UT L&D Manager Spotlight - Aimee Trochio

Aimee Trochio

Manager, Training Services, Facilities Services

1. Describe your role for UT. 

My role is to help enable the employees working in Facilities Services to succeed at their jobs. We analyze the training needs, and then my small, mighty team and I develop new training and procure training from vendors. We also track, sustain, and continuously improve our training programs. My team is just one part of the fantastic Facilities Services Support unit. There are always interesting challenges, since Facilities Services employs about 800 people in dozens of roles. We provide a wide variety of training types: onboarding, safety, business process, manager, licensing, technical skills, and leadership. 

2. What was the most important lesson you learned as a new manager?

Clear is kind. If you have any concerns about a team member, don’t let a discomfort with conflict keep you from addressing it kindly and as objectively as possible. If it impacts what you can accomplish as a team, it’s worth talking about.

3. What advice do you have for managers to help develop their team?

Don’t take away your team’s learning opportunities in the name of sparing them from handling complexity. I have always found it difficult to delegate without first doing all the planning and pre-work to understand the full scope of the project before handing it off. I started to change that perspective when I realized I was unintentionally taking away growth and learning opportunities from my team. Planning is an important part of many tasks, not to mention an important part of self-leadership.

Just prepare your team by letting them know that you are giving them more planning responsibility, and be prepared to coach them on that aspect of the task, if they need it.

4. Why is learning in the workplace important?

Learning is so much more than developing new skills. It is often where we create new connections with others, new interests, and new adaptations to the stresses of the world around us. I am happiest professionally when I’m building new things and solving problems. Learning is the fuel to keep me feeling motivated, capable, and supported – things I need to do my best.

5. What is your favorite way to learn (feel free to mention any tool, subscriptions, or services here as well)?  

My favorite way to learn is by teaching and supporting others. I’ve learned more from managing a leadership program than from nearly any other professional experience of my career. If you can find a meaningful project to contribute to, someone to mentor, a council or volunteer effort, I encourage you to jump in. You’ll be more motivated to work on new skills when you have somewhere to apply them.