Congruence...What's That?

Congruence refers to the synchronization of your body language to another person's body language.

The fastest way to build trust and enhance communication is to match the mannerisms of another person, hopefully, in the context of a positive encounter. It also helps to synchronize your voice characteristics with theirs by trying to match the speed, pitch, tone and volume of their voice. When your body language, tone of voice and words are all saying the same thing, then you have a complete attitude. You have congruence. All these parts are important, but body language trumps both the tone of voice and the actual words being said. In face to face encounters, people give the most credibility to what they see, next to voice and tone, and the least credibility to the actual words that they hear.

Practice congruence in your conversations pay attention to the other person who is speaking in your day to day conversations. Try to match your body language, voice and tone to theirs. What happens?!