January 26, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

What's the buzz?

by Molly Tanenbaum

A recent survey of the most annoying buzzwords used in the workplace revealed enough responses to make George Carlin weep.

"At the end of the day," "win-win," and "synergy" were among the multitude of answers to the poll of 150 senior executives from the nation's 1,000 largest companies.

The survey was developed by Accountemps, a specialized staffing service for temporary accounting, finance and bookkeeping professionals. While these popular words and phrases have useful meanings, their impact becomes diluted upon overuse, according to Sandra Giberson, branch manager of the Palo Alto Accountemps office.

"Being able to communicate directly with people is very important in the workplace. These buzzwords can be overused and I think they can have a negative impact," she said. "If you're using these things on a regular basis sometimes they lose their meaning because people don't even pay attention when they hear, for example, 'thinking outside the box.'"

Sean Pate, the district public relations manager of Robert Half International (the Menlo Park company under which Accountemps is a division) pointed out the trendiness of buzzwords in the corporate world today.

"If you work in corporate America and you aren't using cool phrases, it's almost like, 'Where are you?'" he said. "You can liken it to fashion. If you're wearing a straight suit and tie, no one is going to look down at you but if you wear something fashionable, people will say, 'Oh, look at you!'"

Using buzzwords may set a person apart, but not always in a positive manner. Frequent buzzword-users run the risk of appearing as though they are trying to compensate for a lack of intelligence.

"When people aren't really knowledgeable about their subjects, they might be inclined to use some of these things because it will make them look smarter. If you know what you're talking about then you don't need to do that," Giberson said.

However, even Giberson admitted guilt to being a buzzword-user. Her defense? Within the workplace, sometimes such terms can be useful if everyone understands their meaning in the same way.

"We use 'win-win' and everyone knows what that means and it cuts to the point really quickly," she explained. "I do like 'win-win' because in negotiations you do want everybody to win. It's good shorthand for wanting everyone to feel good about the outcome."

Shorthand, in short, can communicate a point efficiently if everyone understands it to have the same definition.

But not all phrases have clear-cut meanings, such as Giberson's least-favorite buzzword, "bandwidth."

"'More time' or 'more people' would be more efficient to me than 'more bandwidth,'" she said. "That's the one that personally annoys me. That's one that I think can be misinterpreted and is used quite a bit."

Pate also added his favorites that didn't make survey's list of finalists, "vis-a-vis" and "net-net," the latter meaning "the end result."

When using ambiguous terms such as "bandwidth" or "value-added," jargon-users may encounter communication difficulties, especially when talking to new employees unfamiliar with the terminology particular to the company.

"When you have new employees and they don't know what these things mean, you can have miscommunication and sometimes they won't want to speak up and ask what things mean because they think they should know," Giberson said.

As with anything, buzzwords should be used in moderation. Giberson provided practical advice for how to communicate clearly and minimize the use of buzzwords in your vocabulary.

First and foremost, know your audience: "Tailor the message to the knowledge level of your audience," Giberson advised.

Second, she recommended that speakers "Get to the point. Don't go around and around on your topic."

Finally, Giberson suggested preparing in advance, both in terms of content and purpose of the communication.

"Organize your thoughts, think about what you're trying to accomplish. Are you trying to inform? Create a call to action? And then have some sort of outline listing your main points," she advised.

These tips apply to both formal presentations and everyday conversation; in both cases, clear, direct communication is far more effective than buzzwords could ever be.

Giberson concluded, "Sometimes simple communication can be better."

Editorial Intern Molly Tanenbaum can be reached at mtanenbaum@paweekly.com.

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