“Optimize” might be the worst business word ever.
"Leverage" used as a verb is a very close second.
optimize /ˈɒp.tɪ.maɪz/ verb
1. Not a useful business concept.
2. Terrible advice.
Example: "Let's optimize our customer service by firing half the support team and routing all calls through an automated system that hangs up on people."
See also: leverage[1] (v.), synergize, ideate, and other words that justify expensive consulting fees.
The root word is the Latin "optimus" for "best." But optimize as done today is anything but. Instead, it becomes a game of let's do the minimum work to get the bare minimum results based on our KPIs, often at the expense of the rest of the organization.
Every department head claims they're "optimizing" their function while quietly shoving work onto other teams. The game works like this: Hit your metrics by shedding the work your team does. While making sure the problems you create become someone else's metrics to solve.
To take the thought experiment to its illogical conclusion, if you really wanted to optimize your corporate function, you would not have a team - just a box on the org chart with your name as the boss. You've reduced risk and cost to zero, even if your function doesn't actually do its function anymore because you've handed all the work off to your peers' teams to do.
Perfect optimization. Zero value.
The word has become code for "make my numbers look good without caring about the overall result." It's organizational selfishness disguised as business efficiency[2].
Don't plan to optimize. Don't agree with advisors who tell you to optimize. If you must stay in this lane, at least stick with the original Latin so you remember the goal is to be the best, not to game the system.
[1] “Leverage” used as a verb is a fancy way to say "use" but sound smarter and justify that $100k per page final executive readout slide deck.
[2] Efficiency for its own sake is meaningless unless you are generating power or maintain building temperature. Efficiency is a tool that sometimes helps you determine whether you are accomplishing you actual goal, like a profitable company or accomplishing your organization’s mission. Beware anyone who wants efficiency just because.