Authentic Communication, Building Unity, and Bull$h!t Bingo
I learned about the bullshit bingo game a long time ago. I know this isn’t a PC thing to write, but it was a thing for a bit. The gist was that a bingo card was created, covertly of course, that mocked leaders using corporate jargon and euphemisms. Then the rogue employees played the game in meetings marking off words as leaders spoke. You know, those meetings where a leader comes in, speaks some inspiring words (or not), then people walk away not really knowing what they meant or what to do next. With the covert nature of this game, of course, no one ever was to yell “BINGO”. But, it was representative of this secret society and real mindset that mocks business speak in a way that is both fair and unreasonable.
How would your BINGO card look? What jargon, euphemisms, and overused and misused words devoid of meaning would you include?
Jargon, devoid of meaning.
My latest pet peeve that I see across industries is the phrase “in the weeds”. As in … “stay focused on the big picture and stop getting in the weeds”. It’s then typically followed with that person wanting to “drill down” … yep, you guessed it “into the weeds”. However, they don’t say that – for some reason, there is a distinction between drilling down and getting in the weeds. For most employees, there is no distinction, only confusion on when to be “strategic” and when to be “tactical”.
Another word … “sacrosanct”. A euphemistic word that not many people are familiar with, used to indicate that the leader is unwilling to change. But, is phrased as something so organizationally special that it is integrated into the company (the persons) DNA. For example, “that marketing campaign and event is sacrosanct”. This word ends the discussion. It teaches people about the untouchable things more than it teaches people about the unique, core to brand and values aspects of a business.
Accountably is another word that is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me now. Everyone wants people to take accountability and say this frequently. However, what I think they want is for people to experience consequences. Accountability is more en vogue than consequences. “I want you to take accountability for your error” sounds nicer than “the consequence for your error is …”.
In this same vein is “authenticity”. We all want to be our real self, but what does that mean? I think many social media trolls are being authentic. So, how better can we express the key difference between being real and being the best version of ourselves? How does the linguistic shortcut of authenticity prevent people from moving to new stages of development and fighting imposter syndrome as they take on new capabilities including new vocabulary? People will more easily grow when we let them. Is the pressure to be authentic holding people back from stretching into their version of new?
Bullshit bingo is not politically correct and definitely seems like a defiant element. But, we must be our rebellious selves sometimes to make sure we are doing things that matter and not falling victim to the parrot-like trends that we can inadvertently be drawn into by business pop-culture movements. Consider drawing your bullshit bingo card as a way to check yourself. What do you say too often? How can you better express meaning? Are you relying too much on words and not enough on dialog?
Every company, industry, and professional specialization has a library of acronyms and a distinct language. This is good for enabling bonds and creating efficient communication. Language can establish understanding and connection. But, there is a line between corporate-identity-words and becoming a language tyrant. Any oppressive scheme filled with jargon will create a rogue element. When people can discuss closed-minded, constraining norms it will be easier to keep an environment of straight-talk, growth, honesty, and responsibility. This type of connected environment is where people can have positive conflict, communicate in real terms, and have crucial opportunities to learn something new. Remember – culture isn’t a party – it is the pattern of attitudes and actions of a given community, and one way to assess these patterns is through the language. Meaningful and expanding or faux and limiting?
Jargon, full of meaning.
If empty words are one side of this coin, then words with abundant meaning could be the other. There is general empty overuse, but then there is a simple lack of understanding. I was facilitating a meeting on culture change, and several of the people said, “the culture just isn’t the same”. I asked what that meant, and one of the examples was that people were reading books, focusing on specialization, and their language had changed. Their perspective was true. As the company grew, its level of sophistication and specialization increased bringing a new language into the business. This was not
The failure on this other side of the coin was not teaching people in the company the new words of business. If a person wasn’t in a particular specialty, it was hard to understand and it felt like an arrogant blah-blah-blah. For example, the language of finance (EBITDA, GM, cash flow, contribution margin, price elasticity, etc.) can seem like overspeak, but it is a highly efficient way of conveying the financial truths of a company and is critical for healthy open-book management. Another example is new industry vernacular. One company I work with is a federal contractor and they speak in acronym, and I have worked to diligently learn the language of my new world. These are not bullshit bingo words. They may seem like business jargon, but they are full of efficient meaning and employees in an open culture need to be open to new words and a new language as a company scales up and grows up. Some believe this language should be translated into layman’s terms and to some extent, I agree. We work in our specialization and we work in general affairs. But, there is a middle ground between overspeak and simple speak where bonds grow and silos are crushed. We are all expanding our horizons and our language to go with it. A company’s capabilities will be limited by the capability of its people and instilling an open-mindedness to new concepts is business critical. Leaders must mind this important gap of communication capability that can
inadvertently widen, create interaction silos, and inadvertently place meaningful language on the bullshit bingo card.
Trendy.
On a much lighter note, sometimes we just use jargon because its trendy. I definitely can’t be judgmental because I use jargon this way fairly often. I like to refer to businesses as ecosystems (I also happen to believe this … but, ya, I get it). I get caught saying engagement way too often, and I’ve admitted that culture is both my favorite and least favorite word. Meaning may be lost when we overuse words in a generic or broad context too often. Trendy does not make meaning. Communication does.
{Communication = from the verb communicare ‘to share’}
{Watch this if you need a 3-minute mental break}.
Always build common-unity.
Perhaps why this is even more important is that jargon can create a cognitive dissonance or, as one of my mentors calls it, corporate schizophrenia. This is when what-people-say-is-not-as-they-do. Employees are left to untangle meaning, and the schizophrenic aspect is that employees are unable to think clearly, manage emotions, and make decisions. The effect is disunified norms and unaligned abilities to interpret corporate reality. Then, real-time work-actions can become ineffective and unimpactful.
For example, a classic corporate phraseology is “work-life balance”. Clearly overused, potentially devoid of meaning, and interpreted based on individual perception. A leader may think work-life balance is the plethora of life tools the company offers (benefits, paid time away, employee assistance programs, etc.). But, the employee may interpret work-life balance as flexible schedules and become frustrated when a leader preaches balance but has a rigorous be-in-view between 8 am and 5 pm mentality. Clearly, there is a difference, and the unclarified gap creates the dissonance.
Language is important. However, trust, unity, growth, and understanding even more so. Lean on dialog and make meaning as often as possible. Building unity toward the vision, purpose, values and winning targets are a big part of the leadership work, and one powerful tool to build unity is meaningful discourse.
Ugh, that was a little heavy eh? Back to the game-fun. What words are on your bingo card? What biz-jargon is actually really useful?