When discussing upcoming meetings, complicated projects or even a workplace conflict, it's easy to fall back on well-worn phrases to get your point across. But according to bestselling management author and CNBC contributor Suzy Welch, this indirect and confusing language can easily do more harm than good. "Business jargon is pretty much meaningless," she tells CNBC Make It. "I mean, 'shifting paradigm' — really?" Below, Welch highlights four business buzzwords that you should strip from your vocabulary today:

CNBC Contributor Suzy Welch

"Let's take this offline"

Not all workplace conversations will be friendly. But regardless of whether or not you agree with your colleagues, Welch says you should never resort to the phrase, "Let's take this offline." Using this business jargon sends a message that says, "We've reached an impasse and things are getting awkward, so I'm going to have a private meeting with a smaller group of people later to get what I want." Instead, Welch says, you should push through the challenging conversation and address whatever issue is taking place right in that moment.

"Empower" and "Ownership"

"Empower" and "ownership" are two buzzwords that Welch says have a "super high BS factor." She emphasizes that you should never use the words together in a sentence like, "I'm empowering you to take ownership of this project." Instead, Welch suggests being more direct, and saying something along the lines of, "I am giving you the authority to run this project, and I will hold you responsible for its results." Once you say this, she says, the key is to actually hold that person accountable.

"Bandwidth"