The
colloquial term ‘management speak’ refers to particular types of workplace language
used to make things sound better than they really are.
Often this involves a
preference for long words, and for elongated expressions, which are intended to
impress. This includes the insertion of unnecessary adjectives and the use of nouns
as verbs. There is a preponderance of metaphors, many based on sport or travel.
Another facet is using phrases which really say the opposite of what they first
appear to (such as “with the greatest respect” or “I am absolutely clear… “ or “we’re going to have to let you go”). Fashions can be recognised, with new phrases
sometimes gaining circulation quickly.
Designating
something as ‘management speak’ is usually derogatory. In the same way that
‘tourists’ are all the other people visiting a place, it is probably something
that we more readily recognise in others than we do in ourselves.
The
following list is a collection of phrases that often appear in 21st century management speak. Amongst
these are some ‘buzzwords’ (in italics) dating back to at least the 1990s [see note 1] ,
many still in active use:
Accountable – acid test - action that – added value
– ad hoc report - admin footprint – agenda - agile – align - analysis paralysis – analytics – arena
- armchair economics – asset-stripping – attrition – on the back foot - back-office function – back
to basics – balanced scorecard – ballpark - get the ball rolling – have
enough bandwidth – bean counter –
bed in – get into bed with
- bells and whistles – belly-up - benchmarking – benefits
realisation - best fit - best of breed - big
bang – big data - big guns - bite the bullet
– black box – blip – bloodletting - blue sky planning – body count – body language
– bolt hole – under the bonnet - outside the box - bottleneck – bottom feeder – bottom
line – bottom out – bottom up -
brainstorming – broad brush - bug – burn out –
business-as-usual - business intelligence – business planning - executive
buy-in – buy into - can-do attitude – capacity - capture -
career-limiting – cascaded - cash cow – centralise – introduce some
challenge - product champion – change
agent – change management - change resistance – charisma – cherry pick - chemistry
– clock watching - clone – close of
play - cold call – comfort zone
- commencement - committed - comms -
communication skills – competencies - comprises of - connect with - conventional wisdom – cooking on gas -
core business – cost envelope -
cost improvement - crisis management - critical
mass – culture change - curved ball - customer-focus - cutting
edge – dead in the water - de-centralise – deep dive - deep pockets – deliver - deliverables – diarise - done deal – dovetail - download – downsize – downstream – downtime – drill-down - drip-feeding - driver - drop the ball - early adopters - ecosystem - embedded
– empower - engineer - enterprise
level – pushing the envelope - excellence – exception reporting -
executive buy-in - executive information system - exit interview - facilitate – factor in -fast track – feedback loop
- finger on the pulse – fire wall – first cut - fit for purpose – flag up -
flat structure – flavour of the month
- floor-walker - focus group - food chain – footfall
– frame - front-of-house – future-proofing – game-plan - gap analysis - gardening leave – gatekeeper - generic solution – the get go – glass ceiling – glitch
– go with the flow - going forward
– golden bullet – golden handshake
– governance - granularity – gravitas - have a handle on - hands-on – hardball –
hatchet-man – head up – heads up - headcount
- headhunted - headroom - health economy - heavy hitter - helicopter
vision - hidden agenda – high flyer
– hit the ground running - hook - holistic
– horizon scanning - hot desk - human resources - first hundred days - idiot proof - incentivise
– implement – indicators - infographic - input
– intellectual property – the journey - when he says jump you ask how
high – jumpstart – key player –
kick into the long grass - kick into touch - kick-start – knowledge engineering – knowledge
management – KPI - leadership - learning curve – learning organisation -
left brain – left field - got legs – legwork – let go - level playing field –
leverage – litmus test - local difficulties - logistics – in
the loop – out of the loop - loss
leader - low hanging fruit – mail
shot – management by exception
– management by wandering about –
management-free zone - management material – map out - market testing – massaging the figures – matrix
management - mentoring – off message – on message
– methodologies - metrics -
mind-set - mission critical –
mission statement – modus operandi - motivational - movers and shakers -
multi-tasking - mushroom
management – mystery shopper
- narrative - gone native - natural
wastage - nerd – networking – niche –
no-brainer – non-starter – number-crunching – talk offline – on board -
ongoing - onion skin - open door – opportunity - outsourcing - parachute in - paperless - paper-light – paradigm – park an issue – partners - passenger –
passionate – performance culture – planning blight - keep all the plates
spinning – play back - player –
poaching – poison chalice – the pond - positive spin – be in possession
of - prioritise – privatise – pump-priming - quality circles – quantum
- quick and dirty - quick fix – on my radar – under the radar – raft - RAG
rating - ratchet – read my lips – real world – reality check – reconfiguration - rehearse - re-inventing the wheel – restructuring - results -driven –
revenue neutral - reverse engineering - right brain – risk averse – roadmap -
on a roll - rollout – run an idea by –
run with - scapegoating – scatter
gun approach - scenario – not
particularly scientific - to scope -
scope creep – screaming for it - self-starter – sex up – shared vision
- short-termism – show-stopper –
sideways pass – signed up to - singing from the same hymn sheet - smart card – SMART objectives - smell
the coffee - soft option – I want
solutions not problems - sound bite
- Spanish working practices – up to speed - spider organisation - square one – square pegs in round holes - square the circle - stakeholder - stalking horse – standalone – standard operating procedure (SOP)
- give (or take) a steer – stitch up - strategic level – success regime - succession planning - the suits - sweat an asset – SWOT analysis - synergy
– system-wide – to task – task-and-finish group- team player – tease out -
techie - teething problems – telephone
numbers – third sector - top-down –
touch base - track record – traffic lights - trajectory – transformational - transparency - throwing money at – unpack - up and running – upstairs - upstream – value added - plain vanilla – vapourware
– vertical structure –vis-a-vis - our
vision - walk the job – wannabe – war chest – weasel words -what-if scenario - whistle-blower – whole system - wiggle room – find a window - window of opportunity - win-win - workaholic – workaround - work-life balance -
world class - WYSIWYG
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The Plain English Campaign once noted that
“Management-speak and goobledegook are still rife in NHS documents. Poor communications still baffle patients and waste huge amounts of taxpayers’ money” [see note 2]
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Conscious or
not, management speak is a step away from plain English. Some guidance on plain English is presented in a separate article (see link). Using the vocabulary
of management speak is not always wrong. Some phrases and metaphors can be very
effective, if used sparingly.
But overuse of
‘management speak’ is a warning sign. It may signify a person for whom the desire
to impress has overtaken the desire to communicate [see note 3].
Worse, it may signify either a desire to hide the real meaning in a bed of
platitudes and waffle, or even “… a
mixture of vagueness and sheer incompetence” [see note 4]
A manager,
being asked about the progress of a piece of work he has not started yet, could
respond in two contrasting ways:
Direct
response:
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‘Management
speak’ response:
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“I have not started it yet.
I intend to complete it within the next two
weeks”
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“As of now I am concluding the
option-appraisal stage and steps to commence transition to the implementation
phase are in hand. I am strongly committed to the success of this objective
and am optimistic that imminently I will be in a position to report significant
progress”
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Which would
you prefer to hear?
Note 1
Michael Johnson. Business Buzzwords: The Tough New Jargon of Modern Business. Basil Blackwell. 1990
Note 2
Chrissie Maher. Plain English Campaign Cited by B.Friend (1998) Calling a bed a bed HSJ 108 (5594);31-3 in turn cited by S .Carr. Tackling NHS Jargon. Getting the message across. Radcliffe Medical Press.2002
Note 3
Note 4
George Orwell. Politics and the English Language (1946)
He went on "…prose consists less and less of words chosen for the sake of their meaning, and more of phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated hen-house."
