Rapport

Rapport is a close and harmonious relationship in which the people involved understand each other's feelings or ideas and communicate well. In everyday use, rapport supports cooperation, trust, and effective information exchange. The term comes from French rapport, meaning relation or connection.

In communication, key components include mutual attentiveness, positivity, and coordination. Effective rapport features mutual trust and respect, active listening, empathy, and alignment of verbal and nonverbal cues, such as matching tone, pace, and body language. Nonverbal synchrony and shared language foster a sense of safety and openness, enabling more accurate information sharing and collaboration.

Rapport appears in various contexts: interpersonal relationships, professional settings, education, healthcare, and cross-cultural interactions. In clinical settings, therapeutic rapport—an empathic, trusting relationship between clinician and client—is linked to engagement and treatment adherence.

Building rapport involves specific techniques: listening closely, asking open-ended questions, reflecting and summarizing, validating feelings, and finding common ground. Skilled practitioners may use pacing and leading, mirroring, and respectful self-disclosure to establish connection while avoiding manipulation.

Barriers include bias, power differentials, language or cultural differences, misinterpretation of cues, and digital communication limitations. Building rapport is an ongoing process influenced by context, goals, and individual differences.

Outcomes: strong rapport supports clearer communication, collaboration, negotiation, and conflict resolution. It can be assessed qualitatively through feedback and observation; in some domains, standardized scales measure perceptions of rapport or therapeutic alliance.