Why is it that some people just seem to get what they want? Why do they seem to be able to find agreement between two parties that have been stuck in conflict with an absolute minimum of fuss? Why do they seem to get along with just about everybody they meet despite the plethora of personalities, attitudes and life experiences of those they meet?
Why is it that some people just seem to get what they want? Why do they seem to be able to find agreement between two parties that have been stuck in conflict with an absolute minimum of fuss? Why do they seem to get along with just about everybody they meet despite the plethora of personalities, attitudes and life experiences of those they meet?
The answer, in many cases, is that they have good rapport. Some people have this skill naturally, they don’t know why – they’re unconsciously competent. The study of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) has, among many other things, charted the success of many such examples of naturally talented rapport builders and analysed, for decades now, what it is these likeable individuals do. In short it has aimed to uncover their secrets so that they can be taught and passed on.
That is the basic premise of the one-day course we attended: that if you have an awareness of some of the more basic NLP concepts surrounding rapport, and practice how to use them, then you will be far more likely to succeed in your communications with others – be it negotiating a deal, resolving an angry customer’s complaint or agreeing where you’re going to go to dinner with an old friend.
Our hosts for the day was Strike Zone; a boutique HR and OD consulting practice dedicated to creating and implementing sustainable learning solutions. It offers a range of customised and instructionally designed programs, services and toolkits in the area of interpersonal skills, management development, customer service, corporate NLP, performance management and people management skills.
The course we attended, like all of the courses offered by the consultancy, had been specifically designed for us. The one-day course was a cut-down version of many more extensive development programs Strike Zone offers and was designed to give us a taste of many NLP techniques that could be directly applied to the work place almost immediately.
We were spoilt when it came to facilitators, with three of the company’s principal consultants delivering the material – Nancy Hromin, Kate Chaffer and Lily Cubrilo. Thanks to our three hosts, we were able to enjoy an extremely high energy day with the trainers able to give it there all when they were out front of the group and also able to offer useful process observations from the side.
With the overarching theme of building rapport, everyone in attendance took away from the day the idea that rapport was about connecting with others at many levels: body language (visual), tone, content, thinking styles, beliefs, values, attitudes, experiences, language and emotions.
Working at what could only be described as a cracking pace, we moved logically though an explanation of how our own filters impacted how we took in information, then how we processed that information and finally how we relayed that information or reacted to it. In itself, having an awareness that these processes are happening makes a huge difference in our ability to control how we react to the process and how we can control interactions and therefore the outcome of communication with others.
Contact Strike Zone: phone: 02 9664 3997; email: [email protected]; web: www.strikezone.com.au
