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'The Australian public sector is a brilliant source of neologisms (new words) and buzz words. Their creation may indicate high levels of intellectual creativity and a desperate need to find meaning and individuality.'
   
Francis Walsh

Mashup
(mashable, mashing)

a combination of discrete elements that, when combined (mashed), create new meaning

'The mashup by citizen-activitists has provided new insights into our research findings.'

'Is the data mashable?'

'We are mashing the data to create results that are relevant to our community.'

Valification
validation and verification achieved simultaneously; the attainment of 'certified valid' status

'Valification has been achieved, so we can proceed with confidence.'
 

Anonymise
to make anonymous

'It is vital that we anonymise any data that could lead to the identification of individuals associated with this program.'
 

Transparency
a situation in which the ownership
of a bad policy is continually transferred to others

'We chose the transparency option rather than taking the policy through to the implementation phase.'

 

Pol-de-sac
a policy going nowhere

'The policy development team is in its eighth month in a pol-de-sac.'

 

Learnings
knowledge gained

'We must share our learnings as we
did when developing the new communications strategy.'

 

Periodisation
the division of processes over time

'A five stage periodisation of policy development can be expected.'

 

Administrate
to administer

'We will administrate the program with all due diligence.'

 

Table-top
to present for discussion

That's an interesting idea; let's table-top it at the next meeting.'

 

Soft Deadline
a negotiable or flexible deadline

'If they don't meet the soft deadline, we will have to impose another deadline that we will strictly enforce.'

 

Shandy
to weaken; to disperse; to share

'We were concerned that the funds might be shandied across two or more programs.'

 

Reasonableness
the degree to which something is considered reasonable

'The policy will pass the test of reasonableness by our clients.'

 

Operationalise
to bring into operation; to activate a policy plan

'The task force will operationalise the action plans in November.'

 

Plink
a potential link between programs that may help to achieve administrative savings.

'I have been asked to identify plinks between the three community consultation programs.'

 

Rollout
to activate a policy; to introduce a new method of delivery

'The rollout will begin as soon as the legislation receives Royal Assent.'
 

Incentivise
to provide an incentive to something

'We must incentivise the building industry to develop more housing.'

Dialogue
(verb) to discuss

'Let's dialogue that idea as a team.'
 

Recordation Form
a form used to record information

'This recordation form will be archived once the statutory storage and retrieval period has been exceeded.'

 

Repurpose
to change a reason or intent (code language for 'restructure')

'We will repurpose the policy unit even though it will cause staff a great deal of anguish.'

 

Solution
(verb) to solve

'We will solution that during the meeting.'

 

Contestation
a continuing battle with varying degrees of intensity

'Contestation between business interests and organised labour has been problematic.'
 

Deresponsiblise
to sack

'We have decided to deresponsiblise five of our surplus-to-need staff.'

 

Implementals
things that can be implemented

'Make sure the implementals are spelt out clearly to the minister.'

 

Impactful
something that works

'The incentive program will increase the impactful aspects of the new policy.'

 

Insource
to bring a previously outsourced function back
in-house

'IT support services will be insourced under our new contractual arrangements.'

 

Across
to understand; to have incorporated;
to have considered; to have taken account of

'The committee was across all the issues before it made its final decision.'

 

Collegiality
collectivist or fraternal

Sometimes this word is used in a threatening manner if someone is not 'behaving' appropriately.

'In our branch, collegiality is a key value.'

Alienisation
the process by which someone becomes an alien

‘Fifteen individuals have been processed following the alienisation procedures laid down in the relevant guidelines.’

Crowdsource
contributions, insights and/or evidence provided from a group of people who have identified themselves as interested in a subject

This is a combination of 'crowd' and 'outsource'.

'We should crowdsource suggestions for improving the program's website.'

Statutorise
to bring common law matters to the status of statute law

'We intend to statutorise all outstanding issues in relation to common law marriage.'

 

Surface
to bring to light or to raise for discussion or decision

'We will surface those issues during the section meeting.'

 

Statuary Office

A statutory office where everyone stands perfectly still and tries to look good.

‘The statuary office was established three years ago and it has distinguished itself by doing nothing significant during that time.’

 

Performant
the person performing a task

'The performant will be assessed on the basis of government standards.'

 

Cottagisation
the change in a profession caused by technology

'Journalists are now competing with bloggers through the cottagisation of their profession.'

 

Unpack
to examine, to analyse, to dissect

'It is important to unpack those ideas before we write a briefing to the minister.'

 

Agreeance
agreement and concurrence

'We will need to seek the Minister's
agreeance to this strategy.'
 

Marketisation
the process of marketing

'This policy is strong on savings but I'm not so sure about its marketisation.'

 

Woundedline
a deadline with survivors

'We don't have deadlines here. Everyone survived, so it's just a woundedline.'

 

Militate
(verb) to be a preventative factor

This is not a new word but it is used where risk avoidance is significant.

'The media's response will militate against the public accepting the policy change without expressing concerns.'

Transition
(verb) to bring about change

'Our aim is to transition the community to a new way of thinking.'

 

Migrate
to move from one place to another, usually in relation to IT

'The Division will migrate all of its spreadsheet files to the new system on
6 May.'

Add your weird word

© Rushworth Consultancy Pty Ltd 2010