Happy New Year to wonderful you!

As we step into 2026, let us all focus on honing our leadership skills with the shared goal of advancing our ability to inspire and lead with integrity.

This year is full of opportunities to strengthen your leadership and professional skills.

Your growth will depend on the guidance you seek and embrace, especially through mentorship.

To kickstart your mentorship journey this year, consider the following quick steps: identify your personal and professional development needs, make a list of potential mentors who align with your aspirations, and join relevant professional groups or platforms where mentors are active.

Taking these initial steps will help you connect with the right mentor and accelerate your growth.

Your journey of learning, leading, and building continues this year.

I stopped making New Year’s resolutions years ago.

They might work for you, but not for me.

Now, I treat New Year’s as a continuation of the previous year.

I celebrate New Year’s, but don’t emphasise fresh starts or lengthy resolutions.

I focus on ongoing growth and just keep moving—one long road!

To set your year on a powerful track, I want to highlight why mentorship is the most important tool you can use for success (this year).

Without mentorship, professionals can miss critical opportunities, including promotions and other career advancement opportunities.

According to a study, 92 per cent of Fortune 500 companies utilise mentorship programs, underscoring their importance for career progression (this should be higher after this year).

Without such guidance, individuals may take up to 4 times as long to reach leadership positions.

Imagine the compounded impact of spending years longer to achieve career goals—time and expertise lost that could have been spent enriching your professional journey.

Mentorship is often overlooked as a crucial part of leadership, especially within Africa and particularly in the healthcare ecosystem.

I’ve witnessed firsthand young healthcare professionals make tremendous professional progress because they had access to mentors who guided them toward opportunities (and possibilities)—many have gone on to become scholars, leaders, innovators, and entrepreneurs!

Most healthcare professionals would be better people if they had accurate mentorship when they were much younger in the profession.

They would have made more mature decissions and would have been in better places in their professional growth, but there was no mentorship, and the few who were privileged to get what I want to call the “crumbs of mentorship”, that is, an unstructured type of mentorship you get by luck from a lecturer or older colleagues who you’re privileged to be close to and who may like you, were the few who were able to make some good decissions that helped them a lot in their professional lives and gave them a big hedge over the rest who didn’t have any access to any kind of mentorship.

When I began as a registered nurse, structured mentorship did not exist.

However, today, there are several recognised programs that provide a clear framework for successful mentorship.

For instance, the nursing mentorship platform created by Prof Prisca Adejumo, Focusing On Young Nurses Initiative, is an excellent mentorship community for nurses seeking to accelerate their professional growth (I attest to this from personal experience).

To join these platforms, start by visiting their official websites or checking their social media pages.

It’s the beginning of the year, and most leadership and mentorship organisations have begun planning for the year.

Many of these programs also offer online informational sessions or webinars, which can guide you through the joining process (keep your eyes and ears open, or join our social circle, we are always on the lookout for fantastic opportunities for you to grow as a leader, innovator, entrepreneur and professional).  

A couple of promising new mentorship platforms are emerging to create systems that mentor and nurture healthcare professionals to grow as leaders (we will share a couple of them with you, too).

Back then, while some guidance came from conferences, reliable mentorship platforms were scarce, so we relied heavily on self-motivation.

Yes, you will make many mistakes when you try to do it all by yourself without a guiding hand, and we did, many of which would have been avoided if we had mentors by our side.

There Are No Unexplored Paths

There’s hardly a path someone has not laboured to journey through. Hardly. In all areas of life.

Most paths you want to take have already been successfully travelled by others. To save time and resources, seek out those who have done what you want to do and learn from their experiences.

Before you proceed further, take a moment for a quick self-assessment: On a scale of 1 to 5, how would you rate the current level of guidance you have in your career?

This introspection will help identify areas where mentorship could significantly enhance your journey.

Once you have rated your current guidance level, use this insight to identify gaps in your mentorship needs. Are there specific areas where you feel unsupported, or skills you want to develop further?

Based on this assessment, set realistic mentorship goals. These could include finding a mentor who specialises in your field of interest, participating in skill-building workshops, or joining mentorship programs that align with your career aspirations.

If you try to do it all by yourself without guidance, the probability of you failing is very high. But if you’ve someone more experienced guiding you, they will be there to support you and help you through because they’ve also been through that same exact tunnel you want to travel, and failing would be much difficult.

Kick out your ego!

Acknowledging the moments when I let my own ego block my path to learning taught me the value of vulnerability. I remember resisting advice from more experienced leaders because I felt I already knew enough. It was only when I admitted my shortcomings that I began to grow genuinely and accept guidance.

A big ego often blocks mentorship. Some feel too accomplished to seek guidance. But in leadership, no one is above learning. Take knowledge from any source that helps you grow. Don’t let pride keep you from learning.

Now, here are five compelling ways mentorship can unlock your potential this year:

Accountability

Your mentor should be your number one accountability partner in those areas where you need mentorship.

Knowing you’ve someone you report to does something incredible to your motivation levels.

That’s why we have education systems that rely so much on memorable experiences.

Recall the time when a single classroom interaction inspired and motivated you to learn more than any textbook ever could.

Such moments are crafted by teachers who instil not just knowledge but also accountability and a passion for learning.

Your mentor is genuinely concerned about your progress. They want to know how well you’re meeting your growth and professional targets and goals.  

Many people simply need accountability systems around them to become successful leaders.

It may just be that this is what’s missing in your life. Someone you’re accountable to. Who can monitor your progress and give real feedback.

Talking about feedback!

Real Feedback

You will do many things that are not good enough, and, you see, no one may be able to tell you, as they may not be in a position to. But a mentor can provide real feedback on important aspects of your life.

Criticism, constructive criticism, sharpens you and makes you labour for the best. Sometimes it may sound or look harsh, but if you embrace it like a leader, you’ll become a better leader.

Most young professionals lack feedback, leaving them without clear guidance for improvement. Mentors offer honest, respectful, and focused feedback that drives growth.

You know where to hit the nail. Where to adjust, what to stop doing, what to do more of, and what to reduce.

Most young people are just on the go! Zooming off and doing all that comes their way the way they want to. Trying this, and trying that. They don’t even know if what they’re doing is the right thing. A mentor cancels the noise and keeps you focused with feedback.

Enlarge Your Network

You tap into your mentor’s network organically, and their network naturally becomes your own without you having to labour to build from scratch.

It takes years to build a solid network, and it’s built on trust, interactions, and friendship.

These are connections and networks you can’t build in six months; some relationships take five years to mature, and others even ten or more.

Your mentor introduces you to strategic relationships in their network. Through mentorship, you benefit from years of established connections, thereby expanding your opportunities without starting from scratch.

I’ve been privileged to have access to certain highly placed professionals and leaders simply because my mentors had already established relationships with them.

Broaden Your Perspective

A mentor carries you into their world and begins to show you things you’ve never seen before. Things you never even knew existed.

Mentors reveal hidden opportunities in your profession that you might never see without their guidance. They help you discover new possibilities.

A good mentor should take you higher and turn your tunnel vision into a landscape view, where you see wider and beyond.

Become A Better Leader

A good mentor will make you a better leader. Mentors are leaders themselves. When anyone comes under their wing, they should be able to pour some of their leadership essence into them.

Your relationship with your mentor is a leadership relationship.

Your mentor is there to guide you in leading yourself. Leading yourself is about becoming a better person, and that’s exactly what your mentor is there for—to make you a better person.

Embrace Mentorship This Year

If you skipped mentorship last year, make it your top priority now. No matter where you are in your career or life, mentorship is crucial for faster, smarter growth. Embrace mentorship this year and accelerate your progress.

Mentorship accelerates your growth and development. It gives you the ability to move faster than you would if you ran with just your own legs.

Take action today: Identify a mentor, reach out, and commit to growing through mentorship this year. When reaching out, start by introducing yourself briefly and expressing genuine interest in their work or achievements.

For example, you could say, ‘Hello [Mentor’s Name], I am [Your Name], currently pursuing a career in [Your Field]. I admire your work in [Specific Area] and would appreciate the opportunity to learn from your experiences. Would you be open to a brief meeting or a chat?’ This approach shows respect and a clear understanding of what you hope to gain from the mentorship.

Embrace the journey and share your mentorship goals—it’s time to invest in your future success!

Do it now before sunset! Yes, that fast! Additionally, encourage sharing your progress with peers or within a mentorship community (this is another tool that can help you significantly when combined with a mentor. More on it later).

Sharing your experiences fosters accountability and motivation, helping you stay committed to your growth.

By discussing your advancements, you can inspire others and even gain new insights into your journey.

Here at Care City Media, our primary goal is to inspire you to do more, to become more and this year, our journey with you continues, and we are doing it bigger and better!

Was last year good? Yes, absolutely! But this year? Will be superb!

If you haven’t joined our community, please do so now!

We’re expanding our editorial focus to include lots more for healthcare professionals and the informed public to learn, grow and become better people.