atw: No More Thought Showers

According to a CNN report at:

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/06/21/britain.jargonbusters.ap/index.html
 


LONDON, England (AP) -- British bureaucrats have been
warned: no more synergies, stakeholders or sustainable
communities.

The body that represents the country's local authorities has
told its members to stop using management buzzwords, saying
they confuse people and prevent residents from understanding
what local governments do. [snip]

The list includes the popular but vague term "empowerment;"
"coterminosity," a situation in which two organizations
oversee the same geographical area; and "synergies,"
combinations in which the whole is greater than the sum
of its parts.

Officials were told to ditch the term "revenue stream"
for income, as well as the imprecise "sustainable communities."
The association also said councils should stop referring
to local residents as "customers" or "stakeholders." [snip]

The association sent its letter after reports that one
town council had told staff to use the term "thought
showers" instead of "brainstorming."

Officials at Tunbridge Wells council in southern England
felt brainstorming might offend people with epilepsy, a
condition that involves periodic electrical storms inside
the brain.

However, the National Society for Epilepsy said it had
surveyed its members and they did not find the term offensive.

"Brainstorming" is not on the Local Government Association's
list.
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