Troublesome Terminology

People in businesses around the world use common terminology for practices, concepts, and procedures that can be found in most organizations. You can find these terms in business dictionaries and at business glossary Web sites, and most serve us well. Some, though, help to defeat us. They carry baggage, and some evoke problematic images. Here are a few examples.

Cross-functional teams

The purpose of the "cross-functional team" is to blur boundaries, to have a team that functions beyond provincial departmental interests. Why, then, do we use a term that evokes the differences between the team's members, and emphasizes that the members are drawn from the different functional units of the organization?

Work/Life balance

Drawing a distinction between Work and Life adds to the tension between work and the rest of life, and then exaggerates it by using the balance metaphor. Work is part of Life. Whether I'm at work or not, I'm still alive. The problems with this term arise not from an imbalance between parts of Life, but from a failure of the employee, the organization, or both, to acknowledge all the needs of the whole Person.

Task force

A task force is a temporary team formed to investigate, to create, or to find a new perspective. Usually its work changes the way the organization sees or accomplishes its mission. It's a wonder how we can use the term "Force," and then complain later about the "resistance" we meet when we try to implement the results of the Task Force. Force, by its nature, spawns counterforce. In calling a group a "task force" we take the first step in creating the counterforce.

Golden handcuffs

When we In calling a group
a "task force" we take
the first step in creating
the counterforcewant key people to remain in place through difficult transitions, we need not only their physical presence, but their hearts and their passion. A promise of cash does persuade people to stay, but because it's an extrinsic motivator, it tends to dampen passion. Calling the mechanism "handcuffs" makes explicit our intention of depriving people of their freedom.

Compensation

In business, compensation refers to the array of benefits and payments employees receive. But almost everywhere else in life, to compensate is to provide offsets for harm done. Compensation evokes the idea that to work is to sacrifice, creating an obligation for employers to provide offsets. The reality for most knowledge workers today is very different. Most of us have made great sacrifices all through our lives for the opportunity to hold the jobs we hold. We usually don't view work as a sacrifice that employers must compensate for — until we hear the term "compensation."

This little essay probably won't bring an end to these terms. Only you can do that. If you want to, you can stop using them, and you can suggest that the people around you find other words, too. We'll all be a little bit better off.  Top    Next Issue

Are your projects always (or almost always) late and over budget? Are your project teams plagued by turnover, burnout, and high defect rates? Turn your culture around. Read 52 Tips for Leaders of Project-Oriented Organizations, filled with tips and techniques for organizational leaders. Order Now!

Your comments are welcome

About Point Lookout

Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful, and that you'll consider recommending it to a friend.

Point Lookout is a free weekly email newsletter. Browse the archive of past issues. Subscribe for free.

Support Point Lookout by joining the Friends of Point Lookout, as an individual or as an organization.

Do you face a complex interpersonal situation? Send it in, anonymously if you like, and I'll give you my two cents.

Related articles

More articles on Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness:

Emailstorming

Most of us get too much email. Some is spam, but even if we figured out how to eliminate spam, most would still agree that we get too much email. What's happening? And what can we do about it?

Recovering Time: I

Where do the days go? How can it be that we spend eight, ten, or twelve hours at work each day and get so little done? To recover time, limit the fragmentation of your day. Here are some tips for structuring your working day in larger chunks.

Guidelines for Delegation

Mastering the art of delegation can increase your productivity, and help to develop the skills of the people you lead or manage. And it makes them better delegators, too. Here are some guidelines for delegation.

Symbolic Self-Completion and Projects

The theory of symbolic self-completion holds that to define themselves, humans sometimes assert indicators of achievement that either they do not have, or that do not mean what they seem to mean. This behavior has consequences for managing project-oriented organizations.

Overconfidence at Work

Confidence in our judgments and ourselves is essential to success. Confidence misplaced — overconfidence — leads to trouble and failure. Understanding the causes and consequences of overconfidence can be most useful.

See also Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness and Effective Communication at Work for more related articles.

Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout

Coming May 19: Pre-Decision Discussions: Reasoning

When we meet to resolve issues related to upcoming decisions, we sometimes rely on reasoning to help find solutions. Contributions to these discussions generally use mixtures of deductive, inductive, and abductive reasoning. How do they differ, and what are their strengths and risks? Available here and by RSS on May 19.

And on May 26: Even "Isolated Incidents" Can Be Bullying

Many organizations have anti-bullying policies that address only repeated patterns of interpersonal aggression. Such definitions expose the organization and its people to the harmful effects of "isolated incidents" of interpersonal aggression, because even isolated incidents can be bullying. Available here and by RSS on May 26.

Coaching services

I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact Rick for details at rbrenKyrpMiqBnnUUPnWHner@ChacgEbnSaDGlMyKFJgtoCanyon.com or (650) 787-6475, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.

Get the ebook!

Past issues of Point Lookout are available in six ebooks:

• Get 2001-2 in Geese Don't Land on Twigs (PDF, )
• Get 2003-4 in Why Dogs Wag (PDF, )
• Get 2005-6 in Loopy Things We Do (PDF, )
• Get 2007-8 in Things We Believe That Maybe Aren't So True (PDF, )
• Get 2009-10 in The Questions Not Asked (PDF, )
• Get all of the first twelve years (2001-2012) in The Collected Issues of Point Lookout (PDF, )

Are you a writer, editor or publisher on deadline? Are you looking for an article that will get people talking and get compliments flying your way? You can have 500-1000 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info

Public seminars

The Power Affect: How We Express Our Personal Power

Many people who possess real organizational power have a characteristic demeanor. It's the way they project their presence. I call this the power affect. Some people — call them power pretenders — adopt the power affect well before they attain significant organizational power. Unfortunately for their colleagues, and for their organizations, power pretenders can attain organizational power out of proportion to their merit or abilities. Understanding the power affect is therefore important for anyone who aims to attain power, or anyone who works with power pretenders. Read more about this program.

• A recording of a program presented June 29, 2017, Monthly Webinar, sponsored by Technobility Webinar Series. PMI members can earn 1.0 Category 'A' PDU by viewing this program. View this program now.
   
• A recording of a program presented June 29, 2017, Monthly Webinar, sponsored by Technobility Webinar Series. PMI members can earn 1.0 Category 'A' PDU by viewing this program. View this program now.
   

Bullet Points: Mastery or Madness?

Decision-makers in modern organizations commonly demand briefings in the form of bullet points or a series of series of bullet points. But this form of presentation has limited value for complex decisions. We need something more. We actually need to think. Briefers who combine the bullet-point format with a variety of persuasion techniques can mislead decision-makers, guiding them into making poor decisions. Read more about this program.

• A recording of a program presented June 24, 2020, Monthly Webinar, sponsored by Technobility Webinar Series. PMI members can earn 1.0 Category 'A' PDU by viewing this program. View this program now.
   
• A recording of a program presented June 24, 2020, Monthly Webinar, sponsored by Technobility Webinar Series. PMI members can earn 1.0 Category 'A' PDU by viewing this program. View this program now.