The Rescue Prompt
Hey Reader
A couple of weeks ago, I was observing a rescue exercise when I noticed a team starting down the wrong path. Since this was a training session, I decided to watch for a few minutes to see what happened.
The problematic part for the team is that their path wasn’t obviously wrong, but it was off enough. One small decision led to the next, and before long, they'd stacked up several mistakes, each one making the next harder to undo.
It's something I've seen many times. And it almost never starts with a bad team. It starts with a bad prompt.
I think of it like the AI world: garbage in, garbage out. The quality of the result depends on the quality of the starting point. In a rescue, that starting point is how the team leader reads the scene and sets the direction. Get that first move right, and everything flows. Get it wrong, and you're trying to correct the course while the current's already carrying you downstream.
Before you know it, things go from under control to pear-shaped real fast. Something changes. Something's different from what you expected. And suddenly the scene is loud. People moving, radios going, multiple problems competing for your attention. Chaos.
One strategy I keep coming back to in these moments is simple:
When I’m in a chaotic situation, and I can't see an obvious way forward, I ask myself —
'Is there anything I can do to reduce the noise right now?'
Can I address one distracting element quickly to clear the picture?
- Sometimes it's repositioning a team member.
- Sometimes it's pausing radio traffic for ten seconds.
- Sometimes it's just broadening my focus to what's happening in the scene.
And then it comes… the "I see it" moment. The path forward was always there, just buried under the noise.
That one prompt—reduce the noise—has pulled me through more chaotic scenes than I can count. And it's just one of the many Rescue Prompts I use: simple, field-tested starting points that help you read a scene, set direction, and keep your team moving when the pressure's on.
If you would like to know more, reply to this email with the words:
RESCUE PROMPT.
Because before things go pear-shaped, it helps to have a place to start.
Grant “don’t go that way” Prattley.
