Buzzwords of corporate culture

While spending time in a corporate environment, we come across some words used frequently. Certain terminology becomes an essential part of the corporate culture and as a result everyone who is connected with that culture needs to be well versed with it.

Even though there is a change in this usage from one day to the next, the majority corporate buzzwords have a lasting impact. A hold on this verbiage enhances self-esteem of the employees and motivates everyone involved in the conversation. Here are 20 of the top corporate buzzwords that one should add to one's vocabulary.

1. Impact: Impact is a powerful word that has got a great craze among business professionals. Grammarians argue that the word is being used inappropriately, urging you to use "affect" as an alternative, but people love it.

2. Corporate synergy: Many people who use this term frequently, don't even know what it means. It usually refers to "coordinating and collaborating things more successfully" in a business set up.

3. Disruption: When "something disturbs the status quo", it's termed as a disruption.

4. Deep dive: It is also called "brainstorming" but many professionals say they're going in for a deep dive when they need to come up with ideas.

5. Core competency: When a person is competent, it scarcely means that person is outstanding. But in a business, core competencies refer to "the skills a company or a person is good at".

6. Incentivize: An incentive has to be offered when something has to be sold in a business. This word describes that effort. It can also refer to the "act of motivating" a person to get a task done.

7. Outside the box: Gone are the days when something is imitated blindly, nowadays almost all businesses desire their workers to think outside the box, "to think innovatively". Even though the term itself isn't outside the box anymore, it persists in conversations.

8. Bleeding edge: This is the word which is being heard more and more lately. It replaces the term "cutting edge", to mean "for being ahead of trends".

9. Move the needle: This word is mostly used in sales or marketing, when an effort is required to make a visible difference.

10. Ideate: Among many terms for "coming up with ideas", this is another one.

11. Unpack: One needs to unpack one's ideas to "thoroughly examine" them in view of their practicability, after getting the ideas.

12. Wheelhouse: Usually wheelhouse shelters the person steering a boat, but in business it refers to a person's "specialty area".

13. Reach out: In business scenario, calling or emailing a person may not be used any longer. Instead, they "reach out."

14. Deliverable: This is a "quantifiable good or service" provided as a result of completing a project. This word has spread like a virus as it is a favorite term for project managers.

15. Amplify: In music, the word means an increase in volume. In business, it means to progress. It is repeatedly used in the context of social media, since an amplified message is one that is "shared more often".

16. Out of pocket: The corporate terminology says that if someone is out of pocket, it means someone will be "unavailable for a period of time".

17. Drill down: The word means "dig out". If anyone wants to get to the root of an issue, one has to merely drill until reaching it's base. This is the metaphor that has brought this term to the boardroom.

18. Ping: Being a tech term long ago, this word has quickly emerged as the best way to describe "sending a message to someone".

19. Bandwidth: Bandwidth is another tech term that is added to the vocabulary of corporate environment. In day-to-day context, it is often used to ask if someone has 'time available to talk or work on a project".

20. Low-hanging fruit: May be this term becomes obsolete, but it has it has own weightage. It often refers to "sales deals that are easier to close than others".

A person is recognised as a trustworthy professional only when he speaks the accurate terminology of the profession.

The truth is that corporate buzzwords will almost certainly never disappear, so it's important to learn to speak the jargon.