Blue Sky Thinking

Much of what my company is involved in currently is out of the box thinking, they are attempting aspirational integrations with customer expectations by taking a number of ideas and flying them up the flag pole. A lot of this bouncing around of ideas has been enabled by focus groups which are working to step outside their comfort zones and push the boundaries of ways in which we can make sure that everyone is on the core message.

This buzz word strategising has given raise to buzz word bingo – how many unnecessary and meaningless phrases can you slip under the mat before they come up on the radar of the people at the think tank, and are recognised as extraction devises for waste fluids?

Some would of course argue that buzz word bingo should only be played as a team activity, individualism within this "everyone is valued" web of words is of course not encouraged, there is, after all, no I in team.

A little game to play here. Try this there is no “I” game yourself. For example if someone calls a meeting, remind them there is no “U” in meeting. Asked about whether you have work that is needed for a deadline, point out meangfully that there is no Q in work.

Like me you will discover that while this is fun, it gets dull fast. There are however ways to “notch it up a level” to what I like to refer to as “gold standard letter removal”. Comment on letters that are in words – telling people they are not. For example, if some one says “Sorry, can't help you with that” reply in a meaningful way “there is no R in sorry”. If they challenge this reply, say "yes, of course there is a literal R but metaphorically the R is absent” and walk away shaking your head.

Yours, in the locked box under the stairs

The Broken Man