Building a strong, intentional company culture is a necessity for entrepreneurial companies aiming to thrive. Yet many businesses find themselves stuck in one of two counterproductive extremes: command-and-control management or chaotic, directionless growth. Both come at a steep business cost, from disengaged employees to misaligned teams and lost revenue.
What’s the solution? The four-quadrant Chaos vs. Intentional Culture model introduced in the People: Dare to Build an Intentional Culture book provides a roadmap to move your company toward a consciously designed, intentional culture that orients every ounce of human energy toward growth.
Let’s walk through five concrete steps to diagnose your current culture, define your Core Values, improve your structure and meetings, and guide your team toward unified execution.
If your team has hit a wall or become frustrated by disorganization, keep reading for actionable takeaways that will drive real change.
What Is an Intentional Culture?
An intentional culture is a deliberately planned and nurtured environment where a company’s Core Values are not just displayed on a wall but lived out daily. Companies that have built this kind of culture experience united teams, clarity in decision-making, and a strong sense of purpose throughout the organization.
Contrast this with a chaotic culture (where everyone is running in different directions) or a command-and-control culture (where creativity and ownership are stifled). Neither extreme sets businesses up for long-term success. Instead, intentional cultural design provides a balanced environment that combines flexibility with focus, creating an organization that is agile and engaged.
The Business Cost of Disengagement
Organizations without intentional cultures often face significant challenges:
- Employee disengagement costs US companies up to $550 billion annually in lost productivity.
- Disconnected teams lead to fractured goals, inefficient communication, and reduced innovation.
- Lack of clarity around roles and vision can increase employee turnover, with replacement costs averaging two times a team member’s annual salary.
The ripple effects are clear. Intentional culture-building isn’t just about creating a nice place to work, it’s a critical driver of business performance and growth.
The Chaos vs. Intentional Culture Model
Take a moment to assess your company’s culture with the Chaos vs. Intentional Culture model. This four-quadrant framework helps you diagnose and understand your organization’s current operational style:
- Chaotic Culture (Low Intentionality, Low Command): High-energy but directionless, where employees often feel left to figure things out on their own.
- Command-and-Control (Low Intentionality, High Command): Highly structured but rigid, with leadership controlling every decision.
- Happy Accident (High Intentionality, Low Execution): A place where leaders have great ideas about culture but no systems to execute them effectively.
- Intentional Culture (High Intentionality, High Execution): The ideal quadrant, where clear Core Values and systems empower employees and drive results.
Related Reading: The Culture Quadrant Explained
5 Steps to Move Toward an Intentional Culture
1. Diagnose Your Current Culture
Before making changes, you need a clear understanding of where your organization currently stands. Use tools like the Culture Checkup to identify your current quadrant. Then leverage the People Analyzer to further assess your team and uncover friction points.
Consider asking:
- Are 80% of our people embodying Core Values and excelling in their positions?
- Are we spending too much time managing behaviors rather than focusing on strategy?
- Do we know specifically where our biggest inefficiencies and frustrations lie?
This honest evaluation will serve as the foundation for your culture-building efforts.
2. Define & Activate Your Core Values
Core Values are at the heart of an intentional culture. They define what your business stands for and guide every decision, from hiring, firing, and rewarding to strategy execution.
Start by brainstorming with your leadership team to identify 3–7 core principles unique to your company. Then, ensure those values aren’t just defined but activated:
- Use them to guide hiring decisions (the Right People in the Right Seats)
- Evaluate existing team members using tools like the People Analyzer
- Recognize and reward behaviors that embody these qualities
Living your Core Values daily strengthens your organization’s identity and helps everyone row in the same direction.
3. Restructure with the Accountability Chart
An intentional culture requires having the right people in the right seats. The Accountability Chart offers clarity around roles, responsibilities, and reporting structures to eliminate confusion.
- Ask whether each person Gets it, Wants it, and has the Capacity to do the job
- Map roles to organizational goals and ensure no one falls into the wrong seat
- Use this process to simplify decision-making and reduce inefficiency
The right structure makes it easier for your team to execute on your vision at every level of the organization.
4. Install the EOS Meeting Pulse
A culture of intentionality requires consistent communication. Implementing the EOS Meeting Pulse introduces a rhythm of weekly, quarterly, and annual meetings that keep teams on track.
- Weekly Level 10 Meetings: Score weekly goals, review priorities, and solve issues
- Quarterly Check-ins: Reassess progress against company Rocks (90-day priorities)
- Annual Planning: Revisit your vision to sync with your culture and Core Values
These structured meetings replace chaotic or unintentional interactions so that every moment spent together produces results.
5. Reinforce Your Culture with Rocks & Metrics
Intentional cultures thrive on accountability and clarity. Rocks serve as 90-day priorities for individuals and teams, tying every action back to the company’s overarching vision. Metrics track progress and provide a reality check. When everyone knows what they’re accountable for and how their work impacts the bigger picture, alignment deepens and engagement skyrockets.
Related Reading: Three Tips to Incorporate Core Values into Your Marketing
A 90-Day Action Plan for Culture Transformation
Here’s a timeline of when you can expect to start implementing an intentional culture in your business:
- Week 1–2: Diagnose your current culture and identify key challenges
- Week 3–4: Define Core Values and share them across the organization
- Week 5–6: Build your Accountability Chart and review with leadership
- Week 7: Roll out the EOS Meeting Pulse format company-wide
- Week 8–12: Set and track Rocks and metrics for each team member
- Ongoing: Reward Core Value embodiment and evaluate quarterly
Make culture-building a continual process, not a one-time initiative, and you’ll begin to see the results.
Prepare Your Business for Growth
Moving from chaos to intentional culture is no small task, but the rewards are undeniable. By making sure each aspect of your organization—from roles and meetings to daily behaviors—fulfills your Core Values, you’ll create an environment where employees aren’t just productive but fully engaged and inspired.
Looking for personalized support to assess your current culture and create systems for lasting change? Find an EOS Implementer and start aligning your structure, meetings, and metrics today.
