Put one or two accountants together, or nurses, or aeroplane enthusiasts, and before long you will have plenty of conversation and rapport. The same thing happens when you meet a stranger from your home town or someone who attended the same school or university. Your experiences or 'maps' overlap, so you share common ground or 'likeness'. You can use the experience matching principle even more widely. When communicating with a random group of people, for instance, you can usually identify a common experience to which they can relate. Using the training analogy, for instance, all the participants have probably had to:
Drive through traffic to the event Brave the weather Give up other important things, or Get work duties sorted out before leaving the office
Even a common experience like 'We have all given up a day of our life to attend today's seminar, so let's make the most of it' can create an initial rapport on which to build a successful training or similar group event. Keep in mind perceived likeness. Give a nod of assent at every stage in the communication, especially when establishing rapport.
Drive through traffic to the event Brave the weather Give up other important things, or Get work duties sorted out before leaving the office
Even a common experience like 'We have all given up a day of our life to attend today's seminar, so let's make the most of it' can create an initial rapport on which to build a successful training or similar group event. Keep in mind perceived likeness. Give a nod of assent at every stage in the communication, especially when establishing rapport.
