Supporting your Captains
So that they can foster talent and nurture high performing teams.
Creating successful and sustainable maritime leaders
Being a leader, whether afloat or ashore, is challenging. Navigating change, conflict and crisis takes its toll, and without dedicated support, the going can get tough.
Without appropriate guidance and professional support, your Captains and leaders burn out. Their confidence corrodes and decision-making falters. Pressure builds, performance drops and emotions spill over, leaving your organisation at risk and unnecessarily exposed.
“John is a skilful Coach who has enabled me to explore pathways and unveil solutions to a variety of situations, using perspectives from his own experience along the way.
Having an alternative perspective offers senior mariners with an opportunity to secure their sustainability, sustain their performance and widen their gaze, ready for the challenges of Command. ”
Specialist support for the maritime industry
I serve to offset risk across three lines of service that blend executive and leadership coaching expertise with relatable and relevant experience.
Coaching for Captains®
This one-to-one coaching service supports the growth of your newly promoted, or soon-to-be promoted, Captains, Chief Engineers and Hotel Directors. Your senior maritime leaders.
Why choose Coaching for Captains®?
No one is born a Captain. The highest performers and most respected leaders are those who realise it takes focus, belief and commitment to master their craft. They recognise Captaincy is only the beginning of a new and often challenging journey.
Building upon technical certification and professional licenses, they learn from early mistakes, collecting tools and techniques along the way. And while for some the sea is smooth, for many it is rough.
When asked if they’d do it all again, the answer is invariably, "Yes, but not without support”.
What will coachees gain?
Coaching for Captains® combines personal experience with specialist coaching expertise to bridge the delta between technical competency and time in Command.
Coachees develop the clarity, confidence and focus that enables them to perform effectively, operate sustainably, safely, and with energy in reserve ready to deal with significant maritime incidents.
What will your organisation gain?
Your organisation will reduce the operational risk associated with more junior Captains. In addition, your crew will benefit from your Captains’ improved management techniques, making it easier to attract and retain the talent you need to meet your clients’ expectations.
“He has helped shift my mindset from ‘survive’ to ‘thrive’ while opening my mind with fresh approaches and perspectives on leadership, especially when in Command at sea. The result has lifted my eyes to the horizon to develop a more strategic perspective, while reminding me of the value of empowering and entrusting the team to manage the details.”
Topics for exploration
Every session is tailored to the coachee’s needs and experience. Typically, we explore the following topics:
Awareness - Discover and develop self to lead as the best version of oneself.
Change - Recognise change and how to manage it to optimise opportunities.
Communication - Secure engagement and influence to ensure others listen.
Crisis - Distil fact from fiction to triage tasks and direct resources effectively.
DNA - Discover and explore how beliefs and values impact our decisions.
Foster - Apply tools and techniques to hone performance and harness potential.
Outlook - Discover how to develop capacity while keeping an eye on the horizon.
Trust - Learn to empower rather than enable to unlock the talent in others.
Logistics
Coaching for Captains® is a one-to-one service delivered fortnightly using encrypted teleconference means. Each session lasts up to 90 minutes.
Sessions are available for Captains, Engineers and Hotel Directors at the beginning of their last year as a Deputy and throughout their first year in Command or next equivalent grade.
Find out more
Get in touch to learn more about how you develop new and emerging Captains and your senior maritime leaders.
Sounding Board Service
A safe space and opportunity to discuss change and challenges for your most established Captains.
Why choose the Sounding Board Service?
It can get lonely at the top. Despite – or perhaps because of – years of service, many experienced Captains find themselves without anyone to ask for support or advice.
The Sounding Board Service has been created for your most senior talent.
This is for those with a high level of technical ability who may need to develop their leadership style to adapt to modern working practices and manage the expectations of a newer workforce.
What will participants gain?
Participants benefit from a safe space, a haven free from judgement. Here they can ask questions and work through challenges, face change and learn how to get the best from their teams in a rapidly shifting workplace.
Should they be approaching the end of their career, participants can use this service to discuss end-of-career preparation and planning.
What will your organisation gain?
Your organisation will benefit from better engagement and stronger retention of these talented Captains, while simultaneously getting the best from these individuals as they adopt new tactics and techniques to manage their team. This in turn supports future staff development and maintains smooth professional relationships onboard without the need for shoreside intervention.
“As Captains, it may seem that we possess all of the pieces of the leadership puzzle. Sometimes we may feel that we do, but sometimes we don’t. With support from John, I’ve found ways to dig deeper, using my mind, and my team, to find and fit them back together, when otherwise they may have felt lost.”
Topics for exploration
Every session is tailored to the Captain’s needs and challenges. Typically, we explore the following topics:
Advice - Leading self and leading others.
Change - Discuss methods and modes to counter challenges.
Clarity - Consider perspectives, crystallise thoughts and regain clarity.
Confidence - Restore belief, regain confidence and find faith post-incident.
Conflict - Develop relationships, embrace challenges and mitigate conflict.
Decision making - Carve out options and shape strategy in a confidential setting.
Exploration - Transform issues, risks and threats into opportunities.
Resilience - Develop systems and processes to avoid fatigue.
Senior leadership - Apply tools and techniques to take the team on the journey.
Logistics
The Sounding Board Service is delivered as a one-to-one service on a monthly basis using encrypted teleconference means. Each session lasts up to 90 minutes.
Sessions are available for your more senior Captains, Chief Engineers and Hotel Directors in their mid to late careers.
Find out more
Get in touch to learn more about retaining and developing your most senior leaders.
Special Advisor
An on-board service that blends observation, coaching and mentoring to drive collective performance.
Why choose the Special Advisor service?
When you’re in the thick of it, it’s difficult to objectively identify the many factors contributing to your situation.
The Special Advisor service is hands-on and in-person. Working with the Captain and the senior management team, this service provides impartial, onboard troubleshooting that listens to and observes the situation at hand.
It considers the facts, challenges conventions, and identifies the root cause, working with your teams to get them back on track.
What will your organisation gain?
The Special Advisor service provides politics-free observation, coaching, mentoring and recommendations to enable meaningful change. This will support your organisation by providing:
Clear thinking - a confidential conduit to call upon when you need it most.
Crisis management - a calming influence, considered counsel and a suite of proven solutions to get you and your team back on your feet.
Orbital advice - equipping you with a framework, systems and processes to counter threats, navigate uncertainty and secure sustainable growth.
“Using an appreciative approach, he quickly grasped the challenges we faced, and by objectively challenging our perceptions enabled us to reframe our thinking. Through his support we were able to swiftly assess our risk while also finding fresh opportunity. I can highly recommend John for his expertise as a Special Advisor who brings real-world experience and delivers sustainable results.”
How does it work?
Onboard and in person I spend between 3 and 5 days shadowing your senior leaders to listen and observe the challenges they are encountering. Combining coaching, mentoring and considered insights I bring the senior leadership team together to secure an aligned perspective and purpose in order to drive collective performance.
Logistics
The Special Advisor service is delivered onboard. I typically spend 3-5 days with the team – from initial observation through to discussion and alignment. The onboard team receive a synopsis of actions which is copied to their shore management office for full transparency.
Find out more
Get in touch to learn more about how I can support onboard performance.
Clients
Having supported partners in the UK, Europe, North America, and MENA our network of clients span the Maritime Sector and beyond. Here are a selection:
