Building Rapport In Coaching

Building rapport in coaching is probably the most important skill to develop forming the foundation of a sustainable and productive coaching relationship. Without rapport between you and your coachee you have no genuine relationship. Without a genuine relationship you will never be able to fully help your coachee reach their full potential.

So what is rapport and how do you know that you have achieved it?

Put simply rapport in coaching is about really being able to put yourself in the shoes of your client – really tuning into who they are, where they are coming from, how they are feeling; it is about being 100% on their wavelength. You know you have achieved rapport when your coaching conversations flow, you start to feel what it is like to be in their situation and it may feel like you are talking to a close friend. When you have great rapport your coachee will open up with you and talk beyond just facts and information, readily discussing feelings and emotions.

Much has been written about developing rapport building skills and some of the theory of NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming) discusses the ways in which we can build rapport by ‘matching and mirroring’ words spoken and body language used to help tune into the person you are talking with. These are great techniques which can help, but rapport is more than just this.

Building rapport in coaching is firstly about really wanting to be there with your client and then simply listening at the deepest level in order to understand them – their values, wants and needs. This enables you to enter their world, you can talk their language and help them move forward.

Recommended Resources:

Coaching with NLP: How to Be a Master Coach by Joseph O'Connor and Andrea Lages (Paperback - 5 April 2004)

NLP: The New Technology of Achievement by NLP Comprehensive (Paperback)

Introducing NLP Neuro-Linguistic Programming by Joseph O'Connor and John Seymour (Paperback - Jan 2003)

See Also:-

Preparing For Coaching
Effective Listening
Effective Questioning
Use of silence
Goal Setting
Challenging
Scaling Skills
More Coaching Skills

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