Blue Star Partners Management Consulting | » Communications

Corporate Speak

aprueitt — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 01:52:56 +0000

Do you ever feel like you need an interpreter to keep up with the lingo in your office? Have you ever been in a conversation, pretending to understand what was just discussed, only to rush back to Google after the meeting to find out what the heck was going on?

If so, you’re not alone. Over the past 10 years, Webster’s has recognized thousands of new words, many having to do with technology or corporate-related trends. As long as no one calls me ’404′ I’ll be fine!

So here’s a few phrases that I’ve heard recently:

“Can you send me that deck after the presentation?”
Deck, as in PowerPoint slide show.

“That’s a hot potato and I didn’t bring my gloves.”
Used when someone is asked a hot topic question and prefers not to answer.

"Depending on your available bandwidth, I’d like to have you take on a new project.”
Since when is time and energy measured in bandwidth?

“Let’s take this discussion off-line.”
Used when a conversation relating to only two or three people begins to take over a group meeting. Especially used in conference calls.

“We’ll take care of the low-hanging fruit first”
On a long list of things to do, low-hanging fruit is the easy place to start.

PowerPoint Bunny
The person in a team who collects everyone’s hard work and research and creates a PowerPoint presentation.

What corporate speak have you heard?

We Wuv Wikis

JRiley — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 18:57:45 +0000

The word wiki is a shorter form of “wiki wiki” which is from the native language of Hawaii (Hawaiian), where it is commonly used as an adjective to denote something “quick” or “fast.”We use our wiki to easily add, remove, or otherwise edit all content.

What content? Our project management methodology, our change management methodology, and our internal processes.

Take a look at this brief video for a great introduction.

Thanks to Lee LeFever at CommonCraft.com for a great Video

How Can I Tell If My Communications Are Working?

aprueitt — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:07:41 +0000

The ultimate test of effective communications is observable, measurable results. For example, if you sent out a communication asking employees to register for an upcoming training event, you can judge its effectiveness by the response rate. Or, if you’re posting information on your company’s intranet, you can count the number of times it’s been accessed and you can collect real-time feedback from employees on the site regarding its usefulness. Another way to gauge effectiveness is to conduct a focus group, where you can quiz the participants on their knowledge of the change program and get their feedback to specific communication messages and vehicles.

How Can I Keep My E-mail From Becoming Junk Mail?

aprueitt — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:07:07 +0000

What makes you delete an unread e-mail?

What makes you open one?

Always make sure you:

Catch their Attention: Start your most important sentences with the person’s first name.
State your Request: Your request should be easy to find, easy to read and simple to execute.
Be Concise: Keep your total email to less than one screen in length.
Keep it Under 3: The ideal email has no more than 3 sentences or 3 short paragraphs.
Clearly Communicate Your Tone: It is easy to misunderstand a writer’s tone in an e-mail. Follow up important emails with a voicemail.
Leave Contact Information: Make your contact information easy to find and use text format.