How building rapport with your team impacts performance results

rap·port - /raˈpôr,rəˈpôr/ Noun

1.    a close and harmonious relationship in which the people or groups concerned understand each other's feelings or ideas and communicate well.

Why You Should Build Rapport with Everyone You Manage

Your success as a leader will be judged by your team’s results – so those results can often be seen as a reflection of your relationships with the people delivering them. From data and research, to anecdotes and lessons from experienced leaders, there are a wide variety of benefits to taking the time to build relationships with your team. They go well beyond the touchy-feely and deep into core, important areas for being an effective leader and manager.

The challenges facing new leaders in a business situation are many and varied. It’s a demanding time, after all, for an individual both professionally and personally, when much learning takes place. One of the keys to becoming as effective as possible, as quickly as possible, is in getting to know your team well while building those relationships.

Reason #1: They’ll be more engaged. - Gallup has done some tremendous research on engagement and in their 2015 “State of the American Manager” report, they found one of the key ways to improving engagement is to build rapport with your team members

The only way someone will feel comfortable coming to their manager with any issues is if there is rapport and trust in their relationship. You would not talk to a stranger about your problems. A standoffish manager that only asks for status updates might as well be a stranger when it comes to asking questions and bringing up non work issues that affect their work.

Reason #2: It helps motivate your people. –

“Relatedness” is a great element that is absent from Drive…Relatedness is very touchy-feely. It’s hard to quantify. It requires interpersonal engagement. As a leader, you will lead people who want Relatedness in their job. They want you to know about their family, their hobbies. They want to chat with you about their weekend, their trips away. They want to get lunch sometimes.

The nice thing about Relatedness is that it is the easiest thing to provide. You don’t have to have management buy-in to ask people about their weekends. You don’t have to go through contortions to find business cases for sharing an occasional meal or coffee. And you may find that once you start caring about people, you feel a bit happier yourself at work.

Reason #3: They’ll be more receptive to your feedback. - Feedback is a simple, and powerful way to motivate employees. However, the best feedback in the world will not help if they’re not willing to listen to what you have to say. That’s where taking the time to build rapport matters.

Reason #4: You’ll earn their loyalty. - So how do you build the rapport that creates loyalty? By making time for them and meeting with them regularly. You have to put in the effort to earn their loyalty.

While loyalty can be bought temporarily, the best way to retain your team over the long term is to invest in them. That’s why Dale Carnegie reminds us in his seminal book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, “the only way to influence people is to talk in terms of what the other person wants.” If you take the time to build rapport with them, you’ll develop stronger relationships which will help reveal how to continue to keep their loyalty.

Reason #5: It’s just good manners. - It simply means you have to care enough about them as a person to recognize what’s important to them.

Think back to the best and worst bosses you’ve ever had. The ones you had a great relationship with were the ones that showed they cared. The ones that distant, careless, Dilbert-like ones, probably kept their distance. Don’t be Dilbert’s pointy-haired boss below LOL.

Reason #6: You’ll enjoy work more. - When you build rapport with those you work with, you help create a positive environment. Remember what Camille Fournier wrote:

“You may find that once you start caring about people, you feel a bit happier yourself at work.”

As you get to know people you may be surprised what you have in common with them. You’ll also better understand what motivates your people and be able to apply that to how you manage them. All of this can make you a more effective leader and make life better for everyone on your team. Positive attitudes can help bring positive work results, so everyone wins.

And remember: As a manager, you have the power to create a great environment for you and your team. 

How to Build Rapport

Building rapport is easy to do, so now that I’ve hopefully convinced you to give it a try, here’s a few easy ways to do so:

1. Have regular one on ones with each person on your team

2. Ask good questions. Be curious.

3. Learn to Recognize Emotion in Others.

4. Use Praise!

5. Develop Shared Values.

6. Build a Culture of Listening.