Be The Helper or Help The Helper
Last weekend my son, who is 10, came out to me to help with an event set up that we were doing. For those of you who don’t know, we own a business, The Event Guys, that serves small events such as weddings, backyard parties, and corporate events.
Over the last year or so, I’ve been less and less involved with the labor side of the business, but this weekend we were shorthanded, so me and Harper were on site to help with set up.
Harper is a really great kid and a hard worker. And he is also 10 years old, and it was both raining and freezing during set up. Further, while he has helped here and there before, he doesn’t inherently know what to do throughout set up to truly help in a continuous fashion, without being told what to do.
So I was constantly either telling him exactly what to do in order to help, telling him to find something to do to help, or telling him who to check in with to see if they needed help.
Essentially, the message was:
Help. Or, help the person helping.
Help the helper comes from all over the place. Certainly not an original thought of mine. It’s a term we used when I was coaching basketball. It’s a term I believe I heard at Chick-fil-A when I was working there. And I’m sure it’s been used in other settings.
This is a good encouragement for us.
#1) When you can, be the helper.
Don’t sit around and wait for someone to tell you what to do, how to help, or what the need is. When you can determine this for yourself, just help. Usually (though not always) we need far less permission than we are waiting for in order to simply help.
#2) When you can’t (or won’t), then help the helper.
Sometimes we may be uncertain, unclear, or unskilled. In those instances, I’d still encourage us to stop with the standing and waiting and get on with the helping. This time, we just find the guy or gal who is doing the helping, and we go and support them.
I’ve written about a similar concept before. We might like to be a leader and it might sound nice to encourage our kids, employees, or players to be leaders. And, it’s okay to be a follower of good things.
When you can help, help.
When you can’t, help the helper.
I’m pulling for you,
Bryan
I write encouragement on leadership, business, and personal development.
I help small business leaders lead, grow, and build in a way that is aligned with their values and sustainable.
You can learn more about me and check out my business coaching services at www.efournine.com.
