Thinking outside the (sand) box
I was in a work meeting recently and someone told me to play in a sandbox. One minute we were discussing a potential new process to follow, and the next minute the presenter of the idea said, “Just play with that in your sandbox for a while and let us know where you land.” Talk about mixed metaphors.
Now I know what he meant, but I really despise it when people talk in corporate-ese; I’m also a very literal person and not a fan of Americanisms. I said, “So you want us to think about it and give you feedback.” He said, “Yes”. I said, “So you don’t want me to go and play in a sandpit.” He looked at me like I was weird (which I am) and slowly said, “No.”
So, I played with his idea in my ‘sandbox’. I built a little castle out of it and then a road and then a mermaid and then a starfish, and then I told him the process was flawed and suggested how to amend it. Then I kicked some sand out of the box and left the meeting.
Corporate jargon is a language unto itself and seems to be used more by people wanting to impress others than for the sake of clarity or convenience. After all, why would you say, “Let’s discuss the results of the survey” when instead, you can say, “Let’s take a deep dive into the data variables in the findings”?
No longer do we have different ways of viewing an issue – we have ‘frameworks’. We don’t have brainstorming sessions anymore – we do ‘blue-sky thinking’. We don’t change direction on a plan – we ‘pivot’. We don’t strengthen something by joining two elements together – we ‘build synergy’. And it’s not that we have to finish the meeting on time – it’s that we have a ‘hard stop’.
Many contemporary churches have their own form of corporate jargon. They don’t have a pastor – they have a ‘transformational leader’. They don’t go to church – they ‘do life together’. They don’t feel deeply for someone – they ‘love up on them’. They don’t stay close to God – they ‘press into’ him. And they don’t read the Bible – they ‘sit under the Word’.
The Salvation Army – famously, and arguably, more than most churches – has its own jargon: divisional commanders, corps sergeant majors, corps, promoted to Glory, fire a volley, junior soldiers, bombardiers. We’re the only church in the world with a ‘warfare’ section in its official hymn book.
Maybe this week you can try a jargon swap and try some corporate-ese at church. Don’t just discuss something at your Bible study group; do a deep dive into the Word that will result in some blue-sky thinking as you aspire to pivot to a new missional framework that will produce greater synergy in your church and community.
If you really want to push the boundaries, take a Bible passage that you’ve struggled with for some time and play with it in your sandbox with God. Just remember to shake the sand out of your Bible before you close it.
Major Mal Davies is the Assistant Divisional Commander for the Victoria Division
