Corporate jargon in the USA: why "Good job" in American companies sometimes means "All garbage, redo"

Corporate ethics in American companies is fundamentally different from Russian and European. There is a completely different mentality. And it’s very difficult for specialists who move to the United States to get used to the eternal smiles and super-courteous attitude of their superiors towards their employees.

Many here watched the film Dudya about Silicon Valley. And there he casually touched on the topic of business and corporate ethics in companies. We decided to dig deeper and try to understand all these strange phrases, behind which the Americans hide their real attitude to work and employees. So let’s go.

Differences in corporate culture of American and Russian companies

Before you take up the phrases, you need to look at the differences in work ethics in Russian and American companies. And they are very serious.

Perhaps the first one that catches the eye is a different attitude to life and work. American smile is not grotesque, but a real perception of the world. If something is going well, then it is not “good”, but necessarily “great”, “awesome”, “terrific” or “brilliant”.

At the same time, corporate ethics in the United States is very strong. In Russian offices, there are frequent cases when employees find fault with their bosses or colleagues behind them. In the United States, there is almost no such thing – such cases will be immediately reported to the boss.

According to one of our teachers from the United States, who previously worked for a large company, even if a colleague took a pencil belonging to the company, he might be called to the boss the next day. And if it turns out that the pencil was taken on purpose, and not by carelessness, then they can even get fired.

By the way, even if the chief, according to the employees, is doing something wrong, then they will certainly report about it to the higher authorities. Each employee maintains a very interesting balance between the selfishness of personal development in the company and the altruism of the development of the company as a whole. This is probably what Nash’s balance looks like when applied to corporate development.

It is clear that this is not happening in all companies. But the main part of the market just creates a similar corporate culture and ethics.

In fact, most Americans are extremely polite people. They do not hesitate to praise subordinates even for small successes. And praise emotionally. It is believed that this increases the motivation of subordinates.

But sometimes you need to arrange a scolding to the employee who messed up. But how can this be done if a subordinate can complain about the boss’s harassment? This is the main reason for the emergence of ambiguous idioms in that the bosses essentially need to keep in touch with subordinates so that they work efficiently, and at the same time try not to offend their personality in any way.

NB! We repeat, such idiomatic phrases are not used in all companies. If you worked in a team where they speak directly and communicate in a normal language – you’re in luck. But such idioms with several meanings are very common in large companies, so you need to at least understand what is at stake.

Corporate phrases that do not need to be evaluated literally

First, let me say, you do a great job …
Firstly, I’ll say that you are doing a good job …

Before you slaughter a subordinate, you need to praise him. Such a phrase is often only an element of politeness, followed by “… but”. And then after this begins the passage about your doorposts.

In the understanding of the Americans, there is a subtle nuance. If you start the debriefing immediately with the jambs, then the criticism turns into psychological pressure. And for such a boss will not be patted on the head. But if you first praise the employee, then you can bake him as you like – it will already be constructive criticism.

Here are some resumes, just for your files.
Here are a few resumes, attach them to your documents.

No, the boss is not trying to find you an assistant. He subtly hints that there are no irreplaceable ones, and if you do not work better, then you will be fired. And one of these specialists will come to your place.

If you really think it’s a good idea …
If you really think this is a good idea …

This is the correct way to tell a colleague or subordinate: “I am not sure that your idea will be useful, therefore, the responsibility for the result lies with you.” In fact, this is the most neutral variation of the phrase “I wash my hands.” But the main point in it is “The idea is risky, but if you think that it will benefit the project and the company, realize it yourself.”

If the idea works, the employee will be praised for initiative and independence. These qualities are very much appreciated in the USA. But even if the idea fails, the boss will appreciate the fact that the subordinate is not afraid to take the initiative and be responsible for his actions.

Be patient.
Take it easy.

The phrase is very multifaceted, but most often it is applied to an unrestrained colleague who is already sick of everyone in the office. Because you can’t swear and swear, but you need to besiege a person, because he interferes with work. If he does not understand the hint, then the complaint mechanism for the employee is turned on.

And then he will either have to calm down and stop pestering everyone, or fly out of work.

We’ll discuss it after the New Year.
We will discuss this after the New Year.

The phrase is popular both at press conferences of the company, and when discussing individual projects.

For example, if a leader is asked when a project will be implemented, which he promised a year ago, and there was not even a horse lying around, then he will quite possibly answer that he will be discussed after the New Year.

But the thing is that this project is actually not in the plans either for the next year, or in general. And the boss just expects that by the New Year they will simply forget about him.

Why is that? It is simply believed that any failure at any level reduces the image of the company and reduces the motivation of employees.

Send me an email on that.
Send me an email about this.

If your boss or department head says to send him an e-mail and refuses to discuss any initiative or request, citing employment, this means that, most likely, you came with a request to the wrong address, but because of the politeness, the boss may directly refuse you.

By the way, if you heard this phrase, this does not mean at all that the boss will expect an e-mail from you. This is just one of the options to say “No” so as not to offend the employee with a refusal.

Whose budget is this coming out of?
Whose budget will it cover?

When a question comes up when discussing an idea, they usually only discuss the amount of investments and the development of MVP (minimum viable product).

But when asked who will pay for this, you can be sure that the idea will be buried in the table immediately after the meeting. Actually, if the boss asks this question when the manager presents him some idea of his own, then it will definitely not be realized.

We have negative growth.
We have a negative growth.

This phrase is already gradually penetrating into Russian business. Saying that the company is losing money and worsening its position in the market is impossible! After all, this reduces the motivation of employees and generally negatively affects the image of the company.

And here, though “negative”, but still “growth”. The phrase is extremely popular in a variety of reports when it is necessary to tell the truth, but there are no good results, so I want to soften it to the maximum.

We need a Best Practices program.
We need to use best practices.

This phrase is quite multifaceted, but in most cases it means something like: “Our product is not of high enough quality, so we need to analyze the products of competitors and partially copy the features of their products.”

That is, “Best Practices” means to be “inspired” by a product that is now the best on the market and do something similar to it.

***

To alleviate sharp corners so that a subordinate or a colleague does not suddenly become offended is an important part of the mentality of Americans. But sometimes this desire literally reaches the point of absurdity. And in this case, a person who is not very familiar with such idiomatic expressions and hints will simply not understand what they want from him.

In small companies or young startups you can still hear: “You fucked up!” instead of “Your performance is slipping.” But in large corporations, such directness is replaced by hints. And if you are going to work in the USA or with American companies, then these phrases need to be felt.

It is to feel, because their literal form can be different. But to learn to catch double and triple meanings in seemingly ordinary phrases is a separate skill. To do this, you need to know the language at a very high level and learn to notice the midtones in the intonations of the interlocutors. Difficult, but possible. So learn English, and let office idioms be always clear.

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