Jeremy Kaplan
Working in an office with other people, there is no doubt times when you hear certain phrases that make you internally cringe, like “back to the drawing board” and “it’s a win-win situation”. While a lot of these sayings get the goal across, sometimes they can be very annoying. Have you ever been sitting in a meeting and heard the boss say their favorite catch phrase? Maybe like “it’s time to get our ducks in a row, so at the end of the day everything runs smoothly” or something similar?
We’re all guilty of using sayings like this at work, and sometimes even in everyday life. Maybe it’s just because it’s easier to use one of them rather than coming up with an actual answer. It’s a political response. For instance, if somebody asks you if you’ve recently read the email about a problem, and you haven’t, instead of admitting your fault, you’re more likely to say “it’s on my radar” before scrambling to go read that email so you know what you’re looking for.
For people that work in offices with multiple locations across the globe, you might be the lucky few that don’t have to deal with other variants of those annoying sayings. But there might be change in your horizons. GoToMeeting, a website that allows for screen sharing online meetings is changing the face of office meetings forever. With their technology, they can make sure everybody is on the same page (and paying attention) giving you more bang for your buck.
Now when you’re in a meeting and you’re hearing some of those good old phrases like “bite the bullet” or “time to get the ball rolling”, you might actually know what’s going on and that phrase will suddenly start to make sense. Of course there is always the option of doodling on the scrap paper in front of you while pretending to pay attention.
So when it boils down to it, face the elephant in the room and try avoiding some of the more popular annoying phrases at work. Remember, content is king, so if you use your knowledge and words carefully, that next office meeting will be much more effective and you won’t feel like you’re biting the bullet trying to empower co-workers, or even trying to impress your boss.
