Nurses are frequently asked to be a mentor or preceptor throughout their careers. Both roles are essential to professional development and advancing the nursing profession. It is important to distinguish between the two terms, as well as their roles, responsibilities, and professional implications. The American Nurses Association of Massachusetts' website defines mentoring as a broad formal or informal caring role that can encompass both personal and career guidance. Mentoring may involve an ongoing relationship. By contrast, precepting is a short-term responsibility specific to a role and work environment through which training is provided and skills are evaluated. These roles may overlap—a nurse preceptor may also form a mentoring relationship with the preceptee—but one does not require the other. Having a strong mentor can create opportunities and elevate careers, but how do we seek these mentors, and how do we become them?

With a national shortage of RNs and record levels of burnout, nursing is facing difficult challenges. There is a critical need for formal and informal mentors. Mentors may be found in both clinical and academic settings. Characteristics of a strong mentor highlighted in the literature include clear communication; mutual respect; constructive feedback; using their position to promote the mentee; encouraging the mentee in new opportunities; and being approachable, supportive, and enthusiastic. Although individuals and mentor–mentee relationships will vary, these common attributes contribute to positivity and success.

Equally important as seeking positive mentoring is avoiding negative mentoring. There is always someone in a group of nurses with a story about an adverse mentoring experience. Negative mentors may have received poor mentoring themselves and believe they are rightfully putting the next generation through the same struggles. Incivility between a mentor and mentee can even cross into bullying. Students or those with mentors in power positions may feel trapped in adverse mentor relationships. Signs of a negative mentor include poor communication, failure to stick to commitments, using relationships for personal gain, and lack of acknowledgment of the mentee's hard work. Too frequently, this negative experience is recognized in hindsight.

Constructive conversations that focus on actionable guidance and encouragement are essential. Both mentors and mentees are responsible for following through on commitments and agreed upon relationship expectations. A negative mentor can be damaging to both the emotional health and career of a mentee and removal from the relationship may sometimes be necessary. Mentoring is a two-way street, and mutual agreement on expectations is paramount. Despite the imbalance of power, both sides are equally important. The mentoring relationship can have an immense impact on the student/mentee's career and success.

As professionals, and according to the American Nurses Association's Code of Ethics, it is a nurse's responsibility to participate in professional development and maintain practice environments that support nursing. Thus, nurses in all roles and career stages should be honing their mentoring skills and looking for opportunities to promote promising nurses in early or later career stages. Positive mentoring relationships have been shown to reduce burnout, promote a positive culture, foster professional development, and advance the profession of nursing. Yet there is a need for more expansive work on the positive impact mentoring can have on health care outcomes and workforce challenges. Multiple nursing organizations provide resources for mentoring.

The future of our profession lies with those willing to make the effort to promote the work and address the challenges of nurses. While there is a need for future work to investigate the implications of positive mentor–mentee relationships on workforce challenges and professional development across the career trajectory, no research is needed to support the idea of helping one another. By doing so, we can promote the community of nurses at large. Acknowledging the history of adverse mentoring in academic and clinical arenas is the first step to changing culture. Each of us can commit to doing one helpful action for another nurse, whether it is inviting them to a conference, offering research or writing support, modeling self-care, or encouraging scholarship. The Reverend Jesse Jackson is quoted as saying, “Never look down on someone unless you're helping them up.” Let that be a call to us to look for opportunities to provide positive mentoring and to uphold the positive mentor as the expectation and standard in the nursing profession.