Drawing on the 50 years’ experience housed in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, the Nursing Leadership Mentoring Program has been successfully connecting students and early graduates with established healthcare leaders (preferably Flinders alumni) since 2023.
The purpose of the program is to facilitate mutually beneficial mentoring relationships that provide high achievers an opportunity to connect with an established healthcare leader to develop their skills for the future. Mentors are provided an opportunity to enhance the mentee’s confidence and knowledge, while developing their own leadership skills. While in turn, the mentees benefit from the support and advice of an experienced nurse leader to aid them in becoming highly effective healthcare leaders.
BENEFITS
Mentoring in nursing can be hugely rewarding for both mentors and mentees. The collaborative confidential relationship gives mentors the opportunity to give back to their profession and support leadership development. On the flipside, mentees gain knowledge, become empowered, build confidence, and develop skills to become leaders in their profession.
Mentors benefit from:
• Exposure to fresh perspectives, ideas and approaches
• The opportunity to reflect on one’s own goals and practices
• The chance to practice their interpersonal skills
• Personal satisfaction through supporting the development of others
Mentees benefit from:
• Access to a senior role model, with a peer relationship that is separate from your workplace to guide and support your career development.
• Being encouraged and empowered in personal development.
• Developing purposeful self-reflection skills to identify leadership aspirations.
• Advancing communication and networking skills.
“My mentor really helped me to examine the many ways in which leadership skills can be applied to both my everyday practice and in the achievement of my personal leadership goals. Suffice to say; participation in the program has far exceeded my expectations and has given me the momentum to develop a plan of how to best achieve my leadership goals going into the future.”
NURSING LEADERSHIP MENTEE PARTICIPANT
Learn more about the program here.