Mentoring in Nursing - Springer Publishing

1: mentoring: the evolvement of a network of mentors 5
her or him, for example, from difficult nurses who, purposefully or
by accident, can damage their colleagues; the variable “sharks” in the
profession or organization. Who hasn’t known a shark in the nursing
profession? How many times have nurses been accused of not assisting
the new and young nurses entering the profession?
Contemporary literature such as The Lion King with Zazu, Karate Kid
with Daniel, and Star Wars with Yoda also reflect mentor and mentee
characters and portray stories we can all relate to in our pasts.
Equally so, each of these relationships involved more than pedagogy,
as in teaching a skill or preparing someone for a position. It involved a
caring and genuine fondness or friendship between mentor and mentee.
Of course, it is also important that ethical principles are followed
when determining who would best mentor whom and which mentee
would benefit the most from whom (Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-
Flanagan, 2007).
People enjoy hearing about how someone has succeeded and tend to
be proud of how their influence, no matter how small, may have helped
in this effort. Zachary (2009), in her work at Leadership Development
Services, identified that Gen-Xers and Gen-Yers crave mentoring by
way of several attitudes: what they derive from being mentored and
connected is what makes the difference in whether they are chosen
for a promotion or not, and being mentored and connected is what
helps them gain the courage to make that innovative change they have
always dreamed about. The truth of this is exemplified in the nursing
profession, in which many of today’s successful nurse leaders have
their educational roots in a diploma or associate degree program but
have progressed through doctoral studies. Many times, their promotions
have been a direct result of the connections made in their academics;
connections that have allowed them to move up their career
ladder in service or higher education settings. It seems that these connections
among nurses and other health care providers, begun in the
early stages of one’s profession, are what make certain individuals
more successful than others.
In 2001, with over 30 years of work behind her, Murray developed
the Facilitated Mentoring Model, which defines mentoring as a process
of assigning a more skilled with a less skilled person with one clear
goal: increasing the mentee’s skill set. Being skill focused, this almost
sounds like precepting. However, the model has evolved to reflect that
learning and growth, not just skill development, occur with these individuals.
Murray goes on to discuss concepts such as total quality, selfmanaged
work teams, and facilitated mentoring, and asks people in
business to be more open to networking with others—with the idea