StoryLingoBingo

Congratulations to my colleagues Glenn and Louise for coming up with a great idea at our summer social / team-building exercise this week.

While not wanting to be hypocrites (regular readers of this blog will know that we have an anti-management-speak campaign going on here) I now have to admit that we are guilty on occasion of creating our own jargon within the confines of 15. Percy Street. Certain words keep appearing in the conversation which are fast becoming Storytellers-speak and which must be eradicated at the earliest possible opportunity. I don’t think we’re as bad as the police (‘The officer engaged with the victim to ascertain the damage inflicted’ or ‘the suspect was apprehended as he exited the vehicle’), but I we must remember at all times to speak in as human a way as possible.

To highlight this wanton phraseology, two of our programme managers came up with a great game…StoryLingoBingo. Quite simply, identify the offending phrases or words (listed on a card) – those which are repeated to excess during our daily operations – and build them innocently and naturally into the conversation. The person who creates the phrase gets points out of three according to how contrived the sentence has been and how appropriate the words are at the time. The winner is the person with the most points. Great fun, very self-deprecating, and additional marks for those who can identify the source of the jargon in the first place.

On the subject of team-building, I would recommend that anyone wishing to try out Sumo-wrestling with inflatable Sumo suits takes care. It’s very hot, absolutely exhausting, and I have been rendered immobile having torn a couple of muscles in my leg. Rounders is a much safer bet.

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