Justice v Management

Harking back to my university years, and my long forgotten law degree (but not yet long forgotten enough that I've stopped mentioning it), one of the few things that I still plainly recall is being taught the phrase and principle:

"Justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done." - Lord Hewart, 1924, Rex v Sussex Justices

(The case was about a clerk who did nothing wrong, but whose presence created the appearance of impropriety)

However, in management, I think it's actually fair to say the opposite risk exists - being seen to be helpful, at the expense of actually being useful.

Let me set the scene: You're the commander of a Fire Rescue Crew, and your team has been called out to attend a raging blaze. Your team are struggling to combat the flames, and you notice a spare pump. Do you pick up the pump and start attempting to douse the flames with your crew, because you know it LOOKS like you're getting the hard work done. Or, do you resist the urge to be a 'hero' and continue to control and advise the team, providing the strategic insight that you have as commander, to help the team from a distance...

I think you know where I'm going to go with this...

Hopefully you have picked up on my not so subtle hinting that the second option is quite clearly the correct answer. The Commander is leading the team specifically because he has the expertise to lead, and if he abandons post when all havoc is breaking loose, who is left to lead and control the situation?

The same applies in management, especially middle management where you are that much closer to the ground, have access to the tools (even if the skills are starting to rust over) to assist; and have the pressure of knowing your staff are doing serious fire-fighting.

But, this is the time when you have to be strong and remember why you're not a 'doer'. Management roles primarily involve work that is long-tailed, you may not be able to help with that incident, or that influx of tickets, but hopefully the work you do ensures that that influx of tickets is more easily handled due to strategic changes you have made and enabled.

Now, I'd like to say that this is never a quandary I've struggled with... But I also don't want to be a liar. So, what should you do when tickets are raining all around you?
Well, it's important to look at what you should or would be doing, if chaos wasn't breaking out all around you: Do you have important work that will benefit the team in the long run, that needs to be completed? Can you take stock of the situation and try to come up with an out of the box method of managing the impact the current situation is having on the team?

If there is genuinely nothing important that needs doing, then by all means help out where you can. But the likelihood is, there is something higher impact that could be done, it's just a case of navigating the discomfort of not looking helpful, while you're actually being useful.