Wild animals were a threat to Dorothy on her way to meet the Wizard of Oz. For building alignment, labels and titles and barely useful jargon may be just as bad. Oh my.
There is no shortage of buzzwords used in business communication. We’ve heard them, used them, and maybe even created them. Why?
Creating terms is required to simplify communication when technology or knowledge advances, for example. Before the modern computer age, a cookie and a mouse had completely different connotations. At least the first computer mouse’s cord represented a tail. But there are many tastier versions of a cookie.
When commonplace terms like sales, marketing, and strategy get misconstrued, adding jargon seems counterproductive. Try to find widespread agreement on what exactly fits within the labels of ABM (Account-Based Marketing), sales enablement, RevOps, and so on.
The SaaS (Software as a Service) industry is notorious for creating jargon, including its namesake. It promotes buzzy job titles too that make little sense to an outsider. Applying established conventions of the English language, an SDR (Sales Development Representative) would be developing “sales” and a BDR (Business Development Representative) would be developing “business.” What’s the difference between sales and business? In this mysterious world of Oz, SDRs work on inbound leads, and BDRs work on outbound leads. It’s evidently inappropriate to use graspable job titles.
Social norms within our affinity groups generally reward being smarter and more special than the next. Labels, titles, and jargon often signal this misplaced superiority. However, outside our tribe – whether cross-functionally or with our customers – buzzwords are buzzkills. Limbic systems are known to fight “different” with the ferocity of a lion, tiger, or bear.
Want to meet the Wizard? Muster your inner brain, heart, and nerve to…