How do you maintain rapport in challenging or stressful situations?

In addition to listening actively, it is important to impart empathy. It is safe to assume most, if not, all parties are uncomfortable due to the difficult nature of the topic. Examples of what this looks like includes the following: ? Making sure that you are in a quiet and private space where you can have a conversation without interruptions. ? Asking open-ended questions to help the employee express themselves fully and provide more context. For example, you could ask, "How has this been affecting your work?" ? Reflecting back what you hear to ensure that you fully understand their perspective. For example, you could say, "It sounds like you feel frustrated because you feel like you're doing more work than your co-worker."

FWIW, I'm going to offer an entire process to use for each point in this article. First, you CANNOT actively listen unless you have prepared questions and actions you WILL and WON'T take. It's just silly to think that saying "listen actively" solves the issue of getting and maintaining Rapport in difficult situations. Most people just plop down and start a conversation willy nilly -- or force a conversation. Neither IS the path to Active Listening. Second, assess the relationship. Is it an internal (e.g. company, team or family) type of relationship, or is it an external one (e.g. social media, marketing, sales, speaker/audience, etc.)? Third, assess the resistance that rises when humans feel stress, threats, depletions. (continued)

Adapt Your Style: Be aware of your own preferences and those of the other person, and adjust your communication accordingly. Use Empathy: Put yourself in the other person's shoes and acknowledge their emotions. For instance, if someone is frustrated, acknowledge their frustration and offer support. Stay Calm: Maintain a composed demeanor, even in high-pressure situations. This helps to diffuse tension and create a more positive atmosphere. Use Positive Language: Focus on solutions rather than problems, and use positive and encouraging language. Follow Up: After a challenging interaction, follow up to ensure the issue is resolved and the person feels heard and valued. This helps to build trust and maintain rapport.

The irony is that the first step SHOULD BE (remember they used AI to craft this cliche' article outline) Adapt Your Style/Mindset. You can't do that w/out a "give 'n take" question plan, and assessing the relationship and resistance. When you KNOW what you will/won't do, and you've assessed relationship/resistance factors (boss vs peer), THEN you'd get... PERMISSION. Unless communication is REQUIRED (and even then) if you proceed with ANYTHING, especially guessing on what would be best from YOUR point of view, you're going to risk losing rapport or destroy it! Anything less than explicit permission (a nod will do) is to force or foist your will or point of view on the other person or audience. People tend to hate this. (Continued)

Maintaining rapport in challenging situations requires flexibility in how you communicate. I try to stay patient, adjust my tone based on the situation, and focus on being empathetic. When tensions rise, I make sure to actively listen and validate feelings, showing understanding before offering solutions. For instance, when a deadline was tight and the team was stressed, I chose to have a calm, one-on-one conversation with each member to listen to their concerns. By providing reassurance and understanding, it helped reduce stress, and the team felt supported in working through the pressure together.

Adapting your style can happen on a macro level or a micro level. Things like adding humor or stories to your communication vs. facts and logic is more macro, content focused. Micro-level adaptions involve active listening not just with your ears but with your eyes and your entire body, and then meeting people where they are. Some examples: - Noticing what specific words the other person uses, and using those exact words when talking about the same things. - Matching tone of voice: loud if they are loud, quiet if they are quiet. There are hundreds of similar examples. The point of these micro adaptations is to create an experience of comfort and safety for the other person by demonstrating that you truly see and hear them.

Seriously?? No. The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier provides a Best in Class question sequence that preserves rapport. Ultimately, it is an interview, not an interrogation/pressuring them with your POV. This approach elicits answers from within the other person. Resistance is high in a Boss/Employee - Spousal relationship. They're likely already aware that their performance is an issue. Don't pounce! Here's Stanier's approach: What's on your mind? And what else? What is the real challenge here for you? What do you want? How can I help? If you are saying yes to this, what are you saying No to? What was most useful for you? Offer NO Feedback until you've exhausted questions that evoke their feedback to themselves. (continued)

I recently heard a few good tips for connecting in stressful situations. One was to think about the child this person was. What does that individual really need? It diffuses the energy if you think about them as a child with simpler wants and needs. The other example I like is to find a place on their face and really look at it. Look at their eyes and really see the person for who they are. Breathe. These are summaries of exercises by Charmine Shirzad who authored Positive Intelligence.

Spot on! (See, I'm not just a critic or gadfly... lol). I think the way to frame this is to sit in this thought before engaging: "It isn't about me and my ego!" The ego has to be vanquished first. Then you can more easily manage your emotions. I think we'd all agree that 19 out of 20 people fail to get their ego out of the own way in this regard. (I can certainly point a finger at myself!) Thus they get triggered because as sure as the sun rises everyday, the other person will very likely point a finger at you. Here's a phrase to help you grasp what ego it: "Edging Goodness Out" "Edging God Out" Replace it with: "End uGly Overtures" Most high stress, high conflict situations almost always turn ugly when ego is left to flourish.

You can love someone, but not trust them. But, it is difficult to trust someone if you don't like them, or they don't like themselves. Trust comes from making and keeping promises over and over. But, it is only given when you like a promise keeper. Lots of promise keepers exist, but are they likable? Consider the last term in the second to last sentence: CARE. People do NOT care how much you keep a promise related to a thing unless they know how much you care about them and their relationship to that thing. I've found that "corporate" trust develops when it is two way. By "corporate" I don't mean a type of company, but a type of fair/care/share purpose, mission, etc., or agreed upon characteristics of individuals acting together.