CASE STUDY
Advocate Aurora Health
“I can’t think of a better way to start a mentoring network”
Advocate Aurora Health, part of the Advocate Health family, is a leading non-profit organization in the Midwest, employing more than 75,000 individuals, including more than 22,000 nurses. One of their key areas of focus is building a next-generation workforce. As their website states: We’re investing in our diverse teams and in our communities by creating jobs, enabling career advancement, and ensuring innovative training for future clinicians.
Jennifer Pecor, Learning Program Manager at Advocate Aurora Health, is the administrator and champion for mentoring at the organization. She is responsible for developing, executing, and sustaining the mentoring and assessment strategies and methodologies for Advocate Aurora Health. “We are very blessed that we have a lot of engagement and a lot of excitement and energy around developing people,” said Jennifer.
She is motivated to help others see their potential and gain courage in using their strengths for personal and professional growth. “Our program started because we have a culture of wanting to grow people, so it was a natural progression to start mentoring,” said Jennifer.
Our program started because we have a culture of wanting to grow people, so it was a natural progression to start mentoring.
Learning Program Manager
at Advocate Aurora Health
Nurturing Nursing Excellence
Advocate Aurora Health supports multiple mentoring programs as part of their strategy. These programs focus on different audiences and goals, such as onboarding clinical leaders, developing underrepresented leaders, providing professional development, and supporting DEI efforts.
One program near and dear to Jennifer’s heart is the NAVIGATE Mentoring Program.
“We’re really proud that the Navigate program has done some amazing things. Adding that mentoring component has really helped with that goal of retaining folks and also being able to promote folks,” said Jennifer.
NAVIGATE Mentoring Program Results:
900
community residents have participated
4,578
Mentoring Hours
50%
of community participants have secured employment in healthcare
84%
of mentees identify as people of color
- Mentees are community members who want to pursue a career in healthcare
- Mentors are Advocate Aurora Health employees
Magnet Status
Another aspect of Advocate Aurora Health’s mentoring strategy connects to their pursuit of Magnet Recognition. “Magnet status is a very elite designation that you can get [in healthcare] and it takes a lot of rigor. One of the pieces that Magnet has put into place is to have mentoring within your organization,” explained Jennifer.
Several mentoring programs directly support their successful attainment of Magnet status, including the Professional Nurse Mentoring Program and the Clinical Leader Onboarding Program.
The Magnet Recognition Program designates organizations worldwide where nursing leaders successfully align their nursing strategic goals to improve the organization’s patient outcomes. The Magnet Recognition Program provides a roadmap to nursing excellence, which benefits the whole of an organization.
Professional Nurse Mentoring Program Results:
2019
Started In
2,020
Mentoring Hours
4.5
RELATIONSHIP SATISFACTION FOR MENTORS
4.8
RELATIONSHIP SATISFACTION FOR MENTEES
Clinical Leader Onboarding Program Results:
2020
Started In
3,295
Mentoring Hours
4.5
RELATIONSHIP SATISFACTION FOR MENTORS
4.7
RELATIONSHIP SATISFACTION FOR MENTEES
I love when people come up to me and tell me how mentoring has impacted their life, whether they’re the mentor or the mentee.
“Clinicians are used to some sort of mentoring throughout their schooling, they’re used to having preceptors. They’re used to having some clinical folks leading them and guiding them. So mentoring was a natural progression for those folks participating in the program.”
Having mentoring programs like these in place helped Advocate Aurora Health obtain Magnet status and allows them to stand as an elite healthcare provider and employer.
“I love when people come up to me and tell me how mentoring has impacted their life, whether they’re the mentor or the mentee,” said Jennifer.
One new leader who was a mentee told Jennifer that she had felt like she was in an ocean and her mentor was her lifeboat. “She said: ‘Not my life vest, but my lifeboat. I would not have been successful in my leadership role without my mentor.’ It made me feel really excited that this program’s working,” said Jennifer.
Not my life vest, but my lifeboat. I would not have been successful in my leadership role without my mentor.
