Meet John Beavis, The Captain's Coach

As the saying goes, it's lonely at the top. To support the four-stripers responsible for thousands of lives on a daily basis, ensure their grace under pressure and help them perform at their best, John Beavis created The Captain's Coach.

This UK-based consultancy is run by Royal Navy veteran who's held pressure-cooker leadership roles and is now a certified executive coach. Working with senior HR partners in the maritime industry, he provides one-to-one support to captains, fostering their career development, sustainability and well-being.

'Someone to talk to'

Being a captain is challenging and demanding, and the pressure is 'huge,' particularly since the pandemic, Beavis said. Ships are bigger, operations are global, crews more diverse, bridge culture has changed and social media creates added glare.

His captains always tell him: 'We love the fact we've got someone to talk to.'

As their executive coach, Beavis offers what he believes is a unique and needed service — it's not technical training or mental health counseling — but a 'Performance Platform' built on the pillars of professional development, human sustainability and emotional well-being.

Wide-ranging benefits

Helping leaders cope with challenges, stay energized and reducing burnout ameliorates risk, underpins safety and bolsters retention and recruitment. It can help brand reputation, too, since a happy captain makes for happy crew and happy guests.

'If you're missing the happiness and harmony on board, cruisers can sense it,' Beavis said.

He is an elected Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and an ILM-certified masters level executive and leadership coach specialized in maritime industries. His credibility and insight come from literally having been in a commander's shoes. He understands the pressures and, at times, the loneliness of the role.

A lifelong seafarer and a graduate of Britannia Royal Navy College, Dartmouth, Beavis has more than 20 years of senior maritime leadership experience. In the Royal Navy, he captained vessels, commanded a bomb disposal and diving squadron and directed professional training.

He worked alongside the Special Forces, within joint agency counterterrorism and was awarded the highest level commendation by the British Armed Forces for his leadership and support of security for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

His current career was sparked by holding a role overseeing the coaching and development of future captains in the Royal Navy. After completing his military service, Beavis dived into coaching, working across multiple sectors with senior executives for nearly a decade before honing his path further to specialize in the maritime sector.

Piloted with Carnival UK

In 2022, he piloted The Captain's Coach with Carnival UK and currently works with clients including P&O Cruises, Cunard and MSC Cruises and others he can't disclose. He's also in discussions with several US-based lines. Cruising comprises about 75% of his business.

Beavis offers three types of services.

The most sought after is one-to-one coaching to support the development, sustainability and well-being of newly promoted or soon to be promoted captains. This is designed to reduce the risk of those first years in the role by bridging the delta between high technical competency and experience in rank.

Beavis' sounding board service offers a safe space for senior talent to discuss change and challenges and develop fresh techniques to get the best from their teams.

And his special advisor service provides troubleshooting, mentoring and coaching for a ship's top four officers when team cohesion and collective performance are an issue.

Coaching and sounding board sessions are done via Microsoft Teams. Beavis has conducted more than 250 of these 90-minute one-to-one sessions in the last year alone. For his special advisor service, he can go aboard for a few days to work with the captain, staff captain, chief engineer and hotel manager as a team.

Cultivating Gen Z talent

Beavis hopes to ensure seafaring remains an attractive profession for younger generations. Understanding Gen Z, whose values and beliefs are different to senior seafarers, is important, he said. How do you get the cream of the crop to join the industry and stay?

Some high-performing individuals in their 20s currently working as first officer or safety officer could make great captains but the 'fear factor' of sacrificing their quality of life to the stresses that come from leadership make it 'just not worth it.' Knowing they're going to be supported can make a huge difference to Gen Z talent.

What the captains say

The Captain's Coach website offers glowing testimonials.

'I have benefited greatly from the sessions,' said Capt. Robert Canby, P&O Cruises. 'Equipping us with tools and techniques, and supported by personal examples, John’s service has helped to support our development, sustainability and well-being to better ourselves, both personally and professionally.'

Cunard Capt. Dave Hudson called working with Beavis 'an immense benefit and support. He has helped me build mechanisms and strategies to fend off challenges and, ultimately, enabled me to perform at my best.'

'Over the last year John has been of tremendous help, supporting me as I’ve made the transition to the role of captain,' MSC Cruises' Gabriele Russo said. 'He has helped shift my mindset from "survive” to “thrive” while opening my mind with fresh approaches and perspectives on leadership.'

This helped Russo 'develop a more strategic perspective, while reminding me of the value to empower and entrust the team to manage the details. Not only has this approach enabled my team to flourish and nurture their talents, but it has helped me to sustain my ability to perform throughout, leaving me better placed to respond to challenges with confidence, clarity, energy and focus.

'Lastly,' Russo continued, 'he has helped me to see that in my role as a captain that I’m not necessarily at the peak of my career, but at the beginning of a whole new journey.'