Magnet Document Spotlight: TL9
For Magnet® Designation, mentoring isn’t just about guiding the next generation of nurses. Magnet focuses on the established nurses who have completed their orientation and are looking to shore up their weaknesses and expand on their strengths. The requirements are embodied in TL9.
As healthcare demands continue to evolve, structured and intentional mentoring relationships between established nurses can be a powerful tool for professional development and improved patient care. Here are our tips to make the most of a mentoring relationship.
- Build a Strong Foundation
A strong mentoring partnership begins with mutual respect and a shared commitment to professional growth. The action should be intentional, whether it’s the nurse seeking a mentor or being asked to serve as one. Early conversations should focus on setting expectations and boundaries, and defining roles to build trust and clarity. These early conversations, if recorded in meeting minutes or email exchanges, work as strong evidence for TL9 examples.
- Establish a Mentoring Plan
Effective mentoring has direction. Together, the mentor and mentee should define one or two achievable goals, such as mastering a clinical skill, improving soft skills, or developing leadership abilities.
- The goal should reflect the mentee’s aspirations and be specific enough to create a mentoring plan.
- The plan should outline the structure of the meetings, preferred communication methods, and a realistic timeline.
A clear plan ensures consistency and helps both parties stay accountable while providing flexibility to adapt as needs evolve. It also provides an easy outline for describing the mentor’s actions and how they helped the mentee reach their goal.
- Meeting 1:1
Regular one-on-one meetings are the heart of a successful mentoring relationship.
- Dedicated check-ins provide space for honest dialogue, reflection, and problem-solving.
- Whether they meet biweekly, monthly, or as needed, consistency builds momentum and deepens the professional connection.
These meetings also establish a documented timeline useful for providing Magnet appraisers with evidence of the mentoring relationship.
Put It All Together in a Successful TL9 Example
To craft a strong TL9 example, focus on three key elements:
- align your story with the criteria,
- clearly describe the mentorship activities,
- and include evidence that brings the mentor’s actions to life.
Think of the mentor as the “main character” in your narrative because their guidance, support, and impact should be front and center.
For TL9, you have five role options for the mentee to center your story around:
- clinical nurse,
- nurse manager,
- assistant vice president (AVP) or nurse director,
- APRN, or
- chief nursing officer (CNO).
We recommend starting by reviewing the Magnet manual definitions for each role to ensure that the nurse featured in your example meets the criteria.
If you’re highlighting an APRN, be sure they have a direct or indirect reporting relationship to the Nursing Department, since this reporting relationship is required for them to be eligible as a “character” in your organization’s Magnet application.
Also, confirm that the featured nurse has completed their orientation. In our experience, mentorship provided to a new nurse during orientation is not considered valid for TL9. To avoid this issue, we suggest featuring a nurse who has been in their role for at least six to nine months.
- Describe Mentorship Activities
The core of a strong TL9 example is showcasing the mentor’s actions (i.e. how they offered feedback, advice, recommendations, encouragement, or other meaningful support throughout the mentoring relationship). A well-written TL9 doesn’t need to be lengthy or overly complex. In fact, highlighting just three distinct mentoring activities, such as mentoring for clinical skills, communication skills, or time management, can be enough. Every mentoring relationship is unique, so the actions will vary, but what’s most important is clarity. For each activity, clearly explain what was being mentored, why it mattered, and how the mentor provided support. This keeps the mentor front and center and makes the story easy to follow.
- Demonstrate the Mentor’s Actions
As with all non-EOs, strong evidence is essential. For the TL9 example, the most compelling supporting evidence highlights the mentor’s active role in guiding the mentee. This is often demonstrated through one-on-one meeting minutes that document attendees, dates, and the content of discussions, especially the mentor’s feedback, advice, recommendations, encouragement, or other forms of support. Alternatively, emails from the mentor conveying similar guidance are also effective. Ultimately, we’re looking to see the mentor in action since they are the “main character” in the story.
- Keep the Focus on the Mentor, Not the Mentee
In a TL9 example, the mentee serves more as the context through which mentorship is illustrated, much like how a patient story is used in patient-specific examples to show the context and structure of care.
A common pitfall in TL9 is providing evidence demonstrating the mentee’s achievements, such as highlighting a degree earned (e.g., BSN completion) as the primary evidence of mentorship. While these outcomes are meaningful, they do not, by themselves, demonstrate how the mentor actively contributed to the mentee’s growth. Instead, effective evidence should show what the mentor did through the advice they gave, the feedback they offered, and the encouragement they provided to support the mentee’s development. Following the BSN completion example, perhaps the mentor provided guidance on effective studying techniques or connected the mentee with exam preparation resources.
By highlighting intentional, structured mentorship and keeping the mentor at the center of the story, you can create strong, evidence-based narratives that align with Magnet expectations and demonstrate meaningful professional development.