Minicourse Creating Exceptional Relationships Through Giving and Receiving Feedback
Winter 2026
Led by Lisa Stefanac, Clinical Professor of Leadership
Overview
Join us for our winter minicourse, Creating Exceptional Relationships Through Giving and Receiving Feedback. Led by Lisa Stefanac, Clinical Professor of Leadership, this live-online minicourse will provide you with tools to increase your self-awareness, communicate feedback in a way that de-escalates, and reduce the assumptions that often derail conversations.
Drawing on research-backed interpersonal practices, we’ll explore how to clarify impact, surface assumptions, inquire skillfully, and repair when misunderstandings occur—all with the intention to build if not sustain strong relationships. Expect concise concepts, structured practice, and guided reflection designed to increase your interpersonal range and comfort with productive tension. We will convene for our first session on Tuesday, February 3.
What You’ll Learn
- How to communicate observations and impacts without assigning motive, reducing defensiveness
- Ways to stay present and grounded when conversations feel uncomfortable
- Techniques for asking questions that surface meaning and invite mutual learning
- Practical approaches for responding to feedback with curiosity rather than self-protection
- Steps for repairing breakdowns and re-establishing alignment and connection
Schedule
Tuesdays at 11am CT on February 3, 10, 17, and 24
Zoom (live and asynchronous)
Lisa Stefanac is Clinical Professor of Leadership. She is also Co-Founder and CEO of KSE Leadership, a privately held leadership consulting firm, and Co-Founder and Partner of Assessing in Action, a leadership and team effectiveness tools business. She has focused her work on leadership development, team effectiveness, and talent management at clients ranging from high growth startups to many of the largest companies in the world and across several industries including retail, technology, oil & gas, and digital health.
Prior to co-founding KSE and Assessing in Action, Stefanac was managing director at the Kantor Institute, a team development consultancy in Cambridge, MA. She began her organizational change consulting career at Dialogos International LLC, and she created negotiation and conflict management resolution training programs through Insight Partners.
Before her clinical professor position at Booth, Stefanac was on staff at the Stanford Graduate School of Business where she facilitated interpersonal dynamics, coaching and mentoring, and other MBA and professional-level courses. She has also taught management programs offered through Harthill UK, the University of Chicago, and Harvard University.
Stefanac earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She received the university’s Global Awareness Award and the Herman Family Fellowship, an award recognizing high-potential women entrepreneurs. Stefanac graduated Magna Cum Laude from San Francisco State University with a BA in English literature.
An ex-competitive gymnast and marathon runner who climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro — Africa’s highest peak — Stefanac is a visionary who can help individuals surpass their perceived limits.