(Synergistically 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.)

Synergistically

Truly, this one should’ve never made the cut.

Synergistically is the adverbial form of synergistic, which basically means “working together in a productive manner.” Synergistically describes how the team worked or should work; as in, “they did so synergistically.”

Beautiful! Exactly what we need from our teams!

Therefore, synergistically should be okay to use in the office, right? Not so fast.

While generally used correctly in the workplace, synergistically is included in our list because like many annoying words and phrases your boss sometimes uses correctly, he or she feels synergistically must now be applied to everything.

Everything must be in harmony; every detail must sync with every other detail; everyone must work together on everything. There’s no longer any room for individual action or initiative – regardless of how effective – we need the team working synergistically to solve everything… All. The. Time.

Got a big project coming up? Let’s be sure to work synergistically with accounting.

Looking to rebrand an outdated offering? Great, we believe Frasier can help you synergistically sync with the marketing team.

Is the breakroom fridge loaded with expired condiments and more than a few poorly-covered mystery dishes? Terrific, be sure to work with the other department heads so you can synergistically create a long-term solution.

Ugh… truly awful.

Replacement phrases: No replacement needed… just slow down a bit, partner. Not everything or everyone needs to work synergistically.

See also: Sync

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