From Gobbledygook to PowerPhrases
How to Overcome Bureaucratic Buzzwords
and Speak Strong, Smart, and Sweet
Fancy ways to say nothing
My first job out of college was working on a major research project in association with the General Services Administration. Government service was quite an initiation into many things, including bureaucratic Gobbledygook. I was exposed to a remarkable array of fancy ways to say nothing.
I remember sitting across a desk from a colleague named Max Buffington, who pulled out a “Buzzword Generator” matrix. Here’s how it works. You pick a word from each of three columns and put together an impressive sounding but meaningless phrase.
The generator was such an effective spoof of a very real communication problem that it’s still available online today.
Buzzword Generator |
||
Qualifier 1 |
Qualifier 2 |
Qualifier 3 |
integrated |
management |
alliance |
total |
organizational |
flexibility |
down-sized |
measurable |
outcomes |
parallel |
reciprocal |
resource |
functional |
digital |
pathways |
responsible |
rational |
concept |
optimal |
transitional |
time-phase |
synchronized |
strategic |
partnership |
compatible |
third-generation |
options |
balanced |
quality |
contingency |
My exposure to Gobbledygook began before my work in government. I mastered Academic Gobbledygook in my years in college. I quickly learned that if I expressed simple ideas in obscure and pretentious language, I received higher grades.
Plain Language Movement
The Plain Language Movement began in government about the time I left, and now there are resources that will help government workers cut through the fog of doublespeak. PlainLanguage.gov is one resource. Another is the DFEB.com website, which offers a communicator’s guide. In the introduction the guide observes that you might be a bureaucrat when:
- Your FTE can’t find the RFP on the IRP and the CRP for the EPA and the NWS or even without the CDAs—the JIB and CENTCOM PAQ briefing shows there are 9 KIA, 6 WIA, and 2 MIA.
The scary thing is that most people in my government audiences know what that means, and scarier still is the fact that many of them are surprised that I don’t.
“We can lick gravity, but the paperwork is overwhelming.”
~ Wernher von Braun
A search for clear communication
I got a laugh from the generator, but the prevalence of meaningless buzzwords created a sense of unreality for me. That was one of the motivators for me to leave both academia and government service. I also left because I didn’t know how to ask for help that I needed. I had been hired to assist on a major research project, and when the person I was hired to assist quit, my manager put me in charge of the whole project. I was in over my head but didn’t consider asking for help. In retrospect I’m confident that had I asked for help, I would have received it.
Now, some 30 years later, I don’t fake it, I ask. And I don’t ask in buzzwords, I ask in plain English. I’ve developed a plethora of formulas that go far beyond any buzzword generator and create clear questions and statements. The simplified version of one of my formulas is to SpeakStrong, Smart, and Sweet.
The PowerPhrases generator
I recently created a PowerPhrases generator for a presentation at a federal employee’s conference. It’s the Buzzword generator grown up. Unlike the Buzzword generator, it generates serious communications.
Warning – your conversations are about to get real.
Of course it’s not as easy to implement The PowerPhrases generator as the Buzzword generator, and if you’d rather hide behind the empty and the meaningless, you might not welcome the clarity it creates. It is based on the concept that powerful communication means Speaking Strong, Smart, and Sweet.
PowerPhrase Generator |
||
 Smart |
 Sweet |
 Strong |
It... |
We, Us, Our... |
I, You, Me, Mine... |
Opinion: I think... |
Feeling: I feel... |
Request: I want, need... |
Situation: What happens is... |
Acknowledge: I understand... |
Action: I will... |
Clarity: I'll explain... |
Emotion: It saddens me that... |
Consequence: I will... |
Logic: Reason suggests... |
Connection: We, Let's, Together... |
Self-Interest: What's in it for you is... |
Reason: Because... |
Community: We, Our nation... |
Expectation:
I expect... |
Linear: #1, #2, #3... |
Team: The team... |
Bottom line: It boils down to this... |
Impersonal: There is... |
Big vision: Imagine... |
Steps: What you do is... |
You’ll find a more complete explanation of the three sources of communication power in my latest book, SpeakStrong. But for now, play with the sentence stems here.
The PowerPhrases generator in action
Had I asked for help in my first job, I might have said, “I think I am qualified for the job I was hired to do, but not to run the program. I feel overwhelmed, and I want you to hire a replacement for the project director.
How hard would that have been? It would have been simple…had I had the words. Had I spoken those words, I might be attending those governmental conferences I speak at now…or perhaps even enjoying retirement on a government pension.
But I had to learn to speak Plain English first – and cut through the sense of unreality I experienced in academia and government service. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to bring some of what I’ve learned back to my former colleagues. I think of how fun it would be to sit across the desk from Max Buffington and show him my PowerPhrases generator. I wonder how he would respond.
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Meryl Runion and Speak Strong (SpeakStrong) provides Power Phrases (PowerPhrases) and other tools to help you improve communication skills at work and at home. You can read more about her at www.speakstrong.com.
Meryl is the author of six books on communication that have sold over a quarter million copies worldwide, including Speak Strong, PowerPhrases!, How to Use PowerPhrases, Perfect Phrases for Managers and Supervisors, and How to Say It: Performance Reviews. You can reach her at 719-684-2633, or by email:
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