Developing your ability to build rapport can help build confidence and contribute to a more rewarding lifestyle with friends, colleagues and family. Sometimes it will come naturally but there will be times where someone important to your success is not on your wavelength and you will need to work at building the relationship. We cover 6 steps to achieving this quickly.
Key 1 - Respect: You must learn to respect the other persons perspective in order to build rapport. You can't build rapport if you are uncertain or not confident in your role for the situation. To create rapport you must do it from a position of respect and need to understand them and seek win-win outcomes.
Key 2 - Matching & Mirroring: People like people who are like them so a sure way to build rapport is to be like them. When you have rapport you will find yourself copying each other's body postures,movements, voice tone, pace and breathing. Be open and willing to be influenced by another persons perspectives.
Key 3 - Pacing & Leading: Having created your foundation a person is unlikely to accept your views and goals unless they can form an attachment to them. Pacing is the process of matching the other person's unique perception to increase rapport. Once you have gained a good level of rapport by pacing begin to lead and influence the other person or group. If rapport is lost then you should resort back to pacing.
Key 4 - Develop your Feedback Sense: You will need to sharpen your senses to spot changes in yourself and others that usually go un-noticed. This is called "sensory acuity". You will need to spot whether the other person is with you or not.
Key 5 - Give people time to think: In any conversation people need time to think about what they are listening to and observing. Having the sensory acuity to notice when a person is processing in downtime is fundamental to rapport building, pacing & leading and ultimately effective communication.
Key 6 - Observe communication modes: There are 4 major communication modes -Visual, Auditory,Internal Dialogue and Kinaesthetic.
Visual Mode: Use language like "do you see what I mean?" or "let's zoom in on this."
Auditory Mode: Use language like: "I hear what you say" or "it sounds OK to me."
Internal Dialogue Mode: This indicates your partner processes information via an inner voice.
Kinaesthetic Thinking Mode: Your partner processes information by feel. Use language like "this feels just right" or "let's keep in touch"
Knowing how a person communicates is very useful in getting on the same wavelength as them.
By following these 6 keys you will be able to create successful interactions with all varieties of individuals and with different values in mind.