A Comprehensive Guide for terms and Idioms for freshers of corporate world.

New to the corporate world? Stepping into it can feel like entering a whole new universe, filled up with  its own unique language. From the Idioms and phrases like "On the Same Page" to "touching base," these are known as corporate lingo's or office jargon's. These corporate lingo's can be a confusion for new hires. But don't worry! We got you covered.

This comprehensive guide is your roadmap to understanding common business idioms, phrases and terms. Mastering this language is key to have effective communication with your colleagues. It can significantly boost your career success. Whether you're fresh out of college or transitioning from a different field, this guide will help you navigate workplace conversations with confidence.

Short Forms/Acronyms:-

                                           Let's see some short forms and acronyms that associates use across Microsoft Teams (MS Teams), Google Chat (G chat), in official mails in person conversations. 

• EOD: End of Day – EOD is usually used to indicate a deadline or a expected completion of a task by the end of the mentioned workday. For example if anyone says "Please send me the report by tomorrow EOD." , then they mean they want the report to be done and delivered to him by next day before work timing ends.

• EOM: End of Month – It is similar to EOD, but at the place of day end of the month is a expected completion of a task. Please note that EOM always refer to last working day of the month and not the last general day of the month. Be aware about any holidays or non working days at the end of the month.

• ETA: Estimated Time of Arrival – ETA is used to indicate when something is expected to be completed or arrive. For example corporate associates ask "What's the ETA for product deliveries?" then they are asking about the delivery when it will arrive.

• FYI: For Your Information – FYI is used to share information mostly in the form of mails, templates or documents on corporate messaging platforms like MS Teams that one need to understand more about the topic being discussed. 

• FYR For Your Reference – FYR is very much similar to FYI. It is also used to share information mostly in the form of documents on mails or corporate messaging platforms like MS Teams or G chat. FYR mostly used to refer the past conversation or documents shared in past between people or a stakeholders.

• POC: Point of Contact – POC is he person related to a project who is responsible for handling communication and coordination regarding a specific project or task. POC is usually a person to reach out in case of more information needed regarding anything. 

• OOF / OOO: Out of Office – OOO is mostly used in email auto-replies, MS Teams, or Google chat. It is used to indicate that particular associate or person is away from office, and as the person is on leave, he may not be able to respond immediately to your mails or calls.

• TBD/TBA: To Be Determined/To Be Announced – TBA or TBD is used to indicates that something is yet to be decided or it is not finalized yet. Generally TBA ,TBD is used to determine the undecided deadline of the project.  

• ASAP: As Soon As Possible – ASAP is used to indicate that something needs to be done quickly or urgently. For example complete the work ASAP means, the mentioned work is of a high priority and needs to be completed as soon as possible.

• KPI: Key Performance Indicator – KPI is used to determine a measurable value that demonstrates how effective or efficient a particular thing is. For example for a company annual revenue growth is indicator how well the company is performing. 

Phrases:

                Let's see some phrases that are used in meetings, daily conversations by associates. It is important to know the meaning of various office phrases to understand the message from the associates we are talking to.

• Bandwidth: Bandwidth it is a term used to describe an associate's availability to take on additional work or tasks. It is generally a indication of how much existing work a person has, if he has less or no work then he has a bandwidth on the other hand if he has existing work then the person is having less bandwidth or no bandwidth depending upon time needed to complete the work. 

• First Half :-  First half is a term used to describe the time of the day up to lunch. Most of the times deadlines for a particular tasks are kept up to first half of the day. 

• Second half :- Second half is a term used to describe the time of the day after the lunch. Associates in corporate mostly prefer to keep meetings in the second half of the day so that they can focus on the tasks in the first half.

• Low-Hanging Fruit: It is term used to describe easy tasks or tasks with less time requirement that can be quickly completed. For example managers frequently says: "Let's address the low-hanging fruits first." By it they mean complete the easy tasks first.

• Circle Back: Circle back is a term used to revisit a topic of conversation sometime later. In corporate terminologies it is a purposeful postpone of a meeting or a conversation later in a order to have more information on the topic being discussed. For example managers frequently say "Let's circle back on this topic next week when we have more information on it."

• Table It / Park It: It is a term used to postpone a discussion or decision until a later time. These terms are mostly associated with prioritizing the discussion about important work first and doing discussion on less important work later time. 

• Deep Dive: Deep dive is a phrase used to thoroughly analyze a issue or a problem. It is used to understand more about the problem to try and come with solutions to mitigate it.

• Win-Win: It is term used to describe a situation or result of something that is beneficial for everyone involved it. It is generally a no loss to anyone principle used in corporate communications.

• Hard Stop: It is a firm deadline that cannot be extended to some later date. It is mostly used to define the deadline for the critical tasks that have lot of impact on the business. For example deadlines for client presentation generation has a hard stop of several days before the actual presentation date.

• Think Outside the Box: Think out side of the box is a term mostly used by leaders to motivate their team members to think creatively or come up with unconventional solutions. The main goal of this process is to come up with effective and efficient solution for the given problem.

Idioms:

            Now let's see some idioms which are little confusing and not easy to guess. These group of words carry a way different meaning than their literal meaning. Let's understand the meaning of various idioms used in office environment.

• Get the Ball Rolling: It is a term used to start something new, such a project or process. 

• Shooting a mail :- It is sending a mail as soon as possible. It describes the priority of the topic discussed over the mail.

• On the Same Page: It is often used in the meetings that everyone in the team needs to be on same page. It means all members of the team have the common understanding of the process and their are no assumptions considered by anyone about the process or a work.

• Hit the Ground Running: It is a term used to start something quickly and energetically. 

• Back to Square One: In corporate terms Back to Square One means to start over something from the beginning. This kind of situations may arise in a project due to lot of reasons like failure of proposed solution, change of client requirements etc.

Additional Tips for freshers:

                                                     Lastly I am mentioning few extra tips that will help you to gain valuable insights for improving a freshman's personality and make them ready for the corporate world.

• Observe and Learn: One can observe how other colleagues are interacting and communicating with each other. This will help you understand the company culture and communication norms. Remember to be respectful around your seniors and colleagues and stay humble and open to learn.

• Practice to Become an Active Listener : Active listening is a method of listening attentively and noticing verbal, para verbal and non verbal aspects of communication. This will help to understand the topic of discussion and person discussing it.

• Ask Questions: Never assume anything, if you're unsure about something, don't be afraid to ask for clarification. It's always better to ask for the clarifications rather than making assumptions which will lead to creation of misunderstandings.

• Ask for Feedback: Whenever it is appropriate and possible ask for the feedback for your personal and professional improvement.

• Build Relationships: Networking and building positive relationships is important in any corporate environment. Take the time to get to know your colleagues and build positive collaborative relationships through various techniques like reciprocal relationships, Give and take principles of collaborations etc.

• Be Professional: Maintain a professional behavior in your communication, both in person and online. One can grow positively with a give and take resect principle in corporate.

We hope this guide has able to address your questions about corporate lingo. Remember, effective communication is the cornerstone of career development and success. By mastering business idioms and terms, you'll be well on your way to becoming a confident and valued contributor in your workplace.

Do you have any questions or other phrases you'd like us to decode? Share them in the comments below! We'll respond as soon as possible and are always here to help you on your professional journey. Your feedback is valuable to us, so please don't hesitate to reach out!