Moderator Job Description

Our goal is to inspire members to help each other grow personally and professionally and make an impact across the span of their careers.

To do this, we curate Councils – a group of 15-20 peers – and convene them both virtually and in-person throughout the year to discuss challenges, trends and career evolution.

Each Council has a Moderator, who is the main point of contact for its members throughout each year.

You can find details below about the role.

If after reviewing the details below you are interested in potentially becoming a Moderator, then book a time to speak to us using our Calendly link.

Council Moderator Role Details

• Kind of job: Flexible, mostly remote work with two in-person trips a year to facilitate the bi-annual council meetings
• Typical profile: Independent consultants or coaches with prior significant operating experience at VP/SVP/GM or CEO level with an Internet company, or with large retail, financial services, media, etc firms
• Core Competencies: See below for the kinds of competencies (EQ, facilitation experience, etc) that moderators bring to the role
• Typical annual hours: ~200 hours a year (see Outcomes below for the details on key work tasks that moderators complete across the year)

Our Moderators are passionate about creating an environment in which their members can give and receive the kind of help that will make them better leaders. They make it their job to know the members of their Council well, and help them get the most out of the CG community. 

Core to the role includes providing an outstanding on-boarding experience, organizing engaging virtual and in-person meetings, and connecting members to the CG community or their personal network who can help them have an impact in their personal and professional lives. 

Our Moderators join and stay with Collaborative Gain because we offer a flexible, part-time, remote work environment that draws on their professional experience, allows them to stay connected to the challenges and trends across companies and contributes to a different kind of professional development for their leaders.

Moderator Job Mission

• Facilitate
  A Moderator runs their Council’s 2 semi-annual in-person meetings and virtual monthly meetings. They work with their Council members to identify the most important topics, define the best way to lead the group through the discussions and ensure an extraordinary experience for everyone.
• Coach
  A Moderator works with each of his/her Council members to identify and communicate what they need help with and to determine the best way to access the peers who will give them that help
• Connect
  A Moderator looks for ways to facilitate network building for their members, making it easy for their members to participate and expand their network across the Councils Community.

Core Competencies

Moderators bring important competencies to this role, including:

• Emotional Intelligence: 
  • Listener: Lets others speak and seeks to understand their viewpoints.
  • Connector: Actively seeks to connect members to one another, building bridges between members by making introductions and encouraging connections that benefit the member.
  • Confidant: Understands that a lot of the personal and professional information shared needs to be kept confidential
• Active Facilitation: 
  • Make it easier for members to connect with each other, to efficiently and effectively communicate their challenges and to share their stories, perspectives and examples in meetings.
  • Have a clear and detailed view of 15-20 members and the breadth of their experience as well as challenges they are facing.
  • Adjust quickly to changing priorities and conditions. Cope effectively with complexity and change.
  • Is able to step in if the conversation goes off the rails and able to challenge members on their thinking when necessary.
• Enthusiasm: 
  • Passion and excitement for work. Can-do attitude.
  • Generates new and innovative approaches to creating connections and facilitating conversations and challenges members to think differently.
  • Asks for Help: One of the most important things we do is teach members the leadership art of asking for help. Our moderators model this behavior themselves and expect them to ask us and each other for help.
• High Standards: 
  • Expects personal performance and team performance to be nothing short of the best.
  • Lives up to verbal and written agreements.
  • Acts without being told what to do. Brings new ideas to the council and to the company.
  • Speaks and writes clearly and articulately without being overly verbose or talkative. Maintains this standard in all forms of written communication, including email. 

Outcomes

Our Moderators have a role across the lifecycle of their member’s experience, including:

I. Onboard new members to their council

• Prospects: Moderators often speak with potential members who are considering joining their Council. During these calls, Moderators: 
  • share details (not names) about which companies their members come from, types of roles they hold and topics the group covers.
  • respond to introduction emails within 24 hours (during normal work week) – if on vacation, this needs to be communicated to CGHQ, an out of office message should be created and a Council Point of Contact identified (i.e. senior Council member).
  • meet with prospects within one week of introduction.
  • responsible for following up with a prospect at least 3 times and if unsuccessful in getting a meeting scheduled, informing the introducer.
  • send a recap email after meeting with a prospect, that outlines highlights from the conversation and next steps and includes introducer.
• New Member Approval: Moderators send a message to their Council when a new member would like to join, this gives the current Council members a chance to raise issues or concerns that may have been overlooked in the process.
• New Members: Moderators meet with each new member for 45-60 minutes to develop a deep understanding of new members and ensuring that they learn about their:
  • membership agreements
  • immediate Council members – who they are, a little bit about their story, potential connections
  • virtual meeting schedule – purpose and dates of upcoming meetings
  • in person meeting schedule – purpose, dates and approach for planning
  • cross-Council connection opportunities – RFH system, Peer Coaching Calls, Small Dinners – detailed in the New Member Orientation (make sure they are signed up for one).

II. Prepare for the 2 in-person meetings

• Communication: Moderators ensure members know when and where meetings will take place, what the plan is for the time together and how to get the most out of the experience.
• Hold 1:1 Calls: Moderators schedule time (Calendly) and meet via video conference (Zoom) with each Council member (even if they can’t attend the actual meeting) for 45-60 minutes to get an expanded understanding of their world and to help them define a few areas/topics/questions where they could benefit from a discussion with their fellow Council members. Further, if the member cannot attend, the moderator helps identify opportunities for virtual or local discussions (facilitated by Collaborative Gain).
• Create Agenda: Create an agenda that reflects the goals and priorities of their Council members. Sent to Council members at least one week before the meetings begin.
• Manage and Track RSVP: Moderators ensure that members RSVP to the meetings, sign up for Cross-Council sessions, and respond to our NPS survey after the meetings.
• Post Meeting Follow Up: Ensure that offers made to share information, connections or to discuss topics in the future are followed up on.

III. Run the 2 in-person meetings

• Council Facilitation: Moderators ensure that Council members are:
  • clear on the plan for their time together (beforehand)
  • aligned with member agreements (confidentiality, balance of voices, no devices, etc.)
  • prepared to lead discussions related to topics they proposed and kick off discussions clearly
  • prepared to share visuals to support any recommendations/advice/guidance given
  • offered creative and different ideas for how to facilitate a discussion
  • focused on the intended topic or challenge
  • engaged and participating in a balanced way
  • asking hard questions, respectfully challenging one another
  • connected enough to one another to be vulnerable
• Plan Council Dinners: Moderators develop a plan for a special dinner to kickoff the Council meetings, including venue and more importantly, how to help members connect during private Council dinners.
• Cross-Council Facilitation: Moderators participate and help to facilitate Cross-Council sessions during our in-person meetings. The nature of facilitation will vary across meetings and sessions.
• Participate: Moderators participate in several meetings with the Collaborative Gain HQ team to stay informed about meeting details, to share input/feedback from their Councils and to help each other to troubleshoot and prepare agendas.

IV. Lead monthly virtual meetings using Zoom

• Communication: Moderators ensure all members know when the virtual meetings will take place, what the plan is for the time together.
• Agenda: Moderators create an agenda that reflects the goals and priorities of their Council members. Sent to Council members at least one week before the meeting.
• Facilitation: Moderators ensure that Council members are:
  • clear on the plan for their time together (beforehand)
  • aligned with member agreements (confidentiality, balance of voices, no devices, etc.)
  • prepared to lead discussions related to topics they proposed and kick off discussions clearly
  • prepared to share visuals to support any recommendations/advice/guidance given
  • offered creative ideas and different for how to facilitate a discussion
  • focused on the intended topic or challenge
  • engaged and participating in a balanced way
  • asking hard questions, respectfully challenging one another
  • connected enough to one another to be vulnerable

V. Help to evolve the craft of Moderating

• Moderators participate in training sessions that focus on moments that matter across the experience of our Council members.
• Moderators share practices they use and that help them successfully connect and engage their Councils as well as manage the meeting.