Communicating Effectively

Establishing REAL Rapport

5 minutes

In creating a healthy working environment, building rapport is essential. It takes time and effort to have this emotional connection — one that ends with trust, strong collaboration, and effective teamwork.

Developing that trusting relationship goes beyond making conversation. To ensure strong. Creating that trusting relationship is more than just making conversation. To ensure you’re building great rapport, go over the REAL Model and see the other ways you can create trust and connection in your teams.

The REAL Conversation Model

Respond respectfully

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Express agreement by nodding your head and establishing eye contact.

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Maintain a relaxed and open posture. This may not seem like much, but it removes any more physical barriers and psychologically tunes both you and your team to be more involved.

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Try not to interrupt others. Instead, adopt attentive silence. Common examples include "Hmm" or "I see now".

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The setting matters! Have your discussions in an environment with minimal distractions. Remember to keep appropriate physical space in between.

Echo back key words, issues, feelings and gestures to engage and support

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Paraphrase or summarise the details once in awhile. This helps both you and your teammate be on the same track. e.g. “So you’d like more variety in your work?”

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Reflect key feelings and properly label its intensity. Mirroring their key phrases works just as well. E.g. "So, you feel annoyed that no one has mentioned this to you before?"

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Try not to interrupt others. Instead, adopt attentive silence. Common examples include "Hmm" or "I see now".

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Match their posture and key gestures. This communicates understanding and increases rapport.

Ask open questions to clarify, grow responsibility and plan

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Ask questions to clarify perspectives. For example, "Let me check if I got this right. The way you see it, this is happening because [insert statement]."

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Create opportunities to think outside the box. Orient them towards solutions by asking questions like “What can you do to change this?” or “What have you tried so far?"

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Use the power of attentive silence. Giving them the opportunity to articulate their thoughts not only helps them understand better how they feel, but also creates an environment of trust and open communication.

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Changing how questions and phrases are said can positively impact the growth of trust. A more neutral approach means they will less likely feel invalidated.

Here are some examples:
- Use "and" for "but"
- "What do you think" instead of "why"
- "Prefer" or "need" for "should"

Look at body language and listen

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Observe a 'talk ratio' during meetings. Leaders should talk 30% of the time and actively listen to the team for the remaining 70%

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Be conscious of your non-verbal cues. This includes your facial expressions, vocal cues, posture, gestures, and your grooming.

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Pay keen attention to both what they say and what they show. Should anything be uncertain, seek clarification.

Building rapport takes effort. At the same time, it yields trust, clearer communication and meaningful relationships. Leaders set the environment of their teams — how you act determines how others respond.

Download the conversation tool

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