Manager Birds Guidance Cards

The Guidance Cards are a good place to start your Manager Birds journey, and they are all included in the Gallery below so you can explore them before you buy your own deck,. You can also have them handy for reference once you are able to use the Manager Birds Communication Tool in real time situations.

These are the core building blocks of this Communication Tool. They are distilled from many years of management experience and insight. Look for this card in the gallery below.

These provide a structured framework for the skills that you will develop as you become more familiar with this communication tool.

The nine numbered skills are referenced on each of the Practice Cards so it is easy to see what opportunities and challenges you need to be watching for when you complete each Manager Birds practice. Look for this card in the Gallery below.

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. Some examples are included in the Gallery below.

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 practical basis for the decision to use nine is that this is as many things as most of us can keep in our minds at any one time, and also it removes any pressure to be overly exact about individual habits.

Not at all! 

Despite what we might think, all these communication habits or traits can generate both helpful and less helpful messages. As we develop our skills with each of the different communication habits we will get better at finding the most helpful messages and avoiding the least helpful ones. As we get better at understanding the communication habits of other people we will find it easier to interpret helpful messages from what we are hearing from them.

The better you get at identifying which communication habits are most appropriate in different situations, the easier it becomes to generate the most helpful messages. Manager Birds lets you explore which are your default communication habits, how to work with different habits and even how to combine habits to improve our communication.

There are nine Message Cards in the Manager Birds deck. A sample of the Message Cards are included in the gallery below.

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.

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. You can find examples of both of these in the Gallery below.

You will find that from the first time you use the Manager Birds deck you will pick up ideas and insights that you can use in real life, but it is recommended to complete and repeat all of the Practices as often as you can.

When you have mastered all levels of the Manager Birds Practices, and are familiar with recognising and remembering all the Communication Habits, you can start to use the Manager Birds approach more actively in real life. 

You will always be able to come back to the Manager Birds Deck for individual practice as needed. One of the strengths of the Manager Birds tool is the ability to practice communication, by ourselves or with others, before we need it.

The current set of Situation Cards are generic and can be used in any sector. Some sectors will have some specific management challenges and Sector-Specific Situation Cards will be developed over the coming months and offered as an expansion pack.

As you will have seen in the Guidance Cards, there are nine Manager Birds Skills that will be developed as you work through this Communication Tool. The Manager Birds Practice Cards at all 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. 

It is recommended that you start at Level 1, repeating as often as you can, and then work your way to Levels 2 and 3.

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.

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.