You can benefit your organization’s future key decision-makers by investing in leadership development. The long-term success of your business may depend on identifying future leaders and giving them the tools, they may need to develop their careers and lead teams to success. In this mentorship and instruction program, Robert Nichols, owner of Union UTA Martial Arts/SAMI Combat Systems of NJ, educates people to be leaders. He thinks that teamwork, public speaking, and educational drills all help to develop future leaders.
A Story of Success
Robert Nichols likes to consider himself a common person. He is one of those individuals who truly started from scratch and was fortunate enough that his efforts and a little bit of good fortune allowed him to achieve success. He’s been running his school and business for more than 20 years. After five years of running it, he bought it. Running a business is different from studying martial arts. He had no formal training at all in managing the firm. But he’s always been open to picking things up and adapting. In his opinion, the most significant thing is that he has changed and evolved. He thinks this is the key to longevity in a sector like the martial arts, where tradition is so important that many schools and teachers don’t change or adapt.
UTA Martial Arts/SAMI Combat Systems Of NJ
Union UTA Martial Arts was a highly typical TKD school when it first opened its doors in 2001. Robert genuinely thinks they wouldn’t be here today if things had continued that way. Evolution is a theory that Mr. Nichols and his team firmly support. Now, they consider themselves to be a modern martial arts program. They are a self-defense and personal development school, not an “MMA” or “sport karate” academy. It’s different now than it was even a few years ago, and Robert thinks it will be different in a few years. Evolution is crucial.
The only SAMI Combat Systems School in the Western Hemisphere is there as well. SAMICS is a highly renowned martial arts organization in Europe that was established in Vienna, Austria by Peter Weckauf. It is a modular system that covers a range of combat topics, including street self-defense, law enforcement tactics, knife combat, axe combat, and more.
Wears Many Hats
Robert Nichols has multiple hats to wear, just like any other business owner. He can be involved in maintenance, cleaning, sales calls, marketing, or customer service depending on the day. But in his situation, it also entails being a teacher and a motivator. His role as a motivator is the most crucial one. It encourages learners to put forth more effort and accomplish more. Staff members are inspired to work hard and with discipline to teach others. Parents who are monitoring lessons are encouraged to develop confidence and trust that they are allocating their time and resources wisely.
Robert keeps a daily task checklist app on his phone. There are things he needs to do to see if he followed a healthy diet that day and if he met his daily step goal. He is reminded to post on social media on particular days. Mr. Nichols believes that the three most important tasks he checks off each day are to create a positive moment with his wife, his child, and did he work to improve his school.
Therefore, these chores force him to pause and reflect towards the end of the day when he is at home and sitting down, scrolling through his phone and his tasks for the day.
Accountable for Growth
Robert believes that training more leaders is always advantageous to companies. He thinks that leaders can take many different shapes and that the qualities of one can counteract the weaknesses of another. Additionally, because different people lead in various ways, having more developed leaders at a company increases the likelihood that you will have the best person for each job.
Robert believes that creating strong leaders will enable his company to serve more students more effectively. On some days, there are 30 to 40 students in each session on the floor. However, managing the group is simple if they have 10–12 strong, established members of the Leadership Team. It wasn’t until much later in life that Robert realized the importance of education. He therefore makes a great effort to continually read, listen to, and take in things that will help. He therefore makes a concerted effort to constantly study, listen to, and watch materials that advance his development. However, he believes that consistently holding himself accountable is the most crucial thing he does. If he isn’t continuously holding himself accountable for improvement, he can’t expect students to follow his instructions or others to invest their time and money in his program.
Openness to Bringing Change
According to Robert, the organization is always changing the program to satisfy the demands of the employees and students. They have utilized a rotating curriculum for some time. Therefore, it can be really helpful to differentiate yourself from being predictable in what you teach and how you teach it. In many instances, consulting and examining how schools could do better just requires entering the modern era. The economic side of martial arts is frequently held back by its conventional perspective. Often, all it takes to “repair” or advance a school is a shift in perspective.
Are you using social media to tell your story and introduce yourself to others? Are your systems effective? Do you have standardized office practices? Are you attempting to hone those leaders so you can provide greater service to your customers? Robert thinks that being open to a solution is more vital than any other factor, whether it be on the exercise floor, during training, in the workplace, or when advising others. You shouldn’t assume that the way you’ve always done something is the best way to accomplish it. Robert continues to remain open to change.
Self-Perceived Success
In his book, “Earn a Black Belt in…An Average Guy’s Guide to Life,” Robert even has a chapter on success. Success, in his opinion, is based on how you affect other people and the caliber of the relationships you have in your life. Like everyone else, he naturally wants to live without financial worries, but to him, enjoying life and the people around him is more essential. And what influences that is the caliber of your relationships with others and the impact you leave on them.
Robert desires to believe that his good deeds, human aid, and enhancement of other people’s lives have been recognized. That’s success in his eyes. He understands he is perpetuating the success cycle in others if he can also assist in putting others in places to succeed in their lives and to help set them up for their own futures. Relationships and spending time with his family are very important to him. He believes that a true measure of success is the quality of your relationships.
Robert succeeds because of his diligence. Success in reaching the company’s pinnacle and recognition for his achievements.
- 12 Time Inductee United States Martial Arts Hall of Fame
- 12 Year Consecutive winner of US Commerce award for Best Business.
- Author of the Amazon bestselling, award winning book, “Earn a Black Belt in…An Average Guy’s Guide to Life”
- Certified Life Purpose Coach
- SAMI Combat Systems Advanced Instructor-Available for Travel Seminars
- Nichols Martial Arts, Inc. Consulting
Future Outlook
Nichols hopes that Union UTA Martial Arts/SAMI Combat Systems of NJ will continue to operate in the same manner as the company has for the past 20 years. He hopes to work for a successful company that influences kids, develops leaders, and achieves success. It does call for them to innovate while remaining modern. His goal is to expand the number of locations so that the senior employees will have more career options. He has had the good fortune to have had a committed group of leaders over the years, and he wants to be able to give them access to the same opportunities for success that he has. He expects his teams to significantly outperform all he has achieved.
Guidelines for New Leaders
Robert’s advice for the upcoming generation of leaders is to not be afraid of the task. Don’t let apprehensions about effort or failure prevent you from attaining achievement on your own. He thinks we all too often let our motivations be what restricts us. Our excuses rapidly turn into our reasons. We can be making progress with our goals, objectives, and accomplishments, but when the pattern of growth is disrupted and we lose the good habits that got us there, we have greater potential to fall off completely.
So, he encourages them to accept the work. Recognize that there will always be challenging times, regardless of how long you’ve been doing something or what positive habits you have in place. There will always be challenging times. The journey will continue after that. It is related to the storyline. He exhorts people to embrace it rather than run away from it.
To learn more about Robert Nichols and his programs, visit – https://www.coachrobertnichols.com/
Written by Steve Sanchez.
