The systematic disassembly of a complex business problem, layer by painful layer, until everyone involved is crying.
What they actually mean
Let's prolong this meeting by asking increasingly pedantic questions.
Heard in the wild
"Let's peel the onion on this operating model to see where the inefficiencies lie."
The practice of forcing two entirely unrelated departments into a meeting room in the vague hope that their proximity will spontaneously generate a profitable idea.
"We need to cross-pollinate the compliance team with our creative designers to see what sparks fly."
Translation
"Neither team has any idea what the other does, but it makes the calendar look busy."
To escalate an issue or piece of information through the corporate ranks, ensuring it is sufficiently diluted by the time it reaches someone with the power to make a decision.
Let's bubble this feedback up to the steering committee to see what they think.
Translation
I want to pretend I am doing something with your complaint without actually having to resolve it.
The act of asking a colleague to review a piece of work to ensure it does not contain errors so glaringly obvious they could end careers.
"Could you just run your eyes over this deck to sense-check the numbers before we send it to the board?"
Translation
Please tell me I haven't accidentally predicted a four hundred percent loss.