Developing our future leaders: the role of a global mentoring programme

摘要

Mentorship has long been valued by the nursing profession as an approach to supporting students to achieve their potential in practice (Thomson et al, 2017). Even more importantly, mentorship has a key role in supporting qualified nurses to realise their potential and give them the confidence to grow, particularly in their leadership. In Canada, Stubbs et al (2016) recognised this in the medical educator role, particularly in their professional portfolio as clinician, educator, leader and scholar—a portfolio quite similar to that of the qualified nurse. In their review of the research on medical academic mentorship, Straus and Sackett (2014) found that those who have been mentored reported greater career satisfaction, are more productive, are promoted more quickly and are more likely to stay at their institutions. My own experience reinforces the importance of the mentoring role as one of empowerment, offering the individual support to create opportunities for excellence and growth in their leadership.