The Role of Mentorship in Enhancing Nursing Leadership Competencies

Mentorship has become an increasingly important strategy for developing nursing leadership within complex health care environments. This narrative review synthesizes contemporary literature examining how mentorship is conceptualized in nursing and how it supports leadership development and organizational sustainability. Findings indicate that mentorship is a sustained, relational, and developmental process that strengthens leadership competencies, including self-efficacy, decision-making, and leadership readiness. Evidence further demonstrates that mentorship-based leadership development contributes to leadership continuity, succession planning, workforce stability, and retention. Nurse leaders and health care organizations should integrate structured mentorship programs into leadership development initiatives to sustain leadership capacity, strengthen succession planning, and ensure continuity in nursing leadership.