I met with a friend recently and she expressed her frustration at the way a major restructure was being handled and senior managers continued use of the statement "things are still fluid".
We were talking about what 'fluid' really meant and what the response might be if she asked the question of those so fond of the word.
Many things are fluid, and flow... water is fluid, sometimes a trickle, sometimes a river, sometimes a gush from a tap or hose, rapids and Niagara Falls. What about treacle? Primary school science taught me at glass has fluid-like qualities. It just takes a couple of hundred years for it to flow!
Today's Daily Idea from Harvard Business Review was titled "Language matters..." and was extracted from Michael Schrage's post titled "Good Leaders Don't Use Bad Words"
"The business world, no doubt, is full of jargon, clichés, truisms, and buzz words. Quality, morale, lean, innovation — all fine words, in and of themselves, but they are often rendered meaningless by our repetitive, and sometimes thoughtless use of them.
It's a shame; language, when used carefully and correctly, can make a big difference. Referring to customers as clients, or offers as products, as simple as the distinctions may be, can have a profound, cognitive effect on your team's behavior.
"The difference," Mark Twain wisely wrote, "between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter — it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning."
Well said."
What do they mean by 'fluid' in my colleague's situation?
The skeptic in me suspects it is 'we really aren't sure what we a doing or how this is going to end up' and reminds me at we need to be so careful with the words and phrases we use and we should say what we really mean.
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