Non-verbal communication through the prudent use of touch is extremely powerful in being rapport and in accelerating the establishment of intimacy and trust. Human beings bond through touch, but your use of touch in dealing with persons whom you don't know well must be measured.
In a familial relationship or established friendship, it might be perfectly acceptable to embrace or to hold hands for an extended period of time. In dealing with very new relationships, prolonged touch can easily lead to problems.
The key is to make a brief physical touch become an enhancement, an anchor and an act of delicacy, understanding or respect during the course of a conversation. You don't grope or grab. You don't linger and stroke -- this is about business and friendship -- in fact, it is about the business of developing friendships.
What is most effective during the course of a one-on-one conversation with a new connection is a brief touch after the introductions are fully made, both persons are in full eye-contact with each other, and the tone is appropriately set. The most acceptable and socially potent gestures are a brief touch on the hand, a touch on the shoulder, or , when standing, a gentle pat on the back. If you combine any two of these three within a short expanse of time, the potential for establishing a richer, deeper, more profound level of rapport is geometrically enhanced.
Any of these gestures is far more effective than a perfunctory or obligatory handshake.
The important thing is make the gesture very private, very brief and very warm, without making it callous or invasive. Touch adds a new dimension of power, potency and intimacy (without insensitivity or inappropriateness) to any communication. It makes you, all that you've said and all that you are much more memorable to the recipient.
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