HAVE you indulged in any blue sky thinking lately? Have you closed the loop or thought outside the box? Are you getting annoyed already?
You are not alone. A survey has found that business jargon is driving people up the office wall.
Mobile business current account provider Anna (Absolutely No-Nonsense Admin) touched base with 2000 workers in order to discover which business jargon they think should be dropped going forward.
The findings show the most hated phrase is “touch base”, followed by “going forward” and “blue sky thinking”.
Having listened to those surveyed feeding back, Anna has now begun a campaign against such “cringe-worthy business speak”.
But where would managers be if they had to speak plain English? It’s obvious that much of the jargon that has emerged over the years has come about to provide a smokescreen for bosses who don’t quite know what they’re doing or to make them sound more important than they really are. If your manager happens to be “closing the loop”, they are merely making a decision. If it’s a bad one, going forward it can be fixed by a spot of brainstorming or blue sky thinking out of the box. It’s a win-win situation.
Perhaps all this jargon and verbosity is why business meetings last so long.
Another recent survey has found we are suffering the effects of a meetings epidemic, with the average worker now spending 213 hours a year – or 26 working days – stuck in a conference room.
The survey of more than 1000 UK workers, conducted by design company MOO, suggests that more than 20 million people attend at least one meeting a day. The average amount of time spent in meetings is 4.1 hours a week The study found that nearly one million people spend more than half their working week in meetings. However, the research also found that at least a third of that time is wasted, with an average of 20 minutes of every 60-minute meeting pointless.
The biggest time-waster? Waiting for colleagues to arrive.
Next on the list of delays was setting up technology. Difficulty finding the meeting room in the first place was another regular problem, as was choosing where to sit. Such high-powered office dynamics. You’ve got to wonder how the wheels of business ever move.
It gets better. You’ve found the meeting room, got the tech working, chosen a seat, waited for tardy colleagues … then you find yourself daydreaming about what the soup is in the canteen this lunchtime.
The survey found that one in 10 says they spend up to a third of meetings failing to concentrate and checking their phone. A quarter admit to having fallen asleep at least once.
Drilling down into the research data, Brendan Stephens, global creative director of MOO, offered this by way of joined-up thinking: he believes that Britain’s meetings culture is wasting time and money.
Well that’s a no-brainer.
Let’s run that idea up the flagpole and see if it flies, shall we?
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here