Rapport

Communication involves so much more than words. Rapport is the fundamental building block for effective communication. But what is “rapport”?

NLP defines rapport as:

Giving someone the experience of being met in their model of the world;

being understood, without judgement.

But what does this actually mean? It means making a bridge between our world and theirs. This makes the difference between communication that is potentially uncomfortable and open to misunderstanding, vs. communication that flows naturally and harmoniously.

By learning how to build rapport with someone, we can communicate with others in ways that they find naturally appealing and easy to understand.

We’ve no doubt all had the experience of people we just don’t feel comfortable around, yet we couldn’t put our finger on why.

And we’ve hopefully also experienced people we naturally gel with.

So what’s the difference? Yes, you guessed it, a large part of it is down to whether we feel in rapport with someone.

By knowing how to build rapport, you can make the most of your natural influencing skills and avoid situations where you aren’t able to put your point across. You can communicate with others in a way they find engaging and prevent those awkward situations where you feel you’re not part of the group.

Or maybe you’d like to use it to achieve your outcome in challenging environments and steer clear of missing out on your goal, just because you couldn’t maximise your ability to work with others.

Rapport is the fundamental building block of NLP. Without it, you dramatically reduce your chances of success.