Friday Noon: Leadership & Management Vocabulary
Why this matters: As a Vietnamese developer moving toward tech lead or engineering manager roles, you’ll use these words daily — in 1-on-1s, sprint reviews, stakeholder updates, and performance conversations. Knowing the vocabulary isn’t enough; you need to use it naturally.
🔤 Word of the Day: accountability
IPA: /əˌkaʊntəˈbɪlɪti/ (noun) Vietnamese: trách nhiệm giải trình; phải chịu trách nhiệm về kết quả Root: account (to give a reckoning) + ability
3 Examples:
“There’s a culture of accountability on this team — everyone owns their commitments.” “We need to assign clear accountability for this migration before we start.” “As a tech lead, accountability means the outcome is yours, even if others did the work.”
Pronunciation: /əˌkaʊntəˈbɪlɪti/
- 6 syllables: a-COUNT-ta-BIL-i-ty
- Stress: second (COUNT) and fourth (BIL) syllables
- Don’t rush it — this word is often mumbled
📚 Leadership Vocabulary Table
| Word | IPA | Vietnamese | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| delegate | /ˈdelɪɡeɪt/ (v) | giao việc, ủy quyền | ”I need to delegate this to someone on the team — I can’t do everything.” |
| empower | /ɪmˈpaʊər/ | trao quyền, trao khả năng | ”My goal as a tech lead is to empower engineers to make decisions independently.” |
| milestone | /ˈmaɪlstəʊn/ | mốc quan trọng | ”The first milestone is having the API spec finalized by end of week.” |
| KPI | /keɪ piː aɪ/ | chỉ số đánh giá hiệu suất | ”Our team’s KPI this quarter is reducing P1 incidents by 30%.“ |
| bandwidth | /ˈbændwɪdθ/ | khả năng / công suất (của người) | “I don’t have the bandwidth to take on another project this sprint.” |
| align | /əˈlaɪn/ | thống nhất, đồng bộ | ”Before we start, let’s align on the definition of done.” |
| prioritize | /praɪˈɒrɪtaɪz/ | ưu tiên, sắp xếp độ ưu tiên | ”We need to prioritize ruthlessly — we can’t do everything in Q3.” |
🗣️ Key Phrases: Leadership Conversations
Say each phrase 2 times aloud:
| Phrase | When to use |
|---|---|
| ”Who owns this?” | When accountability is unclear in a meeting |
| ”I’ll delegate this to [Name].” | When assigning work |
| ”What’s blocking you?” | In a 1-on-1 or standup |
| ”Let me empower you to make this call.” | When giving autonomy |
| ”What’s the priority here?” | When too many things compete |
| ”Let’s align on success criteria first.” | Before starting any project |
| ”I don’t have the bandwidth right now.” | Declining new work professionally |
🎯 Leadership Scenario Practice
Scenario 1: Delegating a Task
Situation: You need to delegate the database migration documentation to a mid-level engineer.
Say this out loud:
“Hey [Name], I want to delegate the migration documentation to you. You have the best context on this system, and I think this is a good growth opportunity for you too. The milestone is to have the first draft ready by Thursday. Do you have the bandwidth for this?”
Notice:
- “I want to delegate to you” — direct, not apologetic
- “You have the best context” — explains WHY you chose them (respect, not dumping work)
- “Good growth opportunity” — frames it positively
- Ends with a question — checks their capacity
Scenario 2: Establishing Accountability in a Meeting
Situation: The team discussed a feature but no one took ownership.
Say this out loud:
“Before we close — I want to make sure we have clear accountability here. Who owns the backend implementation? And who owns the API contract? Let’s put names next to each milestone.”
Key phrases:
- “Who owns…?” — direct way to assign accountability
- “Names next to milestones” — specific and actionable
Scenario 3: Declining Work Without Saying No
Situation: Your manager asks you to pick up an additional project.
Say this out loud:
“I want to make sure I can do this well. Honestly, I don’t have the bandwidth right now — I’m at capacity with the [current project] milestone. Could we talk about what to de-prioritize, or push the start date to next sprint?”
Key moves:
- “I want to make sure I can do this well” — shows commitment, not avoidance
- “Honestly, I don’t have the bandwidth” — direct but professional
- Ends with options — you’re solving the problem, not just saying no
✍️ Fill in the Blank Exercise
Use words from today’s vocabulary:
- “As tech lead, I try to ___ engineers to make their own technical decisions.”
- “We hit our first ___ — the MVP is deployed to staging.”
- “The delivery date is slipping because we didn’t ___ what to cut from scope.”
- “I need to ___ the onboarding docs to someone — I can’t write them myself this week.”
- “I’m at full ___ — I’m already supporting two projects.”
✅ Answers
- empower
- milestone
- prioritize
- delegate
- bandwidth
✍️ Translate to Professional English
- “Anh không có thời gian để làm thêm việc này trong sprint này.”
- “Hãy giao việc này cho Minh — cô ấy có context tốt nhất.”
- “Trước khi bắt đầu, mình cần thống nhất về các tiêu chí thành công.”
✅ Model Answers
- “I don’t have the bandwidth to take this on in the current sprint.”
- “Let’s delegate this to Minh — she has the best context.”
- “Before we start, let’s align on the success criteria.”
💬 Idiom: “Drop the ball”
Vietnamese: bỏ lỡ, quên mất, để mất cơ hội / trách nhiệm Literal: thả bóng rơi
“We dropped the ball on the client communication — nobody followed up after the meeting.” “I don’t want to drop the ball on the deadline. Let me set a reminder.”
In leadership context: Use “drop the ball” to describe accountability failures. But never say someone “dropped the ball” in public — that’s blame. Use it about a situation, not a person.
🎯 Weekend Leadership Challenge
This weekend: Think of one thing you currently own that you could delegate next week. Write 3 sentences:
- Who you’d delegate it to (and why them specifically)
- What the milestone/deadline is
- What “success” looks like for the person doing it
Write it in English. This is exactly what you’ll say when you delegate it on Monday.
Leadership vocabulary isn’t just for managers. Engineers who can speak this language can align with their managers, get what they need, and grow faster.