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Session 11
What makes a good boss?
In today’s episode we will be discussing the qualities of a good boss.
ንሓደ ሰብ ጥዑይ ሓለቓ’ዩ ኢሎም ከጸውዕዎ ዝኽእሉ ባህሪያት ኣየኖት’ዮም?
ድምር ነጥቢ ናይዚ ክፍለ-ስራሓት 11
0 / 4
- 0 / 4Activity 1
Activity 1
What makes a good boss?
Look at the Session Vocabulary – make sure you know what these words mean:
- concerns
- qualities
- characteristics
- to value
Quiz
Which is the world’s happiest job?
a. a teacher
b. an engineer
c. a nurse
Listen to the discussion about what makes a good boss and find out the answer.
Listen to find the answers. Then check them on the transcript below.

ኣቕራቢ ቋንቋ ትግርኛ
ሰላም፡ እንቋዕ ናብ መደብ English Together ብደሓን መጻእኩም። ኣብዚ መደብ፡ ዝተፈላለዩ እዋናዊ ዛዕባታት ብምልዓል፡ ንምምይያጥ ዘሕግዘኩም ቋንቋ ከነስንቐኩም ኢና።
ኣነ ተመስገን እየ፣ ምሳይ ዝርከቡ ድማ…
Tom
Hello, I’m Tom. Welcome to today’s programme!
Phil
And I’m Phil. Hello!
ኣቕራቢ ቋንቋ ትግርኛ
ሎሚ ብዛዕባ ባህሪያት ናይ ሓደ ሕያዋይ ሓላፊ ክንዛረብ ኢና። ሓለፍቲ ዘይንጸሉ ኣካል ስራሕና’ዮም። ካብኡ ተበጊስና ኸኣ ኣብ ዝተፈላለዩ ዓይነት ሞያታት ዝተዋፈሩ ሰባት፡ ሓለፍቶም ሕያዎት ዲዮም ኣይኮኑን ብዘይየግድሰ፡ ኣብ ስርሖም ክሳብ ክንደይ ሕጕሳት ምዃኖም ክንፈልጥ ተበጊስና። ካብ ‘ዘ ጋርድያን’ ዝረኸብናያ ናይ ሎሚ ሕቶ እምበኣር፡ ኣየናይ ሞያ ዘለዎ ሰብ’ዩ እቲ ዝበለጸ ሓጎስ ዘለዎ?
ሀ. መምህር
ለ. መሃንድስ
ሐ. ነርስ
Tom
Mmmh, my sister’s a nurse and she absolutely loves her job.
Phil
But it’s so tiring and stressful. How can anyone enjoy that?
ኣቕራቢ ቋንቋ ትግርኛ
Some people like looking after others, Phil!
ቅድሚ ናብ ዘተ ምእታውና ነዚ ብ CNN ዝቐረበ ዜና ንከታተል። መሰረት ናይቲ ዜና ንዉጽኢት ናይቲ ኣብዚ ቀረባ እዋን ዝተኻየደ ንባህርያት ሓለፍቲ ዝድህስስ መጽናዕቲ’ዩ። መልሲ ናይታ ኣቐዲምና ዝሓትተናኩም ሕቶ ጸኒሕና ክንምለሳ ኢና።
News insert
We all know bad bosses exist. You can easily list all the qualities a bad boss has without having to think too much. But what makes a good boss?
To find out, a survey asked employees about the best bosses they've had and what characteristics they hoped to see in the people they work for. What makes a good boss can't be summarised into one or two words. However, all of the qualities employees talked about related to one thing: showing respect. This was a characteristic that many workers valued regardless of what industry they were in.
Phil
I completely agree! If my boss wants me to respect them, they have to respect me, as well.
Tom
Yeah, I actually agree with you, Phil. I think there has to be some give and take.
ኣቕራቢ ቋንቋ ትግርኛ
‘Give and take’ ትርጕሙ እንካን-ሃባን ማለት’ዩ። So you want them to listen to your ideas?
Tom
Yeah, give and take’s about a lot of things. And I also want them to listen to my concerns.
ኣቕራቢ ቋንቋ ትግርኛ
Yes, you need to feel comfortable talking to your boss if you have concerns ስክፍታታት።
Phil
I don’t know. I don’t need my boss to be my friend. I need them to be my boss. I want them to be competent at their job.
ኣቕራቢ ቋንቋ ትግርኛ
‘Competent’ ዓቕሚ ዘሎዎ ማለት’ዩ። Feeling comfortable talking to your boss isn’t that important to you, Phil?
Phil
Not really. It’s more important that they’re competent.
Tom
Ok, so you want a boss who’s competent. But what about flexibility?
ኣቕራቢ ቋንቋ ትግርኛ
‘Flexibility’ ተዓጻጻፍነት ዘርኢ ማለት’ዩ። Why do you ask, Tom?
Tom
Well, because if my boss shows flexibility, then it tells me that they trust me. And that’s really important for me if I’m going to be happy with what I do.
ኣቕራቢ ቋንቋ ትግርኛ
ብዛዕባ ሓጎስ ንዛረብ ካብ ሃሎና፡ ናብቲ ኣቕዲምና ዘልዓልናዮ ሕቶ ክንምለስ። ኣብ ምሉእ ዓለም እቲ ዝበለጸ ሓጎስ ዝህብ ኮይኑ ዝተረኸበ ሞያ ኣየናይ’ዩ?
ሀ. መምህር
ለ. መሃንድስ
ሐ. ነርስ
መልሱ’ምበርኣር ‘ለ’ ኢዩ። መሃንድሳት እቲ ዝበለጸ ሓጎስ ዝህብ ስራሕ ኣሎዎም። ስዒቦም ዝስርዑ መማህራን ክኾኑ እንከለዉ፡ ብድሐሪኦም ድማ ነርሳት።
Phil
You know what I find interesting about that list?
ኣቕራቢ ቋንቋ ትግርኛ
What?
Phil
That those jobs are all quite independent. Engineers work on projects, teachers with students, nurses with patients…
ኣቕራቢ ቋንቋ ትግርኛ
But they don’t spend a lot of time with their bosses?
Phil
Precisely. That’s why they’re so happy!
Tom
But they still have bosses! I mean, maybe, because their bosses do a similar kind of work to them, they lead by example, and that makes for happier employees…
ኣቕራቢ ቋንቋ ትግርኛ
‘Lead by example’ ኣብነታዊ ኴንካ ምምራሕ ማለት’ዩ። Yes, that way it feels more like a team, perhaps.
Phil
Just like us. I mean, I lead by example, you two follow...
Tom
Uhm, that is a very interesting opinion, Phil!
ኣቕራቢ ቋንቋ ትግርኛ
Yes, Phil. Last time I checked, you weren’t our boss!
ንስኹም’ከ? እቶም ዝበለጹ ባህርያት ናይ ሓደ ሕያዋይ ሓላፊ ኣየኖት’ዮም ትብሉ? እቲ ናይ ‘give and take’ ባህርይ’ዶ ዝያዳ የገድሰኩም? ሓላፊኹም ‘lead by example’ ኣርኣያ ኮይኖም ክመርሑ’ዶ ትደልይዎም?
ቅድሚ ምዉዳእና፡ ሎሚ ዘልዓልናየን ቃላት ደጊምና ንርኣየን - ኩላተን ምስ ስራሕን ሓለፍቲን ዝተኣሳሰራ እየን። ‘give and take’ እንካን-ሃባን፡ ‘competent’ ብቕዓት ዘለዎ፡ ‘flexibility’ ተዓጻጻፍነት፡ ‘lead by example’ ብኣብነት ምምራሕ።
ስለ ምክትታልኩም ነመስግነኩም፡ ኣብ ዝመጽእ ሰሙን ዝቐርብ መደብ English Together የራኽበና።
Meaning & Use
give and take (verb & noun)
Give and take describes 'a compromise between two people or groups'. It's a phrase that can be used as a verb or as a noun.
Even though the two politicians are from different political parties, they agreed to give and take in order to reach an agreement on the new law.
In every marriage there has to be some give and take.
competent (adjective)
If someone is competent, they have the ability, knowledge or skill to do something well. We often use this word to describe someone in work or business situations. For this reason, if you want to make this word stronger, it is more appropriate to use the neutral 'very competent' or more formal 'highly competent' than the less formal 'really competent'.
Michelle is a highly competent lawyer. She's never lost a case!
Competent can be used to describe the person directly, or the activity they do well. In this case, we use the preposition 'at'.
It's important to Simon to be competent at work. He's very proud of being good at his job.
flexibility (noun)
Flexibility can mean:
- 'being willing or open to change or compromise'. In this case, we often use it with the verb 'show'.
My boss showed flexibility when she let me take time off during the busiest time of year at work. I was very grateful! - 'can be changed easily'.
I enjoyed the flexibility of the timetable at my university. There was a lot of choice and many classes were optional. - 'bends easily without breaking'.
After weeks of training, the footballers gained flexibility in their legs and their ankles.
to lead by example (verb phrase)
This is used to describe 'what leaders do when they behave in the way they want others to behave'. This can be used for anyone in a position of authority or leadership, such as bosses, coaches and parents.
Good leaders must lead by example. If they say one thing and do another, they lose the trust of others.
What makes a good boss?
4 Questions
Choose the correct answer.
እቲ ቅኑዕ መልሲ ምረጹ።
ሓገዝ
Activity
Choose the correct answer.
እቲ ቅኑዕ መልሲ ምረጹ።
ኣመት
እዚ ሓድሕዳዊ ማለት’ዩ።Question 1 of 4
ሓገዝ
Activity
Choose the correct answer.
እቲ ቅኑዕ መልሲ ምረጹ።
ኣመት
ኣብ ክንዲ እዝን እትን ክግበር ኣሎዎ ምባል ንኻልኦት ብኣብነት ምርኣይ - ብግብሪ ምርኣይ።Question 2 of 4
ሓገዝ
Activity
Choose the correct answer.
እቲ ቅኑዕ መልሲ ምረጹ።
ኣመት
ብዓወት ንምጕንጻፍ ዓቕሚ፡ ፍልጠት፡ ክእለት ይሓትት።Question 3 of 4
ሓገዝ
Activity
Choose the correct answer.
እቲ ቅኑዕ መልሲ ምረጹ።
ኣመት
ለውጥታትን ሕድገታትን ንምግባር ቅሩብነት ይሓትት።Question 4 of 4
Excellent!Great job!ሕማቕ ዕድል!ዘመዝገብኩምዎ ነጥቢ ...:
Over to you!
What do you think are the qualities of a good boss? Is 'give and take' important to you? Do you want your boss to 'lead by example'? Tell us on our Facebook group.
Join us for our next episode of English Together when we will learn more useful language and practise your listening skills.
ኣብ ዝስዕብ መደብ English Together ኣጠቓቕማ ቋንቋን ናይ ምስማዕ ክእለትኩም እተማዕብሉሉን ትምህርቲ ሒዝና ክንቀርብ ኢና።
Session Vocabulary
give and take
እንካን ሃባን
competent
ብቑዕ
flexibility
ተዓጻጻፍነት
to lead by example
ብኣብነት ምምራሕ
concerns
ሻቕሎታት
qualities
ብልጫታት
characteristics
ባህርያት
to value
ዋጋ ምሃብ