Delphine Joubert
My style and sources of inspiration
I am a coach who listens with empathy and can sometimes ask challenging questions. I can reassure and encourage, while also inviting people to explore contradictions and less visible aspects of their thinking. Because in my view, tact can also go hand in hand with rigour.
My approach draws on several influences:
- My business & corporate experience:I spent many years working in marketing within both an SME and a multinational company. During that time, I conducted thousands of hours of interviews to understand the needs, expectations and reasoning of consumers, helping major organisations make informed strategic decisions.
- The systemic approach,which makes it possible to develop adaptive or breakthrough strategies that help people within organisations — particularly those who resist change — adjust to new contexts and achieve their objectives.
- Improvisational theatre, which is especially useful for role-play situations (job interviews, performance reviews, difficult conversations, etc.).
- An international cultural mindset.
- Psychoanalysis, which has shown me just how much the coach themselves is their primary instrument.
As a coach, I feel comfortable working on the side of creativity. Typological tools speak to me less, as it is difficult to resist the temptation to place people into categories. Instead, I offer the people I work with tools that give them an active role in the process, such as photolanguage.
I work in the here and now of situations of change. For example, I might support a client in developing the leadership stance required by an organisation undergoing transformation. But I would not claim to answer broader questions such as “how to be a leader” or “how to change an organisation”.
Put differently, I create the conditions that allow each person to develop new skills and behaviours suited to their current needs and their unique circumstances. In practice, this might mean adapting to a new corporate culture, a new organisational structure, or a new role. This often requires rebuilding confidence and allowing oneself time. When we have to unlearn something before learning again, there are inevitably moments of imbalance and a gap between what we already know and our professional effectiveness. That is why, at a professional turning point, it becomes essential to understand one’s aspirations, fears and resistances — and to use them to define an appropriate strategy and coaching framework.
My executive coaching certifications and accreditations
I have completed two training programmes in individual and team coaching, representing around 250 hours of training in total. Each year, I continue to dedicate time to further developing my practice and coaching posture.
My expertise is now formally recognised in France through the RNCP certification (Répertoire national des certifications professionnelles) and internationally through ICF certification (International Coaching Federation).
Since launching my practice, I have also chosen to work under the supervision of a pair of psychosociologist coaches, through regular collective supervision days.
How I became an executive coach
In 2018, I took an exciting turn by moving into executive coaching.
My transition into coaching — along with the many changes I had previously experienced (changing roles, companies and countries) — led me to want to support individuals and teams at professional turning points, particularly when they are facing questions of adaptation and development.
I began my professional life in marketing research in 2004, working as a qualitative consultant in a small consultancy of around fifty people. What are “qualitative studies” for? They help uncover people’s needs and expectations, what motivates or frustrates them, and why they make the choices they do. During those early years, I learned that questions are only meaningful if they are asked of the right people. And that asking the right question — much like delivering a good joke — is also a matter of timing: ask it too early or too late in a conversation, and it simply falls flat.
Later, I joined Kantar TNS, a multinational organisation with tens of thousands of employees worldwide, as a Client Director, continuing to build on my expertise in qualitative research. Working between Paris and London, my professional environment became increasingly multicultural, with international teams and global projects for major companies. Over the years, as a manager, I worked with progressively more senior teams and became increasingly involved in supporting and advising colleagues on their professional development and career progression.
