Rapport as we know is vital in a student/teacher relationship. Now I’m pretty sure that most ADI/PDIs are great at developing this rapport, after all we’re nice people, right? We are going to be spending many hours with this person in a confined space so we want to get along, right? Of course we do. No one wants to spend that amount of time in a car with someone they don’t like.
After all learning is meant to be fun. But what if I told you we can take this rapport deeper and further? What if the rapport was so well developed that the person sitting next to you feels totally at ease discussing how they REALLY think and feel about driving, and everything that comes with it? Rather than just giving you the answers they think you want to hear. When I was teaching learners one of the first things I noticed in my lessons (once I learnt how to build that trust rapport) was that we got to the root cause of any issues much quicker than before.
No going off practising the same thing over and over till they got it ‘right’. It certainly made my life easier, and the lessons more enjoyable. I also noticed that they were often a lot more willing to ‘open up’ about what they felt were the real blocks in the way of their learning….and what they needed to do to smash those blocks to smithereens. The best thing about learning to develop trust rapport is that you are probably using some of the techniques already. A smile here and there, a nod there and here. Fantastic.
We can go so much deeper though, and one way is through self-awareness. Using one word instead of another (e.g. lorry instead of truck) or a shift of your body, or even a raise of an eyebrow can damage the trust rapport. Yes it’s that easy! Self-awareness is sooo important. You see we need to understand the importance of developing trust rapport in a learning environment, and the techniques we need to do it.
The learning then becomes so much more fun & effective. You remember your favourite teacher from school right?….and probably your least fav too! Well, that’s about the emotions they made you feel at the time and the kind of rapport they built with you. You want your students to remember you…for the right reasons! It’s no coincidence that rapport is one of the five essential coaching skills, and having the right kind makes a whole lot of difference.
Thanks for reading. Have a great time out there.
Terry Lefteri
Check out Terry’s Active Workshops and other information. Click here.
