This free course is one in a series focusing on leadership, decision-making and communication in the context of policing within the community. This particular session focuses on communication skills and specifically looks at how to build rapport and get the most out of conversations in community settings. It introduces a psychological model which is a useful way to think about how to develop rapport, and allows you to plan for, and reflect on, your everyday interactions in order to build rapport effectively. It focuses on conversations that might be considered ‘difficult’, and encourages effective listening and effective diagnosis of interpersonal behaviour.

After studying this course, you should be able to:

• understand the principles of a psychological model about rapport
• identify interpersonal behaviours using the model
• avoid maladaptive responses using the model
• plan an interpersonal response to a particular situation based on the model
• reflect on a situation experienced recently.