Fom left, Kim Kavanaugh, Jean Marc Lanoue and Rita Tremblay from Woodland Villa, dance about during the Robin Sharma leadership training sessions in Kanata last week.

As a result, he spends more time making repairs than developing human relationships. But that’s about to change for the Village Green employee. Upon returning from a recent two-day session with inspirational speaker Robin Sharma, Brian’s prepared to make some adjustments in his life.

At work, he’s going to put forth an effort to connect with people from staff to contractors to residents.

“It’s a big change,” says Brian, who works at the Selby long-term care home.

“In maintenance, I’m more here for the building,” he says. “I’m really looking at the relationship building side of it a lot now.”

At Thursday and Friday’s leadership sessions at the Brookstreet Hotel in Kanata, Robin stressed the importance of bringing a human element or ‘love’ into the workplace. About 60 OMNI managers attended the Elite Performers Series with Sharma Leadership International. The sessions were based on one of Robin’s books, Leadership Wisdom from the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. Participants learned about the eight rituals of visionary leaders: Link Paycheck to Purpose; Manage By Mind, Lead by Heart; Reward Routinely, Recognize Relentlessly; Surrender to Change; Focus on the Worthy; Leader lead Thyself; See What All See, Think What None Think and Connecting Leadership to Legacy.

The sessions were geared at becoming a better leader, but also a better person all-round.

Brian says the event provided him the opportunity to connect with employees from other homes and share in their experiences. “It reconfirms the humanity side of things.”

The maintenance manager says as much as the sessions motivated him to make changes on the job, Robin also inspired him to examine his personal life. “It was an opportunity to explore parts of my life I’ve never looked at before.” Robin encouraged participants to examine their legacy, determining what they want to accomplish in life and how they want to be remembered.

Brian says he has been doing some self-discovery as of late, following the death of a family member. He has soul-searched about where he wants to be and how he intends to get there, bringing out the best of himself along the way, he says.

The maintenance manager says he has heard motivational speakers before but found the content “abstract.” He notes Robin’s material “is just so practical. He really makes it easy to get where you want to go. There’s so much information and it’s so profound. If I can implement even half of what he’s saying…I could make huge improvements.”