Rapport

Rapport ( ; ) is a close and harmonious relationship in which the people or groups concerned are "in sync" with each other, understand each other's feelings or ideas, and communicate smoothly.

The word derives from the French verb which means literally to carry something back This may also mean that they engage in reciprocal behaviors such as posture mirroring or increased coordination in their verbal and nonverbal interactions.

Rapport has been shown to have benefits for psychotherapy and medicine, negotiation, education, and tourism, among others. In each of these cases, the rapport between members of a dyad (e.g. a teacher and student or doctor and patient) allows the participants to coordinate their actions and establish a mutually beneficial working relationship, or what is often called a "working alliance". and matching tempo, terminology, and breathing rhythm. In conversation, some verbal behaviors associated with increased rapport are the use of positivity (or, positive "face management"), sharing personal information of gradually increasing intimacy (or, "self-disclosure"), and reference to shared interests or experiences.

Building rapport takes time. Extroverts tend to have an easier time building rapport than introverts. Extraversion accelerates the process due to an increase in confidence and skillfulness in social settings.

Methods

Coordination

Coordination, also called "mirroring"

; Posture mirroring : Matching the tone of a person's body language not through direct imitation (as this can appear as mockery) but through mirroring the general message of their posture and energy.

; Tone and tempo mirroring : Matching the tone, tempo, inflection, and volume of another person's voice.

Mutual attentiveness

Another way to build rapport is for each partner to indicate their attentiveness to the other. and trust.

This is done through references to shared interests, dislikes, and experiences. By sharing personal details or self-disclosing personal preferences or information, interlocutors can build commonality, and thus increase rapport. (or, more simply: positivity). According to some psychologists, earlier work on rapport management, she and Lazidou identify six factors or sensitivities that interlocutors need to take into account in order to avoid undermining rapport. Using the acronym GAAFFE, they call these the GAAFFE Triggers:

thumb|Rapport triggers

Goals: What each person wants to achieve.
Autonomy: The level of autonomy or direction that each person feels comfortable with.
Attention: The level of attention or connection that each person feels comfortable with.
Face: The respect and appreciation that each person wants to be shown.
Fairness: The fair treatment that each person wants to experience.
Ethical Principles: The upholding of ethical standards of behaviour.

The authors maintain that if there is a mismatch between the interlocutors in their interpretations or prioritisation of any of these triggers, rapport will be affected and typically undermined. This will lead to some kind of rapport reaction – an emotional reaction and/or an evaluative reaction.

Benefits

A number of benefits from building interpersonal rapport have been proposed, all of which concern smoother interactions, improved collaboration, and improved interpersonal outcomes,

In education, teacher-student rapport is predictive of students' participation in the course, their course retention, their likelihood to take a course in that domain again, and has sometimes been used to predict course outcomes. Student-student rapport, on the other hand, while largely out of the teacher's ability to control, is also predictive of reduced anxiety in the course, feelings of a supportive class culture, and improved participation in class discussions.

In negotiation, rapport is beneficial for reaching mutually beneficial outcomes,

In terms of social relationships such as friendship and romantic relationships, establishing rapport can build trust, increase feelings of closeness, and eliminate certain misunderstandings. Rapport is necessary in establishing satisfaction and understanding acceptable behaviors in an interpersonal relationship. In the era of Covid-19 and the shift to remote work and schooling, the way in which rapport is built has evolved. Communicating solely through online channels challenges rapport building. Challenges include technical difficulties interrupting video calls and direct messaging, interruptions and distractions from the user's home, a lack of intimacy and the ability to observe one another, lack of eye contact, mundane interactions, and the "pressure of presence".

Rapport in Business

In 2000, Professors Gremler and Gwinner proposed rapport as a central construct in understanding customer-employee relationships in service businesses characterized by a high amount of interpersonal interactions. They defined rapport as "...a customer’s perception of having an enjoyable interaction with a service provider employee, characterized by personal connection between the two interactants." The research showed that rapport positively impacts customer satisfaction, loyalty intent, and word-of-mouth communication.

Methods

Coordination

Mutual attentiveness

Benefits

Rapport in Business

See also

References

Further reading