Let's test your "corporate speak"

• Tee up: Like teeing up a golf ball; to “tee it up” is to make an idea ready for discussion or action. “I’d like to tee up a new idea for us to consider.”
• Ramp up or Lay Pipe: Same definition as “tee up.” Also, a process to get people behind a new idea or project. “Let’s ramp up (lay pipe for) support on this project by getting Customer Service and Finance involved in our planning, so they will buy into the solution.”
•  Zoom out (versus In the Weeds): Similar to “see the big picture.” “Let’s zoom out on this idea and talk about what we are trying to accomplish. We’ve been in the weeds for the last ten minutes and we’re getting lost in the little details.”
• Calibrate: A process that tries to create more consistency between disparate parts. “Our managers get together to calibrate the ratings they are going to give on their staff’s performance reviews. That way they can even out the difference between the hard raters and the easy raters.”
• Walk forward: A forward forecast or plan. “Let’s do a walk forward on these financials, to see what variances we might expect over the next few months.”
• A Deck: Refers to a computer-based PowerPoint presentation, which is like a deck of cards or slides. “Will you review my deck for the annual meeting, to make sure I haven’t missed anything?”
• Dashboard: The key indicators of progress —like the dials on a car’s dashboard—that will tell you, at a glance, how the company/department’s processes are functioning. “When I looked at the dashboard this month, I see our revenue numbers are slowing down.”
• Scorecard: Similar to the dashboard, except more of a specific measure. The scorecard is often used to measure the bottom line of a company, department or a person. It will usually contain a handful of key measures that determine if the company met its goals. “The company fell short of two out of four items on our corporate scorecard, so bonuses will be 50% less than last year.”
• Guardrails: Used in place of “parameters” or “criteria.” “When we meet to discuss this new project, we need to figure out the guardrails, such as how much budget we will have and who will be involved.”
• Peel the onion: Get down to the heart of the matter. Used for dissecting complex problems or people. “He needs to peel the onion, if he is going to work with Jack. Jack holds everything so close to his chest, you never know if he disagrees with you or not.”
• Transparency: To be clear and open about what you are doing, without any hidden agenda. “You need to work with that department with more transparency, so they don’t waste time guessing your motive, or misreading your intentions.”
• Decrement: A play on the word “increment,” but referring to a downward trend. “Let’s start restricting their involvement by decrements, so they don’t feel we’ve slammed the door on their department’s input.”
• At the end of the day: Comes from the IT world, when computer processes often had day-long cycles, at which point things could be assessed. “At the end of the day, if we increase customer satisfaction scores, this will all be worth it.”