Fearless Performance Management
The performance management – or employee feedback – process can fill many managers and employees alike with a sense of dread. However, with the right skills and mindset, this process can become collaborative, two-way communication that reduces anxiety and sets everyone up for success.
This class presents a model for managing employee performance and specific tools you can use to set performance goals, document and manage performance, maintain ongoing communication, conduct performance reviews, and develop performance improvement plans. Includes an electronic copy of the book Fearless Performance Reviews by Jeff and Linda Russell.
What you will learn:
- The 7 reasons why performance reviews often create fear
- The 11 characteristics of fearless coaching conversations
- How to increase your success rate in ensuring constructive feedback is heard by reducing fear responses
- How the Ladder of Inference takes us quickly away from our goals and toward unproductive judgments
- What is a collaborative mindset, and how to use it to create a winning approach
- How to use the Great Performance Cycle to create high-performing employees
- The reasons why giving constructive feedback can be difficult
- 15 tips for giving constructive feedback for great results
Registration Information
Date: October 29, 2026
Schedule: 8:30 am – 4:30 pm CST
Location: Grainger Hall, Wisconsin School of Business, UW-Madison
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Registration Fall 2026
Date: October 29, 2026
Time: 8:30 am – 4:30 pm CST
Location: Grainger Hall, Wisconsin School of Business, UW-Madison
Fee: $304. Registration for this course includes an electronic copy of the book Fearless Performance Reviews by Jeff & Linda Russell.
Registration Deadline Type
Early Bird
Late Registration
Course Registration Closes
Date
Early Bird Closes: 10/8/2026
Late Registration Begins: 10/21/2026
10/28/2026
Fee
Early Registration Fee: $274.00
Late Registration Fee: $334.00
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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®.
Jeff Russell
Instructor
Jeff Russell (MS, UW-Madison), co-director of Russell Consulting, Inc., specializes in helping organizations achieve their goals by successfully responding to the challenges of continuous change. With a focus on leadership, strategic thinking, leading change, and performance coaching, Jeff has guided organizations as diverse as Fortune 500 firms, social and public sector organizations, and small family businesses toward their goals. Jeff received his Master’s Degree in Industrial Relations from the UW-Madison, where he serves as an ad hoc faculty member for the Small Business Development Center. Jeff is also an adjunct faculty member at UW-Milwaukee and UW–LaCrosse.
Jeff and his wife and business partner, Linda, have co-authored nine books. Recent publications include: Change Training, Strategic Planning Training, Change Basics, Strategic Planning 101, Ultimate Performance Management, and, most recently, Fearless Performance Reviews (McGraw-Hill, 2012). For more information on Jeff and his work, visit Russell Consulting, Inc.’s website at www.RussellConsultingInc.com.
As this is my first Lead position, this course provides a great foundation to build on what I think I know and continue to grow as a person and a leader.
I liked this course because it fulfilled an unknown area in my personal & professional development.
[This course provided] All the tools and material I can bring back to my work.
Makes you reflect on your actions and how to have each party take ownership to achieve the best possible relationship and performance.
The content was great! I loved the balance of considerations of emotions along with expectations to do the job. Everything was wonderful! Very engaging, and loved being split into the breakouts to get to know others in the class
Jeff is a good speaker; I can’t wait to change direction with evaluations
The instructor was well prepared, believes in his material and approaches that he has obviously seen work. He provided real templates to use and extremely useful material to allow participants to implement new processes.
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.