Communications and collaboration have become more important as knowledge and creative work have become more complex and interconnected. Employees today report spending less time working alone and more time collaborating, socializing, and learning. A recent Salesforce study indicates that over 85% of respondents consider the primary reason for failure in the workplace is an overall lack of collaboration and communications. Nearly 75% of employers surveyed indicated that collaboration is essential to their company's success. Regardless of culture, religion, ethnicity or geography, people have an intrinsic desire to connect with other humans. Building rapport with someone means forging an emotional connection and understanding. Rapport forces people to see one another as people instead of positions and provides the foundation for collaboration, communication and deeper understanding and a positive company culture. 

For some, building rapport comes naturally, while for others it may be more difficult. Rapport is a skill, and everyone can learn the art and science enabling them to quickly establish connections with co-workers, clients, potential customers, employees, bosses and board members.

In our over-scheduled environments that have become highly dependent on electronic communications, workplaces have largely forgotten to provide access to rapport skills training, despite the negative impact to effective collaboration and company culture. This webinar will help you to learn the techniques that open the door to establishing and maintaining rapport with others, whether they are in the same room, on the phone or across the globe. These skills will help you to improve your personal workplace effectiveness and outcomes.

Daina Middleton is a Chief Executive Officer, board advisor, Industry-leading marketer, and leadership coach. Her career has been fueled by embracing a Challenger mindset: creating market categories, driving thought leadership through partnerships and experiences, exceeding performance goals, cultivating culture, and executing operational excellence.

Daina has rapidly grown businesses in highly competitive complex environments that demand continuous evolution and innovation. She began her career by spending 16 years at Hewlett-Packard which provided her with a strong foundation in managing global teams, establishing new branded categories, pioneering digital marketing, cultivating company culture, and delivering results across complex, highly-matrixed organizations. Today, she is a Partner at Enact Agency helping brands succeed by enabling them to discover, define, articulate and amplify their Challenger strategy. She also works with companies to help them to master rapport, communications and collaboration and adopt a gender dialogue based on the framework of her book Grace Meets Grit.

Daina serves as an independent director of Marin Software. She is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including 2019 Direct Marketing News Hall of Femme, Dallas Shining Star, American Advertising Association, 2013 Gold Stevie International Female Executive of the Year. She is a published author: Marketing in the Participation Age; Wiley, 2013; and Grace Meets Grit: How to bring out the Remarkable Courageous Leader Within; Bibleomotion, 2016.