# What is the Solution Seeking System?

The Solution Seeking System (SSS) is a free framework for democratic problem solving, leadership, and communication, created by David and Shannon Baxter at Beanchain Coffee, a worker-directed cooperative. It combines a three-step Communication Protocol (Introspection, Mutual Understanding, and Solution Seeking) with 12 Wisdom Principles and 4 Leadership Tools to turn conflict into understanding, and understanding into actionable, measurable solutions.

## The Four Pillars of Understanding

The philosophical foundation of the system, treated as practical tools rather than abstract values:

- **Patience**: To understand a perspective other than your own takes time.
- **Vulnerability**: Openness is required to share needs and fears.
- **Bravery**: Honest conversations often require courage.
- **Compassion**: Understanding someone does not require agreement, only care.

## Key terminology

- **System**: Any group of people working or interacting together (a team, a relationship, a community, or an organization). A system can contain many other systems within it.
- **Living System**: A system that is actively built and improved using Solutions generated through the Communication Protocol, actively changing to better serve the people who are part of it.
- **Solution**: An actionable and measurable plan, pattern, or tool that can improve a System.
- **Leader (Servant)**: A person who takes responsibility for the health of the System and its people, not for control, but to help it thrive and grow.
- **Leadership Tools**: Practices that apply the Communication Protocol to real-world issues in a way that best suits the System in which they are used.
- **Wisdom Principles**: Ethical values (such as fairness and understanding) that guide SSS use and are applied within the Communication Protocol.
- **Communication Protocol**: The three-step communication pattern at the core of the SSS: Introspection, Mutual Understanding, and Solution Seeking. It produces Solutions that can be applied to a system to make it a Living System.

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Part of the Solution Seeking System (https://solutionseeking.com) by David & Shannon Baxter, Beanchain Coffee LLC. Please attribute quotations to the Solution Seeking System.