Written By
Greta Gale
Business Operations Intern
Greta attends Indiana University – Bloomington, majoring in Management and Human Organization and Computer Science.
Connect on LinkedInOver the summer, the interns and I had some giggles over the various corporate jargon we’ve heard online, at previous jobs, and even at SEP. Corporate jargon is a word or phrase commonly used in business environments to communicate ideas, processes, or strategies. We giggled because, removed from their context, these phrases seemed ridiculous (and occasionally even with context). Corporate slang is something many people grow to resent. I suspect this is partly due to perceived obnoxiousness, and the frustration that comes with decoding its meanings.
But do not misunderstand! I love corporate jargon. I enjoy using corporate jargon on many levels—to enhance my communication, speak persuasively, and identify with fellow business-oriented team members. Therefore, to summarize my summer with SEP, I want to share some of my favorite jargon—heard at SEP, or perpetrated by yours truly—and relate these phrases back to my experiences.
1. In the loop
To be in the loop is to be up to date with the latest concerning a topic or project.
In the BizOps world, keeping your fellow team members “in the loop” is critical. Operational work heavily relies on poking your head into different systems and workflows. One day, I may work on a project that interferes with a daily part of an EM’s work, another a Software Engineer’s workflow. When I am interjecting myself in a part of work that affects other people, communicating my steps, and my progress with the relevant parties is paramount. I’ve learned that a large part of BizOps is taking the initiative to have conversation, to ask questions, and seek first to understand.
2. End goal
End goal is used to describe the ultimate objective of a person or group.
In BizOps, sometimes we have ideas of ‘what done looks like’ but the final product, the way you engineer your solution to fit into a team, is a complex and creative thing. Many interns are fresh from college courses, used to being busy, used to learning, used to having expectations. Usually, a professor will give an assignment, outline how she wants it done, and state the criteria for which she will grade it.
You can see every step, and the finish line lies right before you. This is where SEP contrasts, and it’s one of the most challenging but rewarding aspects of the internship. Many projects start with just a problem, and all we know is that we want the problem solved. There is no rubric, even for your projects as an intern. This starts a treasure hunt for understanding the problem, the affected parties, the possible solutions, their implications, and possible implementation.
For example, when I took on revamping our web lead sales process, there was no pre-determined end state — I could rework any part of it I wanted. I ended up automating Slack channel and HubSpot deal creation for each new lead, building a workflow that drafts outreach emails, and creating a Claude skill to standardize how we research every incoming client. Understanding which parts of the process were worth automating, and which still needed a human judgment call, was the real work. Deciding an end goal, having the freedom, autonomy, and sense to know what finished (or finished for now) looks like, is a critical skill I will carry with me going forward.
3. Move the needle in the right direction
To move the needle in the right direction is to make a noticeable and positive impact or change towards achieving a goal.
Being an intern at SEP is not busy work. Interning with SEP is not one size fits all. Instead, being an intern at SEP is like creating a custom fitted suit (for yourself). Similar to choosing your own adventure, I pick up projects that spark joy or interest. Unlike creating binders, stapling papers, or making copies, your value as an intern isn’t measured by any unit of completeness.
You can pick up a project—not because you know how to solve it—but because you want to. These projects, problems, and initiatives don’t always have an end goal—they are immortal, they evolve, and are continuous efforts supported by the BizOps team. Being an intern at SEP doesn’t mean worrying about getting something done; it means worrying about making progress. No matter what project you take on, the research you do, the progress you make, will be influential for future SEPeers—all it takes is moving the needle in the right direction.
Is Business a Battlefield? A Ballgame? A Farm?: The Rhetoric of Workplace Lingo
In season 2, episode 15 of The Office, Jan comes into the Scranton branch to give a group session to the female employees on workplace issues. One topic she addresses is the use of corporate jargon. Jan argues that, oftentimes, sport lingo may not resonate with the women of the workplace. For example, “Your quarterly sales numbers are on par,” or “Kevin, this chili is a home run.”
Corporate jargon is the shorthand and metaphor-heavy language businesses use to describe ordinary work and ideas. From my perspective, in any corporate environment, we utilize words in specific ways to suit the context, or deepen our communication. For example, asking for the key takeaways from the conference is a concise way of saying, summarize the most important things you learned from the conference. However, to understand corporate jargon as simply a means of efficiency and precision would be an oversight. These phrases, their word choice, are not random. So, rather than just communicating efficiently and precisely, to what extent does corporate jargon function rhetorically?
— The SEP Interns ….probably 😉
Metaphorically Speaking
Business jargon often selects words outside of the common scope, connecting them to an operational function, similar to a metaphor. For example, low-hanging fruit describes problems that are easy to solve. Metaphors are powerful tools in communication and literature, enabling us to convey complex ideas, evoke emotions, and shape perceptions through vivid comparisons. Business jargon is a form of this decorative language structuring thought. For example, consider the following examples.
- Business is war: win, strategy, defend, competitive landscape, mission-critical.
- Business is sport: home run, game plan, move the goalposts, touch base, step up to the plate, par for the course, end goal.
- Business is machinery: leverage, engine, gears, pipeline, look under the hood, moving parts.
- Business is agriculture: low-hanging fruit, seed funding, harvest results, working in silos, cash cow.
- Business is construction: Build consensus, foundation, framework, scaffolding, drill down.
Why do we choose these parallels? When we ‘displace’ words, migrating them into our world, they carry a connotation—we evoke the meaning, the visual, the story of that word. Jargon is not random!
Jargon as a Tool
Moreover, the result of jargon as a metaphor shapes how people think about work, relationships, and policy. Therefore, jargon functions rhetorically.
What do I mean by rhetoric? Rather than treating rhetoric simply as persuasion, I use the term to describe language that shapes how audiences understand a situation and guides how they respond to it. Consequently, I think of rhetoric as a frame. Shaping the context to which we view a subject can alter our perception entirely.
The business sphere adopts language with intention. To compare work to sport is a connection drawn for a reason. Someone who compares business to football—what are they aiming to convey? Telling Jerry, we need a game plan before a meeting with stakeholders, communicates the framing that Jerry views the task—as coordinated teamwork with winners and losers. Corporate slang exists for a reason. We popularize these phrases because they hold weight. Despite corporate jargon having a seemingly positive influence, season 2, episode 15 of The Office was still created—just because corporate jargon is a tool, that doesn’t always make it helpful. A microwave is useless in the forest, and gasoline is horrible for a house fire. So, popular terms in the business world have their place, but only in the right context.
Jargon as Identity
Ultimately, jargon is a form of identification. A symbol representing belonging. Understanding and using jargon is a showcase of your experience. You’ve heard the term before; therefore, you must have corporate experience and maturity. To not understand is to show inexperience, to be an outsider.
That tension — jargon as both a useful tool and a potential wall between insiders and outsiders — is worth sitting with. When we use decorative language, even when cliché to the business world, we capture our audience, we tell stories, and we deepen understanding. But it’s worth asking why we use the words we do, what our intentions are, and whether the impact on our audience is positive or negative.
While jargon is not malicious in nature and oftentimes useful—always remember who your audience is. Business jargon won’t resonate with everyone. This is easier said than done — you can’t always predict what your audience will and won’t recognize. But, any good communicator adapts to the best of their abilities, ensures the understanding of team members, and avoids ostracism. So, continue to have fun with corporate jargon, but not without purposeful thought.
✨ AI Post Recap
An SEP Business Operations intern reflects on three pieces of corporate jargon she picked up over the summer, in the loop, end goal, and move the needle, and connects them to lessons about communication, ownership, and ambiguity in her internship projects. She also examines why business language leans on metaphors from sports, war, and machinery, and how using or missing that language can make someone feel like an insider or an outsider at work.
What does “in the loop” mean at work? Being in the loop means staying updated on what is happening with a topic or project so you can keep others informed and coordinate your work with theirs.
What does “move the needle” mean at work? To move the needle means to make a noticeable, positive step toward a goal, even if the work is not finished. It is about visible forward progress, not completion.
Why does business language use so much metaphor and jargon? Business jargon borrows metaphors from sports, war, agriculture, and machinery to frame work efficiently and signal shared experience, though it can exclude people unfamiliar with the terms.
