be helpful way vs be a helpful way

Some examples from the web:

• For example, altering surface nanostructures of hospital building materials so as to make surfaces clean or sterile could be a helpful way to control healthcare-associated infections.
• I'd like to be helpful in any way I can.
• Baby, everything is okay. AJ: You know, if you need me to be helpful in any way...
• Now that President Obama has announced the closure of Guantánamo Bay, we should be helpful in any way we can.
• The impact assessment states in this regard that "a longer maternity leave period could be a helpful way to bridge the time before childcare is available"
• Choosing to adopt the plan perhaps a few weeks earlier, but without the full support of all parties, may not be the most helpful way to achieve the goals we all believe in.
• Biting in lesser assaults like bar fights, child abuse, emergency room personnel may be very helpful that way.
• We agree completely that a pragmatic approach to bad management is the most helpful way.
• Maybe I haven't gone about being there for you in the most helpful way.
• Parliament has supplemented the term 'lack of conformity' in a helpful way.
• Maybe I haven't gone about being there for you in the most helpful way.
• When I was a young man, before my marriage, of course, I found that showing one's stamps was a very helpful way to get a young woman's attention.
• We think for pain and spasticity, a roughly equal balance of THC and CBD is good, because each has their own type of pharmacology, quite separate mechanisms of action, and they interact together in a helpful way.
• Moving in this direction provides us with the freedom to prioritise and with a helpful way of combining a career with family life, thereby establishing the sound, harmonious basis for sharing equality and responsibility between the sexes.
• Helpful in what way, exactly?
• I find - I find kissing a very helpful, sweet way to - to relax.
• The Commission's Communication itself sets out some helpful and detailed ways forward in terms of both goals and initial steps (such as the establishment of a high-level group of government experts on demographic questions).
• To this extent, the letter from the six leaders was neither helpful nor in any way expedient in its timing or its content.
• rapporteur. - Mr President, I should like to thank everyone for the helpful and constructive way that we have conducted this debate today.
• In the case of multi-portion packagings, indication of the number of portions in the package is helpful, as a way of placing the energy indication per portion in context.

Some examples from the web:

• The impact assessment states in this regard that "a longer maternity leave period could be a helpful way to bridge the time before childcare is available"
• For example, altering surface nanostructures of hospital building materials so as to make surfaces clean or sterile could be a helpful way to control healthcare-associated infections.
• Parliament has supplemented the term 'lack of conformity' in a helpful way.
• We agree completely that a pragmatic approach to bad management is the most helpful way.
• We think for pain and spasticity, a roughly equal balance of THC and CBD is good, because each has their own type of pharmacology, quite separate mechanisms of action, and they interact together in a helpful way.
• Moving in this direction provides us with the freedom to prioritise and with a helpful way of combining a career with family life, thereby establishing the sound, harmonious basis for sharing equality and responsibility between the sexes.
• Maybe I haven't gone about being there for you in the most helpful way.
• Maybe I haven't gone about being there for you in the most helpful way.
• When I was a young man, before my marriage, of course, I found that showing one's stamps was a very helpful way to get a young woman's attention.
• Choosing to adopt the plan perhaps a few weeks earlier, but without the full support of all parties, may not be the most helpful way to achieve the goals we all believe in.
• In such a way a European waterway infrastructure development plan can be a helpful instrument in raising awareness and promote investments.
• Biting in lesser assaults like bar fights, child abuse, emergency room personnel may be very helpful that way.
• I'd like to be helpful in any way I can.
• Baby, everything is okay. AJ: You know, if you need me to be helpful in any way...
• Helpful in what way, exactly?
• Now that President Obama has announced the closure of Guantánamo Bay, we should be helpful in any way we can.
• I consider this to be a helpful clarification.
• I find - I find kissing a very helpful, sweet way to - to relax.
• The Commission's Communication itself sets out some helpful and detailed ways forward in terms of both goals and initial steps (such as the establishment of a high-level group of government experts on demographic questions).
• Be a helpful fellow and I shan't fling them all in the syphilitic asylum.