Running Head: THE IMPORTANCE OF THE 5 RS

The Importance of the 5 Rs When Delegating a Task

LeAnna Ceglia
California State University, Stanislaus

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In todays society, there is the common expression, I have a million things to do and not
enough time to do them. However, some of these tasks, especially in a hospital setting, have
deadlines. So, how do all of these tasks get done in a timely and orderly matter? The concept of
delegating comes to mind. According to Weiss and Tappen (2015), the concept of delegating is
not a new idea. In fact, this idea has been around in the healthcare world for many years, dating
back to Florence Nightingale. So what does it mean to delegate? The American Nurses
Association defines delegation as the reassigning of responsibility for the performance of a job
from one person to another (Weiss & Tappen, 2015, p. 104). Although it is not in a hospital
setting, I will be sharing a personal story of when a task was delegated to me. I will also be
addressing the 5 Rs of delegation as well as the appropriateness and outcome of the situation.
Although I was born in San Jose, California, I grew up and was raised in the country.
When I was three-years-old, my family moved to a small agricultural town called Hollister,
where we could have property and a place to put our horses and other animals. Growing up with
horses, it was evident that by the age of twenty-three I would be an expert on how to feed and
take care of them. In fact, my parents taught my sisters and me how to properly take care of and
feed the animals by ourselves when we were around eight-years-old. When my sisters and I
were in high school, it was our responsibility to take care of the animals before school and do the
night feeding when we got home. However, a couple of weekends ago, I decided to go home
and visit my parents, where my skills seemed to have become obsolete. It was around dinner
time and my mom seemed to be running in multiple different directions. To lessen her workload,
she decided to delegate the task of feeding the animals to me. Before I even left the house, she
was explaining the same routine that I had grown up with. However, to make matters worse, she
decided to follow me down to the barn to make sure I did everything that she had asked. It did

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not help that my mom is a little obsessive-compulsive and had been feeding the animals on her
own for the last few months since my sisters and I had moved away for school. However, I
instantly became frustrated because, for almost fifteen years, these animals were my
responsibility. I could have understood if the routine had changed. However, a simple and quick
explanation would have sufficed rather than making me feel incompetent by shadowing my
every move.
As illustrated by the information above, it is evident that the delegator, my mom, had
provided enough information of how to perform the task needed. However, the tricky part is
evaluating how my mom used the 5 Rs, or the five rights, when it comes to delegating a task.
According to Weiss and Tappen (2015), the five rights of delegating include right task, right
circumstances, right person, right direction/communication, and right supervision/evaluation.
She did properly use the first three rights. Due to my history and experience of feeding the
animals, this addresses both me being the right person as well as me being assigned the right
task. The circumstances were also appropriate since it was time for the animals to be fed and my
mom/delegator had other tasks that only she could do in the household. However, the right
direction/communication and right supervision/evaluation were not appropriately used. For
instance, my mom thoroughly explained every step in the feeding process that I have done for
many years. Also, her supervising is considered to be micromanaging due to the fact that she
personally walked me through every step of the feeding process. Not only was this insulting to
me, but it also still took time away from her other duties.
Unfortunately, in the end, both my mom and I ended up in an argument. I told her that
her supervising me was not necessary. I also mentioned that if she was going to micromanage
me, then she should have done the task herself. My mom, of course, became upset because she

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did not think she was doing anything wrong. This is because this is how she had always
explained things and no one had confronted her before. However, moments later my mom and I
sat down and had a heart-to-heart talk about our disagreement. When I asked my mom why she
felt the need to closely supervise me, she stated that she had fallen into a routine when my sisters
and I had left. With her routine, she stated that she know everything is done and considered done
correctly. According to Schleckser (2014), many people have a hard time delegating tasks
because it wont be done to the same degree of perfection. This type of delegator will wait until
someone else is able to complete the tasks as well as they and thus doom themselves to owning
the task forever (Schleckser, 2014).
Overall, I feel that this was an eye-opening experience that will help me in my nursing
career. Not only did this experience show me what it was like to be micromanaged by an
authoritative figure, but, it also helped me learn and develop a more appropriate way to address
this problem. I do not like that my mom and I argued, however, I did appreciate when we talked
through our issues and came up with a solution. Being able to identify, address and resolve
ineffective delegation is what I plan on adopting and using in the hospital setting if such an
occasion arises.

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5
References

Personal communication. February 20, 2015.

Schleckser, J. (2014). When to delegate? Try the 70 percent rule. Retrieved from
http://www.inc.com/jim-schleckser/the-70-rule-when-to-delegate.html
Weiss S.A., & Tappen R.M. (2015). Essentials of nursing leadership and management.
Delegation and prioritization of client care (pp. 103-119). Philadelphia, PA: F.A Davis
Company.