(Game Plan is an annoying business term and is just one of the 212 Most Annoying Business Phrases Managers Effuse, Confuse, and Overuse detailed in the hilarious must-have guide for every workplace: The 30,000-Pound Gorilla in the Room. Available right now on Amazon.)

Game Plan

You’ve already been introduced to game changer and bring your ‘A’ game, but there are actually four annoying business phrases that include the word game – and that’s after rejecting staples like “game ball” and “stay ahead of the game.” We could’ve had a hot half-dozen, but those two idioms don’t seem to have the same annoying overuse as the ones that made the cut.

Of those that did make it into print, game plan has become the go-to staple for lazy managers incapable of simply describing what they need in one word.

Instead of having a plan, they must have a game plan. It’s impossible for these annoying souls to simply have an approach; no, they must have a game plan. They can’t just work on a strategy; they have to game plan.

Why? We don’t freaking know!

It seems unnecessary and excessive to add in the extra word; though we suppose it makes annoying (or, perhaps, impotent) managers sound more macho when they change a ho-hum word (like plan) into a sports term.

Uttering game plan in business has no more importance than any number of simpler, single words.

This begs the question: Why so verbose? Are you overcompensating for something?

That would be our guess.

Replacement phrases: Strategy; Plan

See also: Game Time

…

The 30,000-Pound Gorilla in the Room is available on Amazon