Five Obfuscating Business Verbs

Five Obfuscating Business Verbs Five Obfuscating Business Verbs Five Obfuscating Business Verbs By Maeve Maddox I’ve just learned five new business verbs: onboard, level-set, operationalize, descope, and action-plan. One meaning of to onboard is â€Å"to train new employees.† The expression is so common that many professional sites actually use the labels Onboard and Onboarding in their menus to direct new employees to relevant information. Most of the time, the expression seems to refer to employee training, but it is also used with the meaning â€Å"to recruit supporters.† Here are some examples: The Top 5 Must Do’s to Effectively Onboard Your New Employees Our organisations need us to onboard new hires efficiently, and in the shortest time frame possible. How to acquire and onboard new supporters using online channels. How does your organization  onboard  new  donors? As a business term, to level-set means to make sure that people who will be working together all have the same information about the work. Here are some examples:   Once  your team  has been established and practices are under way, you need to  level set your team  accurately. Your  entire  team  needs to be at a certain level of capability, and the Aurora illumine packages let you  level-set your team.   So this is the time to use the review process to  level-set your employees  on the current environment. The verb to operationalize seems to mean â€Å"to do,† or â€Å"to put into practice.† Here are examples: In general, the more abstract the idea, the harder it is to  operationalize. [The speaker] will  be presenting a webinar on â€Å"Tools to  Operationalize the New  Dining Practice Standards.† When it comes to China, we seek to operationalize a new model of major power relations.   The term to descope means â€Å"to modify or abandon a project in order to save money.† In the last example below, the meaning seems to be â€Å"demolished.† (Descope is also used as a noun.) Here are examples: As a mission enters the planning and construction phase, it often becomes clear that the initial estimates were optimistic and the cost cap constraint will bind. In this case, the IC maydescope the mission by reducing the mission’s goals. Ka and S-bands were under consideration for  descope last year, but we now  plan  to proceed with their full production. The wooden structures on the airfield are being descoped to make way for more efficient structures. The verb to action-plan seems to have the same meaning as plain old to plan, but it’s more mouth filling. Here’s a definition of plan: plan (verb): to arrange in advance; to set down the details of how to proceed with a project. Here are examples of action plan used as a verb:   If a decision is made by the mentoring team that a student is failing, the next step is to action plan the elements of the student’s practice that require attention. Use constructive feedback  to action plan the  transfer of skills and knowledge acquired into the workplace Students are asked to action plan a campaign on an issue of their choice. If your intention is to impress your listeners or to obfuscate your meaning, these five words are excellent choices. If your purpose is to be understood, you may wish to consider some simpler alternatives. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Business Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:The Meaning of "To a T"225 Foreign Phrases to Inspire YouHow to Address Your Elders, Your Doctor, Young Children... and Your CEO