Help should increase capacity whenever possible.

The best help leaves the person more able than it found them, whether that is through a skill learned, a contact shared, or simply the confidence of having got through it with support. Help that quietly makes someone more dependent has solved the immediate problem and created a slower one.

When you step in for someone, ask what they will be able to do afterwards that they could not before. Sometimes the answer is nothing and that is right, because the moment calls for relief rather than teaching. But make it a choice you noticed rather than a default.