on February 26, 2009 at 2:49 AM said: You know, it doesnt really fit into the same list (more of an office banter list) but I really hate the generic response of fair enough to seemingly anything anyone might say at anytime. I hate the fact that its used so much that I end up replying to people in conversations Im less than halfvested in using it because I dont care. Im also vetoing the funny (translation: asinine, overused, obnoxious) weekend farewell that is Stay out of trouble and all variations. Nobody in the cube farm could locate trouble if they were in an underage whore house. Lastly, the late Friday question (though Ive heard it as early as Tuesday) posited to you by someone you barely know: Got any big plans for the weekend? If I werent skinny as a rail but instead part of the 50+% of overweight people in this country, I would do my best to accuse the offender of using sly fat comments. HR would probably bring their Agame to get that wording out of there. I could go on but I think that fulfills by hate quota for the evening. Reply 8.

TheManager on February 26, 2009 at 5:35 PM said: Ash Nice call, I couldnt agree more. In addition to the disingenuous got any big plans for the weekend that you hear from mindless coworkers; Ive also heard what keeps you up at night from prospective vendors who have no skills in human interaction, but like to repeat what they once read in a sales training book.
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The 25 Most Annoying Business Phrases Managers Use Ask The Manager Management Training and Leadership Development | AskTheManager.com

Your stay out of trouble is my be good. Be good? What in the world do they mean by this? The person who commands be good before a weekend or a trip really means make sure you put the lid back on the mayonnaise jar. Reply 9.

oclaf on February 26, 2009 at 5:36 PM said: i use the term rocket surgery, it catches people off guard, makes them think your wierd when in actuality i am making light of things, too many people get too serious Reply 10.

TheManager on February 26, 2009 at 5:42 PM said: Oclaf When the others start to catch on, change your saying to brain science. After that, you may want to mix in various percentages that everyone should give: Lets all give 107%. Reply 11.

paul roemer on March 19, 2009 at 6:49 PM said: I like chasing shiny objects. at least those people know what they are doing Reply 12.

Bryan on July 14, 2009 at 3:06 PM said: I agree that the word synergy is overused, but your definition here is inaccurate. Synergy isnt just collaboration, its the gaining of efficiencies and economies of scale/scope through that collaboration. Not all collaborations involve synergy and the words are not interchangeable. Reply 13. Pingback: In marketing you need to practice like you play | B2B Marketing Blog

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14.

Dave on January 14, 2010 at 6:44 PM said: not to forget going forward I cant stand it! Reply 15.

Jill Johnson on January 25, 2011 at 3:40 PM said: On the flip side, Id love to pursue a conversation about phrases wed like to see used MORE often in business. Believe me I get just as annoyed by some of these phrases, but couldnt we all use a little more: Go get em tiger! (maybe followed by a little growl?) On the fritz What the heck?! Are you kidding me!? Life is Good (I realize this one is trademarked, but used verbally we should be ok, right?) You fly, Ill buy (I actually used this recently and my colleague had no idea what I meantI then realized it was a throwback to my old college days when Id try to persuade someone to go get me Taco Bell. So I really think it needs to work its way up to Corporate America.) Im sure there are more, like this one: Peace out. Reply 16.

plastic animal on August 25, 2011 at 5:47 PM said: I think the one that makes me start looking for blunt objects is at the end of the day. I think the next person who says this to me will reach the end of their life. And you totally nailed it with reach out! Reply

mitch scott on February 21, 2012 at 9:58 PM said: Thats funny man.blunt object.I totally agree.horribly mindless phrase. that chick on tv judge pirro uses it incessantly
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Reply 17.

Joe on August 31, 2011 at 11:40 AM said: You dont know, what you dont know Reply 18.

Carolyn on September 28, 2011 at 4:16 PM said: OH, you so named the worst with reaching out I, too, want to reach out and choke the living beans out of the person saying that!! Plus I hate hearing no problem with I say thank you. (hmmmm, I wonder if not leaving a tip is a PROBLEM for you) What happened to Youre welcome?? Reply 19.

Gary on February 1, 2012 at 6:52 AM said: Awesome Website generating plenty of office laughs and finger pointing. Missed some crackers though; - Spinning the Plates (reference to multi tasking ) - Stake in the Ground ( seems to have multiple meanings ) - on the radar ( lol ) and words of the month are : Expedite and Quantify (one of those words will be dropped into every sentence) Reply 20.

Sing on February 1, 2012 at 6:59 AM said: fire fighting has to be my favorite, running around like a blue arse fly trying do desktop suport with no training in anything since NT4 pi$$ing in the wind anyone

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Reply 21.

Scott on February 6, 2012 at 4:45 PM said: Awesome! Id like to add Mission Critical to the list though. Reply

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