Are you tired of thinking outside of the box? According to a survey by Career Builder, so are your employees. A poll of 5,300 full-time employees helped rank the most overused and under-appreciated corporate jargon that they'd like to see leave the boardroom.
In a post on its Hiring Site blog, Career Builder editor Amy Chulik wrote, "Navigating workplace issues can be tricky enough without throwing flowery, cliche (or just plain made up) vocabulary words in each other's faces. It only takes one brave person to turn 'outside the box' into 'creatively' or 'let's circle back' to 'I'll call you' -- and suddenly, we can begin to peel back the layers of complexity and really talk honestly to each other."
According to the survey, the most overused jargon is:
- Outside the Box: 31 Percent
- Low-hanging fruit: 24 Percent
- Synergy: 23 Percent
- Loop me in: 22 Percent
- Best of breed: 19 Percent
- Incentivize: 19 Percent
- Mission-critical: 19 Percent
- Bring to the table: 18 Percent
- Value-add: 17 Percent
- Elevator pitch: 16 Percent
- Actionable Items: 15 Percent
- Proactive: 15 Percent
- Circle back: 13 Percent
- Bandwidth: 13 Percent
- High Level: 10 Percent
- Learnings: 9 Percent
- Next Steps: 6 Percent