The Value of Business Clichés

Business clichés are those well worn phrases and expressions that seem to dominate so many business conversations these days. The following article discusses some surprising benefits to clichés and how we can have a bit of fun with them!

Let me net this out for you — you are going to need to be a team player and think outside of the box a bit. We’ll need to increase the bandwidth to get this done and really focus on where the rubber meets the road.

In other words, we all need to stop putting lipstick on the pig and put a stake in the ground.

At the end of the day, our core competency is that we’re customer focused, and it serves no purpose to do one-offs. From my 30,000 foot vantage point, we can do a number of things to move the needle. So, let’s apply the old 80/20 rule and get things going!

Make sense? Unfortunately, for many of us that have been in the project management space (to mention another one), it kind of does.

The fact that we can string together 14 business clichés (can you find them all?) that result in an almost comprehensible paragraph is a sure sign that we all feel the need to liven up a corporate language that can often become, well, quite dreary.

What’s worse, some of our colleagues (heaven forbid it’s us) speak in a similar fashion. Every other phrase that comes out of their mouth is a business cliché. They’ve fallen victim to “cliché-itis” so bad that at the end of the day takes on a whole new meeting when they are tucking their kids into bed at night!

Business clichés have become so prolific that, at some point, it got me to wondering what value they bring to a conversation.

My reasoning is that if they didn’t have value, they wouldn’t still be around, would they? Instead, business clichés are alive and well and it seems new ones are introduced with the same discipline and regularity as quarterly earnings reports. So, here’s my somewhat tongue-in-cheek view of why we use business clichés:

• You Can Say a Whole Lot with Just a Few Words — This reason seems to have some merit. A cliché is nothing more than a picture that is being called into our minds with just a few words. We all know the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” In other words, a cliché sums up (in five words or less) what is otherwise communicated by a thousand.
  
  Don’t believe me? Here’s an example…Once everything has been considered and everyone has gone through all of the motions, activities, processes, procedures, and meetings in order to make a decision, and once we come together to review what has been done, the result of the aforementioned activities will lead us to one undeniable conclusion of what’s important and what’s not…Translation? “At the end of the day.” 55 words can be netted out (there’s another one to think about) to just five words! It’s a beautiful thing.
• It Lets People Know You’ve Been Around the Biz — I worked for a company who hired a new President to come in and get things right. He was around 60 years old and everyone called him the Silverback Gorilla. He would go around grunting and snorting and spewing forth cliché after cliché interspersed with people’s names and some verbs thrown in for good measure.
  
  This guy had been in business for a LONG time and everyone could tell just by the way he threw his vocabulary around. Want to really sound like you’ve really been around for awhile? Be sure to throw in some industry specific jargon and TLAs (three letter acronyms) into the mix. You’ll be able to rival the Silverback Gorilla in no time at all!
• It Allows You to Pretend You Know What You’re Talking About — Let’s be honest here, we’ve all been in the uncomfortable situation where we have absolutely no clue what everyone around the table is talking about. What’s worse, we should have a clue.
  
  Maybe you have been hired as a project manager for a new initiative. All the subject matter experts have gathered for a meeting and are sitting around the table, so there’s no way you are going to sit there and say, “I don’t have a clue what you are talking about. "This is where business clichés come to your aid. You can say something like, “Amy, that’s a good point. We’ll need to circle the wagons and really do a deep dive to make sure we understand what needs to be done here. Wouldn’t you agree?” To which she promptly replies, “Yes, I think that’s the right thing to do.”
  
  Brilliant! You averted being noticed as the deer caught in the headlights, and just bought yourself some time to figure out what in the world is going on! Now, it’s up to you to quickly get up to speed about what was being discussed and go into the next meeting with all the facts.
• Gives Others a Sense of Comfort — I don’t know about you, but it gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling when I walk into a room and people are throwing around the same jargon I’m familiar with and use myself.
  
  It’s like going to a foreign country and being uncertain of understanding or using the language once you get there. Once you get off the plane you are greeted by someone who is speaking your native tongue. What a relief! Business clichés can provide that same sense of comfort.

Plus, think about how dull our work lives would be without the ability to entertain ourselves with plays on words. If you are looking to get an even bigger kick out of overused phrases, check out the apps you can download for your phone that allow you to play games centred around business clichés.

One is a collaborative game for multiple players while sitting in the same meeting. A list of five or so clichés appear on the screen, and your goal is to claim that cliché as soon as it is spoken by someone in the meeting.

The first person that claims five expressions first wins the game! Not only is it a good time for all, but it really helps you listen to every word that is spoken.

Or, there’s a variation on that game where each person attending a meeting is assigned a particular business cliché. The goal is to use that cliché as much as possible throughout the meeting without becoming obvious or obnoxious.

True, there is a certain amount of irreverence in making light of how everyone talks (play the games at your own risk), but, business can and should be enjoyable.

Because, at the end of the day, you want to have a win-win situation where everyone going forward can push the envelope, grab the low-hanging fruit and take it to the next level.

Sorry, I just can’t help myself!