More Buzzword Bingo

These phrases on the left are apparently serious efforts of office people trying to communicate something meaningful, plus their actual meanings. A recent Local Government initiative in the UK banned these words. Sense at last has prevailed!


Across-the-piece - everyone working together

Actioned - do

Advocate - support

Area based - in an area

Area focused - concentrating on the area

Autonomous - independent

Baseline - starting point

Benchmarking - measuring

Best Practice - best way

Blue sky thinking - thinking up ideas

Bottom-Up - listening to people

Can do culture - get the job done

Capacity - ability

Capacity building - enough room in the system

Cascading - why use at all?

Cautiously welcome - devil in the detail

Challenge - problem

Citizen empowerment - people power

Client - person

Cohesiveness - together

Collaboration - working together

Commissioning - buy

Community engagement - getting people involved

Consensual - everyone agree

Contextual - background

Core developments - main things that are happening

Core Message - main point

Core principles - beliefs

Coterminosity - all singing from the same hymn sheet

Cross-cutting - everyone working together

Cross-fertilisation - spreading idea

Democratic legitimacy - voted in

Democratic mandate - elected to put people first

Dialogue - talk/discuss

Direction of travel - way forward

Distorts spending priorities - ignores people's needs

Early Win - success

Embedded - set in

Empowerment - people power

Enabler - helps

Engagement - working with people

Engaging users -- getting people involved

Enhance - improve

Evidence Base - research shows

Exemplar - example

External challenge - outside pressures

Facilitate - help

Fast-Track - speed up

Flexibilities and Freedoms - more power to do the right thing

Framework - guide

Fulcrum - pivot

Functionality - use

Funding Streams - money

Going forward - in the future

Good Practice - best way

Governance - Why use at all?

Guidelines - guide

Holistic - taken in the round

Improvement levers - using the tools to get the job done

Incentivising - incentive

Income Streams - money/cash

Indicators - measurements

Initiative - idea

Inspectorates - monitoring bodies

Interdepartmental - working together

Interface - talking to each other

Joined up - working together

Joint working - working together

Level playing field - everyone equal

Leverage - influence

Localities - places/town/city/village

Lowlights - worst bits

Meaningful consultation- talking to people

Meaningful dialogue - talking to people

Mechanisms - methods

Menu of Options - choices

Multi-agency -- many groups

Multidisciplinary - many

Municipalities - towns/cities/areas

Normalising - make normal

Outcomes - results

Outcomes - focused

Output - results

Outsourced - privatised

Parameter - limits

Participatory - joining in

Partnership working - working together

Partnerships - working together

Place shaping - creating places where people can thrive

Pooled budgets - money

Pooled resources - time and money

Populace - people

Potentialities - chances

Practitioners - experts

Preventative services - protecting the most vulnerable

Prioritization - most important

Priority - most important

Process driven - shouldn't everything be people driven?

Procure - buy

Procurement - buying

Promulgate - spread

Proportionality - in proportion

Protocol - guidance

Quick Hit - success

Quick Win - success

Rationalisation - cut

Reconfigured - reform

Resource allocation - money going to the right place

Revenue Streams - money

Risk based - safest way

Robust - tough

Scaled-back - cut/reduce

Scoping - work out

Seedbed - idea

Service users - people

Shared priority -- all working together

Signpost - point in the direction of

Single conversations - talking to

Single Point of Contact - everything under one roof

Situational - situation

Slippage - delay

Social contracts - deal

Social exclusion - poverty

Stakeholder - other organisations

Step Change - improve

Strategic - planned

Strategic priorities - planned

Streamlined - efficient

Sub-regional - work between councils

Sustainable - long term

Sustainable communities - environmentally friendly

Symposium - meeting

Tested for Soundness -- what works

Thematic - theme

Third sector - charities and voluntary organisations

Toolkit - guidance

Top-Down - ignores people

Trajectory - route

Tranche - slice

Transformational - change

Transparency - clear

Upward trend - getting better

Utilise - use

Value-added - extra

Vision -- ideal/dream/belief

Visionary - ideal/dream/belief

Welcome - necessary and needed/step in the right direction

Wellbeing - healthy

Worklessness - unemployed