My Thoughts

The Hidden Language of Office Hierarchies: What Your Boss Really Means When They Say "Let's Circle Back"

Right, here's something that's been eating at me for weeks now. I'm sitting in yet another meeting last month – you know the type, where nothing gets decided but everyone feels important – and my manager drops the classic line: "Let's circle back on this offline."

And it hit me like a brick to the face. We've created this entire shadow language in corporate Australia that nobody talks about but everyone's expected to understand. It's like corporate hieroglyphics, except instead of decoding ancient tombs, we're trying to figure out whether "let's touch base" means "you're about to get fired" or "I genuinely forgot what we were discussing."

After fifteen years in this game – from running my own consultancy to working with everyone from mining companies in Perth to tech startups in Melbourne – I reckon I've cracked the code. And frankly, it's both hilarious and deeply concerning how we've managed to turn simple English into this bizarre corporate dialect.

The Translation Dictionary Nobody Gave You

"Let's circle back on this" = "I haven't thought about this properly and need time to work out how to say no without looking incompetent."

Now, before you start rolling your eyes and thinking this is just another whinge about corporate speak, hear me out. This stuff matters more than you think. Last year alone, I watched three major projects in different companies completely derail because everyone was speaking this coded language but nobody was actually communicating.

"I'll take this away and think about it" = "I'm going to ignore this until you bring it up again, at which point I'll pretend I've been actively considering it."

"That's an interesting perspective" = "You're completely wrong, but I'm too polite or politically savvy to tell you directly."

The beauty of these phrases is their complete ambiguity. They're like corporate get-out-of-jail-free cards. Nobody can ever pin you down because technically, you never actually committed to anything. Brilliant, really.

The Power Play Behind the Politeness

Here's where it gets interesting, though. This isn't just about being polite or avoiding conflict. This language serves a very specific purpose in the office hierarchy, and once you start seeing it, you can't unsee it.

When your manager says "I'd love to hear your thoughts on this," what they're really doing is testing whether you're going to challenge their authority or fall in line. It's a power move disguised as collaboration. The correct response, by the way, is usually to offer a few mild suggestions that support their existing position, then defer to their "expertise."

I learned this the hard way about eight years ago when I was working with a manufacturing company in Adelaide. The regional director kept asking for my "honest feedback" on a new process they were implementing. Being the naive consultant I was back then, I gave him exactly that – honest feedback. Pointed out three major flaws that would cost them serious money down the track.

Two weeks later, my contract wasn't renewed.

Lesson learned: "honest feedback" often means "tell me why I'm right in a way that makes me feel smart."

The Geography of Corporate Speak

Now here's something fascinating I've noticed – this shadow language changes depending on where you are in Australia. Melbourne corporate types love their verbose, intellectual-sounding phrases. "Let's ideate around this," or "I'm thinking we need to sunset this initiative." It's like they're trying to sound like management consultants even when they're talking about ordering new office chairs.

Sydney's more direct but still coded. "This is challenging," means impossible. "We're being aspirational with our timeline," means we're completely stuffed and behind schedule.

But Brisbane? Brisbane cuts through most of the nonsense. Maybe it's the heat, but people up there tend to say what they mean more often. Although they've still mastered the art of "We'll need to see how the budget shakes out," which is code for "absolutely not, but I don't want to crush your spirit completely."

Perth's got its own thing going – probably because half the business conversations happen over beers after work anyway, so the pretense drops pretty quickly.

The Email Hierarchy Code

Don't even get me started on email hierarchies. The number of "please" and "thank you" phrases in an email is inversely proportional to the sender's seniority. Junior staff write novels of politeness: "I hope this email finds you well, and I'm terribly sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if perhaps you might have a moment to possibly consider..."

Meanwhile, the CEO sends: "Need this today. Thanks."

The really insidious part is how we've all learned to decode the subtle aggression in corporate emails. "As per my previous email" is basically corporate speak for "are you completely dense?" And "I wanted to follow up" translates to "you've ignored me three times and I'm starting to lose my patience."

I've seen grown adults stress for hours over whether to use "Kind regards" versus "Best regards" in an email signature. The hierarchy is real, people. "Kind regards" suggests warmth but maintains distance. "Best regards" is more formal. "Regards" on its own? That's corporate passive-aggression at its finest.

The Meeting Madness

But nowhere is this shadow language more apparent than in meetings. The person who calls the meeting sets the tone, but everyone else is constantly jockeying for position through their choice of phrases.

"I think Sarah raised an excellent point" = "I'm aligning myself with Sarah because I think she's going to come out on top of this discussion."

"Building on what John said" = "I'm about to completely contradict John but make it sound collaborative."

"I'm wondering if we've considered all the angles here" = "You're all idiots, but I'm going to phrase this as a question so I don't look like the bad guy."

The most dangerous phrase in any meeting? "Playing devil's advocate here..." That's someone about to torpedo your idea while maintaining plausible deniability. They're not actually against it, you see – they're just raising important questions. Except they absolutely are against it, and they've probably already decided to kill it behind the scenes.

The Training Industry's Role in This Mess

Now, I'll admit something here that might surprise you – I actually think some communication training can help decode this stuff. Not the corporate-speak nonsense, but proper training that teaches people to recognize these patterns and respond appropriately.

The problem is, most workplace communication courses focus on teaching you how to speak corporate rather than how to understand what people are really saying. They'll spend three hours teaching you the difference between "impact" and "affect" but won't mention that when your boss says "this is important to me personally," they're basically threatening your career progression if you mess it up.

The Cost of Confusion

Here's what really gets me fired up about this whole shadow language thing – it's costing Australian businesses millions. I've worked with companies where projects have failed not because of poor planning or inadequate resources, but because everyone was so busy speaking in code that nobody actually communicated the real issues.

Last year, I consulted for a retail company – won't name names, but they're big – where a major IT implementation went completely sideways. Six months behind schedule, 200% over budget, the works. When I dug into what happened, it wasn't technical incompetence. It was communication failure.

The IT team kept reporting that things were "progressing as expected" when they meant "we're in serious trouble but don't want to alarm anyone." Management kept saying they "had confidence in the team's ability to deliver" when they meant "we're starting to panic but don't want to micromanage." The project sponsor kept asking for "regular updates on our trajectory" when they meant "please tell me we're not completely screwed."

Nobody was lying, exactly. But nobody was communicating either. Everyone was speaking corporate, and corporate is designed to obscure rather than clarify.

The Generational Divide

What's particularly interesting is watching how different generations navigate this shadow language. The older executives – your baby boomers who've been in corporate for decades – they're fluent in this stuff. It's their native tongue.

Gen X, my generation, we learned it as a survival mechanism. We can speak fluent corporate when we need to, but we remember when people just said what they meant.

But the millennials and Gen Z coming up? They're fascinating to watch. Some of them pick up the code instinctively, probably from growing up with social media where everything is subtext and hidden meaning. Others completely reject it and just say what they think, which either gets them promoted quickly or fired quickly, depending on the company culture.

I worked with one marketing team in Sydney where a 25-year-old straight up told the CFO that his budget projections were "unrealistic bordering on delusional." The room went dead silent. You could have heard a pin drop. But you know what? The CFO actually respected the honesty, and they ended up having the most productive budget discussion that company had seen in years.

Course, that only works if you're dealing with secure leaders. Try that with an insecure manager and you'll be updating your LinkedIn profile by Friday.

Regional Variations and Cultural Nuances

The shadow language gets even more complex when you factor in Australia's multicultural workforce. I've noticed that recent immigrants often struggle with this coded communication – not because they don't understand English, but because they expect words to mean what they actually say.

I remember working with a brilliant engineer from India who kept getting frustrated in meetings because people would say "that's a great idea, let's explore it further" and then nothing would happen. He couldn't understand why everyone was lying to him. Took me weeks to explain that "let's explore it further" is often code for "nice thought, but we're not actually going to do anything about it."

Meanwhile, colleagues from Germany or the Netherlands often cut right through the corporate speak, which can be refreshing but occasionally causes minor diplomatic incidents. Nothing like a Dutch project manager asking "why are we wasting time with this obvious nonsense?" to clear the air in a meeting.

The Technology Factor

Social media and remote work have created whole new categories of shadow language. "Let's take this offline" used to mean meeting in person. Now it might mean Slack, Teams, WhatsApp, or an actual phone call – nobody's quite sure which.

And don't get me started on video call etiquette. "I think you're on mute" has become the polite way of saying "you've been talking to yourself for thirty seconds." "We seem to have lost John" is code for "John's internet is rubbish but we're too polite to mention it directly."

The really insidious part is how we've developed coded language around technical competence. "We might need to dial in our IT support" translates to "someone in this meeting has no idea how to use basic technology but we're going to pretend it's a general infrastructure issue."

Breaking the Code Without Breaking Your Career

So how do you navigate this linguistic minefield without torpedoing your career prospects? Here's what I've learned after years of making mistakes and watching others make theirs:

First, learn to ask clarifying questions that don't challenge authority. Instead of "what do you actually mean by that?" try "could you help me understand what success looks like here?" Same information, but framed as seeking guidance rather than questioning competence.

Second, master the art of the diplomatic pushback. "That's an interesting timeline – what would need to happen to make that realistic?" is much safer than "that's impossible."

Third, understand that sometimes people use shadow language because they genuinely can't say what they mean. Your boss might want to tell you that the company's in financial trouble, but legally they can't. So they say things like "we're focusing on efficiency gains" or "exploring all our options."

The Future of Corporate Communication

Here's my prediction – and I've been wrong before, so take this with appropriate scepticism – but I think we're heading toward a bit of a correction. The younger workforce is less tolerant of corporate nonsense, and frankly, the pace of business doesn't allow for the luxury of coded communication anymore.

Companies like Atlassian and Canva have built cultures around more direct communication, and they're attracting top talent because of it. When people know where they stand, they perform better. Revolutionary concept, I know.

But the shadow language isn't going to disappear entirely. It serves too many purposes – protecting egos, maintaining hierarchies, providing plausible deniability. The key is recognising when it's being used and why.

Look, at the end of the day, most of this coded communication comes from fear. Fear of conflict, fear of looking incompetent, fear of being held accountable for decisions. And in some corporate environments, that fear is entirely justified.

The best managers I've worked with – and I've worked with some absolute legends – they create environments where people can say what they mean without career consequences. Not easy to do, but possible.

The Bottom Line

Understanding office hierarchy language isn't just about political survival – though it definitely helps with that. It's about becoming a more effective communicator and, frankly, a more empathetic colleague.

When someone says "I'll need to run this up the flagpole," they're not being deliberately obtuse. They're managing competing pressures and trying to navigate organisational politics without stepping on landmines.

The goal isn't to eliminate this shadow language entirely – that's probably impossible. The goal is to recognize it, understand its purpose, and use it strategically while still maintaining your integrity and sanity.

And sometimes, just sometimes, you meet someone who speaks plain English in a corporate environment. Treasure these people. Buy them coffee. Learn from them. They're the ones who'll help you remember that clear communication is actually possible, even in the most bureaucratic organisations.

After all, "let's circle back on this" might mean a dozen different things, but "this is important and we need to talk about it properly" means exactly what it says.

Most of the time, anyway.

For more insights on workplace communication and professional development, check out our other articles on management training and business skills.