Rescuing or Resourcing?

Back when I was a young teenager living with my cousin in law, a Senior Marine

stationed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, I remember training to become a lifeguard. The

training was both exciting and rigorous with several tests required along the way. I

successfully progressed to the day we performed the “in water rescue” of a flailing

drowning person. The goal was to swim up underneath and behind the person, secure

them in our right or left arm and sidestroke to get to the shallow waters where they

could stand.

The purpose of this scenario is to approach the drowning person without letting

them grab you and pull you under as they fight to stay afloat. Not as easy as it sounds.

It took careful precision and effort within a limited time limit to successfully pass this test.

Not only did I pass, but I also gained a valuable insight that has served me well

regarding leadership, and that is this, leaders are not rescuers, they are leaders, leading

and resourcing their team or organization to a realized vision through a combination of

mission successes.

Do leaders rescue people or practice, when necessary, given certain

circumstances and time constraints? Yes, they do, but they should not make a habit of

it. The more time a leader spends rescuing, the less time they spend leading. If rescuing

is a common practice, then there is a problem with leadership. Leaders set programs,

processes, and practices—lifeguarding for example—In place to resource their people

and mitigate the need for rescue.

Some would argue, “if a leader isn’t rescuing, they are not caring,” to which I

reply, “it isn’t that they don’t care, it is that they are being careless.” A caring leader

does not bail water from the boat unless it is the last and only option, she provides

buckets for her people to bail and oars for her people to use as she works to navigate

through the storm to a more peaceful setting that enhances the ability to sail toward

vision realization; these are the actions of a caring leader.

To lead authentically is to show you genuinely “care” by:

 - charting and clarifying the course regularly,

 - advancing the people, team, and organization always,

 - remembering that friends or managers rescue, leaders resource,

 - excavating and extracting both people and organizational potential.