How to Build a Culture That Makes Nurses Stay

PerfectServe’s sixth annual Nurses of Note awards program honors exceptional nurses who demonstrate outstanding dedication and devotion to their field. Chosen from a large pool of nominees, these individuals regularly go above and beyond the call of duty, making a meaningful impact on their patients, colleagues, and communities every day.

This year, grand prize winners were chosen in four categories, with a specific focus on recognizing nurse leaders. These are their stories.

The Area Chief Nursing Officer (Johnson City, TN) – Lynn Langan, Culture & Retention Award

For more than three decades, Lynn Langan has dedicated her career to nursing, serving patients in emergency departments, operating rooms, rehabilitation hospitals, and leadership roles. Today, as Area Chief Nursing Officer for Encompass Health's Quillen Rehabilitation Hospital and Bristol Rehabilitation Hospital, she oversees nursing operations, respiratory care, dialysis services, infection prevention, wound care, and more.

But ask Lynn what matters most about leadership, and you won't hear her talk first about operations or metrics. You'll hear her talk about people.

"I think that's a key factor for turnover," Lynn said. "Not having the trust of your team and the trust of the leadership team. I think that causes turnover."

That philosophy has helped Lynn build and sustain the kind of workplace culture that earned her the 2026 Nurses of Note Culture & Retention Award.

A Career That Culminated in Leadership

When Lynn graduated from nursing school in 1990, she expected her path to look very different. She spent 10 years in emergency nursing and several more in the operating room. At one point, she planned to become a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, but life had other plans.

A temporary opportunity in rehabilitation nursing introduced her to a specialty she knew very little about. The role gradually evolved into a leadership journey that would shape the next chapter of her career.

"About a year later they asked me to move into the nurse manager role," she said. "It was still just ‘temporary,’ and here I am."

Today, Lynn not only leads teams within her own hospitals but also helps onboard and mentor new chief nursing officers throughout the organization, guiding other nurse leaders as they transition into critical management roles.

Many of those leaders are stepping into positions where they suddenly supervise former peers. Lynn helps them learn how to navigate those relationships while building credibility, empowering teams, and balancing the clinical and business sides of healthcare.

"It's trying to help them transition from that role into what's expected of them, and to not be a boss, but to actually be a leader,” Lynn said.

Why Culture Matters More Than Ever

Healthcare continues to face staffing challenges years after the pandemic. While compensation and workload remain important factors, Lynn believes culture often determines whether nurses stay or leave.

"We've talked with several people that we have hired over the past five years," she said. "That was one of the big reasons that they had left and why they had come to us. They were like, 'We've heard good things and you guys don't have a lot of turnover.'"

For Lynn, retention isn't built through one-time initiatives. It comes from creating trust every day through communication, visibility, and consistency, a commitment that became especially important during the pandemic.

"There was so much uncertainty," Lynn recalled. "The nurses didn't know who to turn to."

At a time when teams faced shortages, changing guidance, and concerns for their own safety, she focused on one message: leadership and frontline staff were facing the challenge together.

"You had to make sure that the team knew that you had their interests in mind and that we were all in it together,” she said.

Creating an Environment Where Nurses Can Thrive

One of Lynn's defining leadership traits is her commitment to transparency.

"I'm brutally honest about stuff," she said. "They know if I tell you something, to the best of my knowledge, that is the truth."

While honesty may not always make difficult conversations easier, Lynn believes it establishes the trust necessary for a healthy workplace culture.

It also extends to how her teams approach mistakes. Rather than creating fear around errors, she works to create psychological safety so nurses feel comfortable speaking up, learning, and improving.

"It's okay to make a mistake,” she said. “Don't hide your mistakes. Bring them up to the front because it could be something that we don't know, and everybody learns from."

It's a philosophy rooted in lessons she learned early in her own career from mentors who modeled accountability, professionalism, and integrity.

The Small Things Make a Big Difference

Building culture also requires paying attention to the everyday experiences of employees. Whether it's surprise snack carts, popcorn, pizza, or leadership members stepping onto the floor so nurses can take uninterrupted lunch breaks, Lynn believes small gestures often have an outsized impact.

During Rehabilitation Week, the leadership team covered the floor so staff members could step away together for lunch.

"It didn't sound like a lot," she said, "but it means a lot to the team." Moments like those help strengthen camaraderie and remind nurses that their contributions are valued.

Equally important is recognizing that every employee is different. Leading a workforce made up of multiple generations requires understanding that people are motivated and recognized in different ways.

"Everybody's got a different agenda," Lynn said. "They've got different ways of [wanting to be] recognized."

Rather than seeing those differences as obstacles, she sees them as opportunities for learning and collaboration.

"The younger generation is so tech savvy," she said. "We've got people who like to show and work and teach each other things. It's been a good mix and beneficial for all of us."

A Calling Built on Making a Difference

After more than 35 years in nursing, Lynn still returns to the same reason she entered the profession: making a difference. That mantra is the advice she’d give to a brand-new nurse today.  

"It's a calling," she said. "You're going to have bad days and good, but you're in it because you're supposed to be."

The impact nurses have extends far beyond treatments and procedures. They shape the experience patients and families remember long after they leave the hospital.

"We have the biggest opportunity to make an impact," Lynn said. "Whether it's good or bad."

That's why creating a positive environment matters, both for caregivers and for the people they serve.

"You heal better in a positive atmosphere," she said. "People know that. Whether it's obvious or not, they feel stuff in the background."

Thank You

Lynn, your work reminds us that fostering a safe environment for nurses starts with trust, grows through honesty and empowerment, and ultimately strengthens both culture and retention. You bring that to your teams and to other nurses and nurse leaders every day, and you’ve no doubt impacted countless nurses throughout your career. Thanks for everything you do! We’re honored to call you a 2026 Nurse of Note.