What is in the Manager Birds Communication Tool?

The Guidance Cards are a good place to start your Manager Birds journey. You can also keep them handy for reference once you are able to use the Manager Birds Communication Tool in real time situations. The Guidance Cards include: 

• The five Manager Birds truths which are the core building blocks of this Communication Tool. They are distilled from many years of management experience and insight.
• The Manager Birds Communication Model
• The nine Manager Birds Skills

Each Habit Card represents a communication habit or trait that you might recognise in yourself or in others at work. Each Habit Card includes a short definition as a character prompt, and a memorable image to ensure you can get to know them quickly, and are able to remember them when you are working through the practices or using the skills in real time. 

However prominent some communication habits might be, everyone definitely has more than just the obvious ones. The Manager Birds Communication Tool is based on each person having nine Communication Habits that are most strongly associated with them at any given time. 

The Manager Birds Situation Cards provide examples of realistic scenarios that we either have already experienced as managers, or we might in the future. These allow us to test and develop our Message and Communication Habit skills in a controlled environment. Most of the Manager Birds Practices work with both Team and Individual Situations but some Practices need one or the other. 

The Manager Birds Message Cards give us a way to intentionally increase the effectiveness of the messages we generate. We are all used to thinking about whether we are 'getting the message right' and we definitely notice when others don't do this well. These cards provide a structured framework to consider and improve how we do that before and during message generation, rather than simply waiting for feedback after the event.

There are nine Manager Birds Skills that will be developed as you work through the two levels of this Communication Tool . The Manager Birds Practice Cards at both levels show which skills you will be developing with that Practice.  Message Generator and Message Receiver Practice start at Level 1, and Message Relayer and Habit Identifier Practices start at Level 2. 

The Practice Cards also include a handy Communication First Aid Tool.

As you complete the practices you will start to see patterns emerging, and keeping a reflective journal of your insights and results will be valuable.

Message Generator Practices look at how you create the messages that you give to other people.  These practices include exploring which communication habits you choose to use and which messages you are able create from them.

Message Receiver Practices look at how you hear and understand the communications that reach you. These practices include developing your understanding of other peoples' communication habits, improving your ability to hear different messages from each habit and understand which of your own habits might affect how you hear messages from other people.

Sometimes at work we have to pass on messages from other people. These will be generated from their communication habits. We all know that how we relay these messages can significantly affect how the message is received by others. This practice focuses on identifying partner habits that we can use to enhance or clarify messages we are passing on without losing the essence of someone else's message.

These are only at Level 2 and 3  as some familiarity with the tool is needed. Strongly suggest all Level 1 Practices are mastered before moving onto these ones.

Reliably identifying other peoples' communication habits is a valuable skill.. These practices let you improve your ability to pick up effective clues from things we hear and read. These are the only Manager Birds Practices that require another person to complete them with you. If you do not yet have another local Manager Birds user in your network, team or organisation then just email us and we will arrange free online or email Habit Identifier sessions with you.

The Practice Cards also include a handy Communication First Aid Tool that you can use when you are feeling challenged or stuck with one of your lines of interpersonal communication.

As you become familiar with the Manager Birds Communcation Tool you will see ways that it can be used in real life, and even in real time. Suggestions for Real Life and Real Time Practices will be included in the Practice Examples section of this website in due course.