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Writing Skills with Corporate Jargon

Updated: Nov 27


Sharing some of the important jargons and book to enhance your writing skills


BOOK : TECHNICAL AND BUSINESS WRITING


CORPORATE JARGONS


1. 30,000-foot view

What it means: Consider the big picture of a situation or problem rather than getting hung up on the details. How it’s used: “Let’s take a 30,000-foot view on our customer acquisition strategy.” Try this instead: Overview

2. Alignment

What it means: A shared understanding of a goal or purpose and how to work toward it together. How it’s used: “I want to make sure we’re all in alignment on the project goals.” Try this instead: Agreement 

3. Bandwidth

What it means: How much time and energy a person has available for a task or responsibility.How it’s used: “Do you have the bandwidth to take over this monthly report?”Try this instead: Availability 

4. Circle back

What it means: Reconnect about a topic at a later time. How it’s used: “I’ll circle back on this next month.” Try this instead: Follow up 

5. Close the loop

What it means: Wrap up a topic or process with a firm conclusion.How it’s used: “Can you reach out to the client to close the loop on that proposal?”Try this instead: Finish

6. Deliverable

What it means: Something (either tangible or intangible) that’s produced as part of a projectHow it’s used: “That’s a crucial deliverable for the upcoming product launch.” Try this instead: Outcome

7. Disrupt

What it means: Innovate or introduce something new.How it’s used: “We’re poised to disrupt the healthcare technology market.”Try this instead: Change

8. Double-click

What it means: Dig deeper into a topic or issue.How it’s used: “I want to double-click on your feedback about engagement surveys.” Try this instead: Explore

9. Download

What it means: Give information to other team members.How it’s used: “We’re here to download last week’s investor call.” Try this instead: Share

10. EOD

What it means: End of day (which can mean something different to everyone, especially on distributed teams).How it’s used: “Can you get this back by EOD?”Try this instead: List the exact date and time (for example, “by 4pm PST on Monday”)

11. Full disclosure

What it means: Complete admission of information related to a situation or decision.How it’s used: “Full disclosure: I know that candidate personally.” Try this instead: Nothing (simply state the fact without qualifying it)

12. Hard stop

What it means: Firm end time for a meeting or other commitment. How it’s used: “I have a hard stop at 3pm for another meeting.” Try this instead: End

13. Ideate

What it means: Generate new ideas, usually through brainstormingHow it’s used: “Let’s pull the team together and ideate ways to improve retention.” Try this instead: Brainstorm

14. Leverage

What it means: Use strategies, relationships, or resources to their maximum benefit.How it’s used: “We should leverage the customer support team’s knowledge for this project.” Try this instead: Make the most of

15. Mind meld

What it means: Come together to share ideas and perspectives.How it’s used: “Let’s have a quick mind meld before the client meeting tomorrow.” Try this instead: Discussion

16. Mission critical

What it means: Tasks, strategies, or other components that are essential for achieving a goal.How it’s used: “The graphics are mission critical for getting this ebook launched on time.” Try this instead: Crucial

PSA: ENGLISH IDIOMS CAN BE CONFUSING FOR NON-NATIVE SPEAKERS

Turns of phrase don’t always translate. So, when it comes to communicating with non-native English speakers (and non-American-English speakers, for that matter) try asking this simple question: How do you say this in your language? This tactic prevents a potential misunderstanding while also teaching you something new.

17. Move the needle 

What it means: Make significant progress.How it’s used: “We’re looking for sales strategies that will move the needle on our revenue numbers.” Try this instead: Effective

18. Offline

What it means: Discuss something outside of the current meeting or conversation.How it’s used: “We’ll chat about that offline.” Try this instead: Later

19. Out of pocket

What it means: To be unreachable.How it’s used: “I’ll be out of pocket tomorrow afternoon for my daughter’s dance recital.” Try this instead: Unavailable

20. Piggyback

What it means: Take inspiration from an existing idea or initiative, rather than start from scratchHow it’s used: “To piggyback off of this customer’s feature request…”Try this instead: Build

21. Ping

What it means: Send a brief message or notification to someone.How it’s used: “I’ll ping Sean to check in.” Try this instead: Contact

22. Pivot

What it means: Strategically shift direction or focus in response to changes.How it’s used: “We’re going to pivot our approach to product development.” Try this instead: Switch

23. Punt

What it means: Postpone a decision or task to a later time.How it’s used: “Let’s punt that to next week’s meeting.” Try this instead: Delay

24. Put a pin in it

What it means: Temporarily set aside a topic or decision.How it’s used: “We’ll put a pin in this until we can get more information.” Try this instead: Pause

25. Scale

What it means: Expand a team, product, service, or business.How it’s used: “We need this process to scale along with our team.” Try this instead: Grow

26. Seamless

What it means: Process or experience that is smooth and efficient.How it’s used: “Our checkout experience should be seamless.” Try this instead: Easy

27. Synergy

What it means: Combined effort that leads to better results than individual efforts.How it’s used: “Bringing together our marketing and sales team will create synergy.” Try this instead: Teamwork

28. Table this

What it means: Postpone or set aside a topic or decision for a later date.How it’s used: “Let’s table this for now.” Try this instead: Move on

29. Utilize

What it means: Make use of somethingHow it’s used: “How can we better utilize the team’s talents?” Try this instead: Use

30. Value add

What it means: Improvement that increases the worth of a product, service, or processHow it’s used: “This feature is a real value add for our customers.” Try this instead: Benefit

31. Wheelhouse

What it means: Area of expertise or skill How it’s used: “Excel formulas aren’t really in my wheelhouse.” Try this instead: Strength

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