17 October 2005
Lucy Kellaway leverages SCM Summit to deliver jargon-free
solution
We're all guilty of overusing business jargon – but why do we do it and which company's annual report is a particularly cringe-inducing example?
Speaking at this year's UK Strategic Communication Management Summit, Lucy Kellaway of the Financial Times explored the whys and wherefores of business jargon. As the writer behind the FT's Martin Lukes column, she is more familiar than most with a phenomenon that – at worst – can lead to what she describes as "woolly language that masks woolly thinking - or no thinking at all."
Commonly used business jargon on Kellaway's blacklist includes:
- to drive – only acceptable when there is a steering wheel involved;
- to own – as in "the team owns the change initiative;"
- to grow – you can grow tomatoes, not the bottom line;
- to deliver – instead of "delivering added value," you could say you are doing your job well;
- solutions – this has become a particularly meaningless catch-all.
Kellaway told the 180 communication professionals gathered for the Summit's opening keynote session that there are numerous reasons people use business jargon. These range from a need to sound knowledgeable or "in the club" to a more sinister desire to mask the truth. Corporate communicators, she said, have a duty to use clear, fresh and interesting language.
One delegate suggested that jargon has been spurred by globalization and a need for common points of reference and even Kellaway admits that sometimes there's just no alternative - there's no quicker, more logical way to describe "benchmarking" or "outsourcing" for instance.
Turning on the consultants
As several in the audience began to realize
just how culpable they are are of immersing themselves in
jargon, Kellaway closed by ravaging one organization's
annual report. The report states that the company's "capabilities
are global, track record is proven," and its "passion is relentless."
It
was the last phrase that stirred Kellaway's jargon-busting approach.
Passion, she told the audience, means "having easily roused emotions,
intense, easily angered, or sexually ardent," while relentless means
"pitiless, merciless." Putting these two together paints a rather alarming
organizational picture.
And what kind of company would describe itself like this? The answer
– Accenture.
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