NLP: pacing and leading

NLP stands for Neuro-Linguistic Programming. It's a school in psychology with some techniques to communicate better and to enhance your social skills.

Sometimes it is good to first pace someone and then make a suggestion. In NLP, mirroring the other person's view and behavior this is called pacing. You follow the other in his model of the world and that can make it more probable that the other will show willingness to follow you.
You can not only do that verbally, but also non-verbally. You mirror a part of the body posture and the breathing rate and that will ensure that the other person sees you more as someone who looks like him or her.

And that in turn makes people more willing to appreciate your input.

If you sit in the same position as the other for a while, then change your posture and see if the other follows you. If the other person moves his leg when you moved your leg, you have 'rapport" (French pronounciation). That is an NLP word for "good understanding". Try it out...