We have a new manager at one of my jobs. Every interaction with her sounds like she's following a script learned at a leadership seminar. It feels very fake and insincere, and we all wish she'd go away.
She likes the phrase "I offer my sincere, professional apology" for instance. She sent an email with the minutes to the staff meeting, and offered the above phrase to preface her apology for sending it later than, I guess, she wanted to. She used it when she sent me an email with someone else's name. I heard her use the phrase in person as well. It's like dealing with an android or autobot.
She's full of lots of other canned catch phrases. There's lots of talk about team building, over the top praise, and followed by turds containing threats if we aren't compliant, then ending with some more sugary, team building cliches.
Have any of you experienced this? I'm not a fan of scripting. I'm sure there is value in learning leadership skills, but not if it turns you into an obvious phony.
Used to have a manager who said "And ya know what" a LOT (or is that alot? )
She was giving a speech and my coworkers and I decided to place bets on how many times she would say it. Those lightweights guessed 5-15. I said 75- Price is Right Rules, closest without going over.
She spoke for 37 minutes and we stopped counting at 60.
Specializes in med-surg, IMC, school nursing, NICU.
The principal of my school came from a "business background" where he worked in management for many years before going into education. It shows in nearly every interaction, he speaks like he just came from a leadership seminar.
"We need to close the loop of communication."
"Let's touch base periodically."
"Communication is key."
"Communication is key."
"Communication is key." (clearly a favorite)
I half expect him to sidle over to my office one morning with a drawn out "Heeeeeeey Tomato. Whaaaaaat's haaaaapening?"
All the members of our leadership team- basically everyone who has a desk job in our department- ends all their department-wide emails with "I appreciate you all!"
They *have* to have learned it in some seminar. And it sounds hilariously inappropriate at the end of emails that are just completely neutral or worse, negative.
"Please, each remember to complete two chart checks this week. And we need to stop placing unbagged dirty linen in the carts, housekeeping WILL NOT collect it.
Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
The principal of my school came from a "business background" where he worked in management for many years before going into education. It shows in nearly every interaction, he speaks like he just came from a leadership seminar.
"We need to close the loop of communication."
"Let's touch base periodically."
"Communication is key."
"Communication is key."
"Communication is key." (clearly a favorite)
I half expect him to sidle over to my office one morning with a drawn out "Heeeeeeey Tomato. Whaaaaaat's haaaaapening?"
Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
But all "apologies" aren't sincere. The "I do apologize" one smacks of insincerity.
I get that many aren't sincere. Same as the person who always apologizes and continues to do things. I just have never understood when people say it's a sincere apology. The very act of apologizing is acknowledging a wrong doing or an offence. So if you're not sincere, simply don't apologize.
It's just another one of those things on my list of stuff I will never understand. lol
I was also amused about the "professional" and "sincere" apology. If it isn't sincere, I don't want it in the first place, and maybe an unprofessional apology is the better choice sometimes. I have never liked the phrase "quality care" either. I usually hear it used by upper level administrative types (read: non-nurses) who need something catchy to say, when their actions pretty much prohibit it from happening. If there is no quality, it isn't really care in my book.
Working loosely within a corporate structure the last 7 years, I was subjected to numerous irritating phrases. The one that bugged me the most was "on-boarding." We never just recruited or hired or oriented new employees, we "on-boarded" them. It always made me wonder who threw them over-board, necessitating their rescue. On-boarding, of course, came with reams of paperwork and training videos. The paperwork couldn't be avoided. The videos sure could, though.
I don't claim to be an expert regarding the English language, but Mr. Harry Adrian, my high school teacher taught me a bit about proper speech and written communication. I rarely watch the news, because doing so makes me want to scream at the screen, not so much because of the news stories themselves, but because the anchors can't seem to read them without butchering grammar or resorting to catch phrases.
Does anyone else wonder when the phrase "ahead of" became a suitable alternative to "prior to?" Let's interview mothers ahead of their special day! Let's not.
And if I hear one more celebrity "open up" or "speak out" on some inane personal secret, I just might explode! In our report tonight, Nicole Kidman opens up about fixing Tom Cruise breakfast! Gag me!
Specializes in Hospice, corrections, psychiatry, rehab, LTC.
I don't claim to be an expert regarding the English language, but Mr. Harry Adrian, my high school teacher taught me a bit about proper speech and written communication. I rarely watch the news, because doing so makes me want to scream at the screen, not so much because of the news stories themselves, but because the anchors can't seem to read them without butchering grammar or resorting to catch phrases.
I work in corrections, and I notice things like this on the news all the time. Newsreaders repeatedly use the term "behind bars" for any kind of incarceration, when bars haven't been used in cell construction for decades. About the only place that you see them, except for the few truly ancient prisons that still operate, is on crash gates that separate one area of the facility from another, usually with motorized gates that allow different areas of the building to be closed off when needed. They also use the word "jail" for any kind of incarceration, despite the fact that jails and prisons are distinctly different places. Jails generally hold people for no more than one year (a few days is the general rule), and people awaiting trial. Prison is where they go for incarceration after conviction. My correctional officer friends would also like for me to throw in the overuse of the term "prison guards".
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I have never liked the phrase "quality care" either. I usually hear it used by upper level administrative types (read: non-nurses) who need something catchy to say, when their actions pretty much prohibit it from happening. If there is no quality, it isn't really care in my book.
meanmaryjean, DNP, RN
7,899 Posts
Used to have a manager who said "And ya know what" a LOT (or is that alot?
)
She was giving a speech and my coworkers and I decided to place bets on how many times she would say it. Those lightweights guessed 5-15. I said 75- Price is Right Rules, closest without going over.
She spoke for 37 minutes and we stopped counting at 60.