2018's List of Most Overused Phrases in the Workplace
Marie Donlon | December 12, 2018
As the sun sets on 2018, a team at FitSmallBusiness.com compiled a list of the most overused expressions heard in the workplace. The top 18 include:
- Let’s circle back
- Shift the paradigm
- Ping me, or I’ll ping you
- Marinate on that
- Not my domain
- Let’s create synergy
- It’s in the pipeline
- It is what it is
- You need to own it
- It’s in your wheelhouse
- Will it scale?
- I have a 10,000-foot view
- You need to make headway
- It’s the Uber of…
- At the end of the day…
- Steer the ship
- Moving forward
- Let’s pivot
This is not to be confused with a previously published list of the most cringeworthy phrases overheard in the office compiled in a survey conducted by OnePoll and Jive Communications. It ranks phrases and words uttered in the workplace most likely to evoke an emotional or physical (i.e., eye rolling, gagging) response from coworkers.
Based on data about the communication behaviors of 2,000 U.S. workers, researchers concluded that the following are the worst words/phrases uttered in the workplace:
1. Give 110 percent
2. Think outside the box
3. Hammer it out
4. Heavy lifting
5. Throw them under the bus
6. Don't count your chickens before they've hatched
7. Pushing the envelope
8. Let the cat out of the bag
9. Let's circle back
10. Win-win situation
11. Blue-sky thinking
12. Boil the ocean
13. Synergy
14. Low-hanging fruit
15. Take it to the next level
16. Barking up the wrong tree
17. Going forward
18. Let's ballpark this
19. Run this up the flagpole
20. Back to square one
21. There's no I in team
22. Back to the drawing board
23. Paradigm shift
24. Elephant in the room
25. Raise the bar
26. Drill down
27. Best thing since sliced bread
28. Deep dive
29. Skin in the game
30. Reach out
31. Touch base
32. Play hardball
33. Don't reinvent the wheel
34. Kept in the loop
35. The bottom line
36. Down the road
37. I'll loop you in
38. Hit the nail on the head
39. ASAP
40. Team player
