Business Slang: Socialize
Posted on Monday, January 28, 2008 by Sarah Chambers
Dogs can be socialized. Cats can usually be socialized. But what about a wild idea?
Is “socialize” even slang?
“Socialize” is a real word, right? I used to socialize. It means to hang out with your friends, doesn’t it? Since we had so much fun adding -wise to words over the past 50 or so years – think businesswise, costwise, and timewise – adding the near homonym -ize comes almost naturally. Scary. For that reason, it’s these -ize slang words that I find most insidious. We can test an idea. If we must -ize people, can we familiarize them with ideas?
Is socializing new?
We’ve been familiarizing people with ideas for decades. Those ideas have seen a lot of abuse. We’ve thrown them against the wall to see if they stick. We’ve tossed them in the pool to see if they make a splash. And, we’ve floated them in trial balloons. While we were doing all of that inside of companies, we socialized ideas on potential customers by releasing vaporware.
Why do we socialize, anyway?
We socialize to do things like (deep breath) gain team share. Huh? Yep… and I’m going to explain it with more generally accepted business slang. Gaining team share means forming a consensus, getting buy-in, or building ownership. Usually this is done by creating the illusion that the group being socialized actually helped hatch the idea. Basically, in business, socializing is the means to an end. We socialize to get to do what we want to do. In life, socializing is the end – it is what we want to do.
If I had to guess, someone thought gaining team share was sort of like gaining mind share, only with teams. Consumer product companies spend countless advertising dollars trying to gain mind share – awareness of their product. Someone adapted/slaughtered this concept and began to spend countless hours trying to gain team share – support from a team of people for an idea.
If you have any creative ways to socialize your ideas, run them up your office flagpole to see who salutes.
About Business Slang
Business Slang is a weekly feature on KnowHR. It runs every Monday.
In Business Slang, we’ll help you keep up with the latest slang to make the rounds in corporate meetings rooms. You have your favorites, too. Please send your HR and business slang suggestions to business [DOT] slang [AT] knowhr.com – we’ll feature some in an upcoming articles.
Scott McArthur
Jan 28th, 2008
Socialize! Now it’s not often I get cross at work but this is one of those words that makes me want to be sick every time I hear it. It should be a rule that if you use that word you should have to watch Pirates of the Caribbean 3 for the rest of your life!
Frank Roche
Jan 28th, 2008
Scott, that’s quite a punishment.
I detest the use of that word to mean “Get people to agree with me.” It’s fakey-fakey.
Sarah Chambers
Jan 29th, 2008
Scott,
Funny. I think most people are so accustomed to hearing socialize at work that they don’t even blink. But… faced with the watching nearly any movie 3 forever maybe they’ll think twice. At least I your colleagues will.
Steve
Jan 29th, 2008
I’m sorry this word would evoke such feeling as to doom someone to POTC:Dead Man’s Chest for all eternity. While I would not like to endure that fate I believe there are contexts in which this word is most fitting.
For example, if I have an idea and I want to familiarize my team with it implies that the idea is complete and the members of the team are expected learn and understand it not offer suggestions, change, provide input, etc. The idea has already been decided. However, if I want to socialize an idea, and this is my interpretation only, only the very outline or concept of the idea is formed. I would want and expect from the team input, suggestions, objections, etc. to improve and refine the idea (or the ‘trial balloon’, ‘flag pole’, ‘swimming pool’, et al. horrendous euphemisms that the cool kids use). Familiarization is a passive activity (I expect the team to learn it) whereas socialization is an active activity (I am responsible to teach it). It is in that teaching that the idea may undergo some changes and or modifications that may aid in its adoption or rejection. But then again, in the end, isn’t that what socialization is all about, learning and adapting to fit into society…
If there is another word out there that would describe the activity of going out within the organization to promote a new idea and work for its adoption (that isn’t ‘idea champion’, ‘change agent’, etc.) I would be interested in what that would be. Just so long as it doesn’t mean I need to sit through any Leonard Part 6 until the cows come home…
Thanks for the post Sarah! The discussion of language is alway intriguing.
Sarah Chambers
Jan 29th, 2008
Steve,
Thanks for the thoughtful response. It makes me hopeful to see that there are still people who actually mean it when they say they want input. I admit to being a bit cynical. But, socializing to me often means convincing a group – frequently by leading the members of that group to believe they helped to develop the idea.
You actually do let the team contribute… you should definitely use any word you like!
Frank Roche
Jan 30th, 2008
I wonder if there’s such a thing as anti-socialize. It means “Do what I say,” or as I heard a lot when I was a kid, “I don’t have to have a reason, it’s because I’m your mother.” An alternate spelling could be antisocial-ize.
Sarah Chambers
Jan 30th, 2008
Frank,
Anti-socialize is the shorter version of what “because I’m your mother” conjures for me… “because I’m the boss” or even maybe “because your performance review is coming.”