Business Slang: TLA – Three Letter Acronym

Young girls write TLA on folders and sneakers and backpacks. TLA, to them, mean true love always. Young businesswomen, and men, write TLAs in emails and PowerPoints and memos. But it’s not the same thing. In business slang, TLA means three-letter acronym. And businesses love their acronyms.

The OCE is Full of TLAs
TLAs, a branch of business slang, started in the office of the chief executive (OCE). We have the usual suspects – CEO, CFO, and CIO. We can get behind those. But if your company has a CRO (chief restructuring officer), watch out. If you CPB (conduct personal business) before COB (close of business) too much, it could be worse than a CLM (career limiting move). You may find yourself part of a RIF (reduction in force — and that means fired).

What’s a TLA for a TLA?
Just to add to the confusion, lots of TLAs contain numbers. B2B (business to business), B2C (business to consumer), E2E (eye to eye), F2F (face to face), A2O (apples to oranges), P2P (peer to peer), and V2V (voice to voice) are all TLAs. The standard ones don’t, e.g., PFP (pay for performance), LTI (long-term incentive), and L&D (learning and development). Once everything in a company becomes a TLA, then you’re in for it. Especially if you’re new.

Are TLAs SEP?
Employees often can’t remember what TLAs stand for. When it comes to key concepts, brevity is no match for clarity. Someone else’s problem (SEP)? Nope. BFO (blinding flash of the obvious) – LOK (lack of knowledge) is HR’s problem. My advice – CYA and PDF a dictionary of your company’s TLAs.

About Business Slang
Please send your HR and business slang suggestions to business [DOT] slang [AT] knowhr.com – we’ll feature some in an upcoming articles.

About the Author

Sarah Chambers

Sarah founded IFRACTAL with Frank nearly seven years ago after working at PwC and Mercer. With a B.A in psychology and also an MBA from the University of Michigan, she’s won numerous awards for her communication work.

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