Regional and Sub-Regional Seeker Response Coordinators are responsible for a region or sub-area of a region of the continental United States as defined by the National Spiritual Assembly.
The goal is to ensure inquirers are reached out to within 24 -48 hours of their first contact (the sooner the better) and to accompany anyone asked to respond to an inquirer Teaching Teams, Area Teaching Committes, Local Spiritual Assemblies, or others) to ensure that the seekers are addressed in a timely fashion.
The Regional Seeker Response Coordinator accompanies an entire Region and is appointed by the Regional Baha'i Council.
Regional Coordinators:
Check their bahai.info role email daily for notifications of seekers and registrants and correspondence from the national Inquiry Services team or others.
Check the Inquiry Management System at least daily to see that all seekers and registrants are being attended to within hours of their initial contact, following up as necessary with Sub-Regional Coordinators, and sharing seeker contact information with Area Teaching Committees, teaching teams, Local Spiritual Assemblies, or Auxiliary Board members or assistants.
Respond to seekers according to the plan in their region
Log their follow-up in Interactions, find out from any Baha’i they share a seeker with what happened and log it.
Accompanies Local Spiritual Assemblies to ensure that outreach to registrants/declarants occurs within 24 hours, that their registration to become enrolled is addressed through a verification conversation, or series of conversations, in a timely fashion, and that Assemblies are assisted to accept the pending registrations in eMembership2. If no Assembly is available in locality, Regional coordinators can complete the enrollment electronically.
Arrange back-up when they will be unavailable by using the "Coverage" feature in the Inquiry Management System.
'Cover' for any Sub-Regional or Cluster Coordinator who is ill, traveling, or unable to do fulfill the service until such time that the situation is remedied. (Use the Coverage feature in IMS to set that up)
Build close working relationships and stays in regular communication with Sub-Regional and Cluster coordinators for the purpose of reflecting together and training for seeker response. Also ensures that updates about the seeker’s journey are entered as "Interactions" on the seeker records, and that the data reflects the reality in regard to teaching efforts.
Develops a working relationship with the Regional Baha’i Council through its Seeker Response liaison to build unity of thought and action in the regional seeker response scheme through regular training and reflection spaces hosted (virtually or in person) by the Council.
Assists the Council to identify members whose qualities and capacity are appropriate to serve in the Sub-Regional and Cluster roles when there are current vacancies or the need to appoint new roles.
Develops a close relationship with the Council to provide updates and insights about seeker response in the region.
Attends Inter-Institutional meetings.
Seeks to establish regular communication and good relationships with Baha'i institutions and other collaborators in the region such as the Area Teaching Committees, Local Spiritual Assemblies, and Auxiliary Board members.
Considerations from the National Spiritual Assembly 2022 Nov. 15 Letter to Councils (-link)
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Sub-Regional Seeker Response Coordinators are responsible for a particular area/state in the region,
and are appointed by the Regional Councils.
Sub-Regional service includes:
Doing all or most of what is described above, and working with the Regional Coordinator and Council liaison.
The focus of the subregional coordinator is the area/state to which they are appointed.
These coordinators would be involved in all meetings and duties associated with training and reflection spaces at all levels of seeker response as decided by the Council.
Sub-regional coordinators cover the Inquiry Management System for any Cluster Coordinator who is unable to fulfill the service or where there is no Cluster Coordinator.
This role requires actively building a shared knowledge base of response resources, and creating working relationships through regular contact with all resources in their purview. This includes Baha'i institutions, teaching teams, and individual responders within their area/state.
Sub-Regional Seeker Response Coordinators endeavor to build unity at this level of seeker response in the area/state they work with. One way they do this by planning and hosting regular meetings with cluster seeker response coordinators, and local teaching team resources.
Considerations when identifying a regional/subregional seeker response coordinator
Enthusiasm to teach
Gender, age, race/ethnicity, personality, religious background
Engagement in the Institute process
Friendliness
Ability to accompany others with assertiveness, patience and love