Launch Into Leadership for New Supervisors
Your first step in leadership development
Taking on new supervisory responsibilities is a great opportunity and challenge. Many in supervisory roles have learned either by trial and error or by following what was done by their predecessor. In most cases, this is not a very effective strategy. This course will start you in the right direction with fundamental leadership skills and ideas for how to continue your growth as a supervisor and leader.
Who should attend?
- Newly promoted or hired supervisors
- Small business owners starting to supervise employees
- Candidates for upcoming supervisory positions
Benefits of attending this program:
- Reduced stress associated with supervision
- Increased confidence in your leadership ability
- Improved team performance
- Focus on the most important things as a supervisor/leader
- Plan for continued training and development to build skills and knowledge over time
Key topics addressed:
- New role = new mindset
- Basic supervisory responsibilities
- Dealing with co-workers in your new role
- Improving communication in your team
- Effective delegation
- Recognizing and motivating team members
- Planning your future leadership development
Course Objectives:
- Distinguish specific leadership behaviors
- Practice specific behaviors correlated with exemplary leadership performance
- Integrate specific leadership habits into their daily activities
- Evaluate their progress in developing as a leader
- Understand strategies to help others develop their leadership behaviors
- Design a personal action plan for developing their own leadership behaviors
Registration Information
Date: September 24, 2026
Schedule: 8:30 am – 4:30 pm CST
Location: Grainger Hall, Wisconsin School of Business, UW–Madison
Looking for leadership opportunities for your aspiring and emerging leaders?
See all GROW classes listed on our Classes & Training page. These affordable, skills-based courses focus on fundamental skills like conflict management, emotional intelligence, delegation, communication, and more.
We may also be able to bring training to your team!
Registration Fall 2026
Date: September 24, 2026
Time: 8:30 am – 4:30 pm CST
Location: Grainger Hall, Wisconsin School of Business, UW–Madison
Fee: $289
Registration Deadline Type
Early Bird
Late Registration
Course Registration Closes
Date
Early Bird Closes: 9/3/2026
Late Registration Begins: 9/16/2026
9/23/2026
Fee
Early Registration Fee: $260.00
Late Registration Fee: $318.00
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Cancellation Policy: Due to program costs and space limitations for these programs, participants are expected to cancel their registration at least 24 hours ahead of the program. Cancellations that occur less than 24 hours prior to the start of the program will be considered no-shows and may be removed from future programming and/or charged a course fee.
Disability Statement: Reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities will be made if requested at least two weeks in advance. Contact the UW–Madison SBDC office at sbdc@bus.wisc.edu to request accommodations.
The Small Business Development Center at UW–Madison is recognized by SHRM to offer Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for the SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP®.
Sarah Smyrk MA, CLF®, RCC™, CCMP®
Instructor
Sarah’s career is driven by her desire to understand and relate to people. Throughout her career, she has worked in many roles to help business leaders drive product and program strategies that are rooted in strong relationships, made by data-driven decisions, and centered around the holistic customer experience. She is passionate about working closely with individuals to help them achieve top levels of success and take their business to the next level while providing an outstanding client experience. Using her leadership skills and experience as a Registered Corporate Coach™ (RCC), she helps teams build and implement programs that strengthen and reinforce goals and top priorities.
Sarah joined Northwestern Mutual in 2016 and has held several leadership roles across the organization. In her current role, Sarah leads Enablement and Consulting for the Field Performance Team, where she is responsible for developing, implementing, and managing field leader consulting practices. She focuses on helping enterprise teams effectively execute on multi-year strategy initiatives and ensuring alignment on change readiness plans across business partners and the organization.
Previously, Sarah was with Trustage (formerly CUNA Mutual Group) in Madison, WI (2007-2016), where she was responsible for leading the strategy and execution of training initiatives for CUNA Brokerage Services, Inc. (CBSI). In addition, she also led the training strategy for the Annuity Product Sales Team. While at Trustage, she developed and led CBSI’s Women of Distinction program, a group of the company’s top female financial advisors. The group focused on mentoring advisors who were either new to the organization or to the industry.
Sarah currently holds several industry designations, including FINRA Registrations Series 7, 63, 9, and 10, and her Chartered Leadership Fellow (CLF®) through the American College. She is certified through PROSCI as a Change Management Professional (CCMP®) and LaMarsh Global as a Certified Change Practitioner. In December 2023, Sarah graduated from The University of Alabama with her master’s degree in organizational leadership.
Sarah lives in Madison, WI, with her husband Sam and dog Andy. She was recognized by Madison’s InBusiness Magazine as “40 Under 40”, is a competitive bodybuilder, enjoys working out, and always being active.
[For me, the most valuable aspects of the course were]:
Reflecting on personal experience of when we felt we were a great leader and listing our own personal leadership values
Getting concrete examples of good vs. bad leadership characteristics
Receiving a template for one-on-ones and the SBI (Situation-Behavior-Impact) Feedback Model
Discussion and validation with peersrough emotionallyrnfraught situations.”
[This class taught me] to rethink what leadership is really about! additional tools to help support our staff and families. Thank you!”
Great presentation cemented by discussion and interaction. [This course] was great! I have actionable steps to take.
[It was helpful] understanding how everyone perceives communication and how to use efficient communication/feedback. Great examples to consider.”
I loved how simple and clear Sarah explained each point of the training, and the activities and videos that she used. She was very professional.
[I loved] hearing other real experiences from attendees. Sarah was very prepared and free-flowing. Not sure how long she’s been doing this, but she seems very natural!
[I liked] that [the course] was interactive and it made you think of the management that you have had in the past and what you want when you are in a management role yourself.
[This class taught me] the idea of a “win file” and the different types of leadership styles, along with how leadership connects with culture.
Sarah brought the energy! She had relevant, real-life experience for every point. She was approachable and daftly answered all questions. [The session] was short but jam-packed, including tactical strategies and tips, and chock-full of [leadership] mindset.
Sarah was glorious! Adored the energy, content, and authenticity. She was prepared, honest/transparent, and did a great navigating many kinds of personalities. She had great connection-making skills and outstanding energy.
I liked that [this course] was interactive, and we were able to learn that other teams have similar struggles to ours. The instructor was wonderfully open, approachable and kind! She made it easy to pay attention for a whole day.
The course offered good perspective on cultivating awareness of how my decisions and behavior impact other team members.
[This course] gave me more to consider as a manager and how my investment in myself cycles back to employees/staff and how I can do more to bring us together as a whole team.
The Wisconsin SBDC Network is a proud part of the Office of Business & Entrepreneurship within the Universities of Wisconsin. It is funded in part through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. The Wisconsin SBDC at UW–Madison is also part of the Wisconsin Entrepreneurship Hub at UW–Madison.
The Wisconsin SBDC at UW–Madison helps entrepreneurs succeed at any stage. We offer no-cost, confidential consulting and business education across a wide region, primarily serving Dane, Sauk, and Columbia counties. SBDC services are provided in a nondiscriminatory way to all legal residents and citizens in the US.
Reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities will be made if requested at least two weeks in advance. Contact us at sbdc@bus.wisc.edu or call (608) 263-2221.