This quick pairs' exercise, from Barbara Babcock, reinforces matching and pacing and demonstrates the effects of mis-matching on rapport building.
It's done in two parts:
For the first two minutes person A talks about something they are passionate about (or a previous holiday etc) for two minutes. Person B listens attentively and matches and paces Person A for the first 30-45 seconds. Then Person B starts to mis-match (acting bored, playing with watch, breaking eye contact, etc.).
For the next two minutes Person B now talks about something they are passionate about (topical issue, hobby or whatever). Person A disagrees with them but continues to match and pace the person to keep rapport.
Discuss with participants the effects of both scenarios.
The moral of the story is that matching and pacing help build and keep rapport and you need the rapport to lead.
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