Recently, I found myself twice realizing that business buzz words are sometimes welcome and sometimes – not so much. The welcoming event was when I was talking with a lean consultant and by each of us using buzz words we quickly were able to do that “get to know you dance” and move on to higher level conversations. In this case Buzz Words served to expedite the conversation.
The second time was while I was teaching a program about Taxes to start up businesses. A participant that was starting his business also had studied tax and knew tax lingo like: “When using forms 4562 or 4797. . .” I knew what the person was asking, but the rest of the audience had their eyes rolling back in their heads. I gracefully explained, then continued and answered the question while educating the others.
When we use Buzz Words around those that don’t understand then, we are excluding them from the conversation and when we do this in our businesses, we may create a culture of those that are “in the know” and those that are not. Buzz Words have their place and sometimes that place is best explained, not spoken.
