Lean Internal Comms

What is Lean Internal Comms?

Why lean beats traditional internal comms

• Speed: Lean trims approvals and batching so you publish in hours, not weeks.
• Signal-to-noise: Short, action-first messages reduce unread emails and missed updates.
• Relevance: Segmentation and timing match messages to role, location, and shift.
• Evidence: You measure outcomes (policy compliance, adoption) over outputs (posts sent).

Core principles of lean internal comms

• Define value clearly: A message is valuable only if it changes a decision, a behaviour, or a result.
• Map the value stream: List every step from brief to delivery to action; remove steps that don’t add value.
• Create flow: Standardise formats and routes so work moves without stalls.
• Use pull: Let employee need and operational triggers pull messages, not a monthly calendar alone.
• Pursue perfection: Run small experiments, ship, measure, and iterate every week.

The 5S method for comms

• Sort: Remove outdated newsletters, duplicate channels, and legacy mailing lists.
• Set in order: Give each message type a “home” channel and owner; publish a channel charter.
• Shine: Clean and simplify templates so they’re scannable on mobile.
• Standardise: Use consistent subject lines, headers, and calls to action (CTAs).
• Sustain: Review channels quarterly; archive or merge under-used spaces.

What does “lean” look like in practice?

• One-page briefs: Every message starts with a 7-question brief (audience, purpose, action, deadline, owner, risk, measure).
• Smart structure: Lead with the decision and action, not backstory. Follow with why, then details.
• Tight formats: 50–80-character subject lines; 150–300-word body; 3 bullets max; 1 CTA.
• Trigger-based scheduling: Automate sends on events (new starter day 1, tool rollout step, policy renewal date).
• Segmentation: Target by role, location, manager, shift, licence, and language.
• Feedback loops: Add one-click polls or emoji responses and review weekly.
• Visible metrics: Dashboards show reach, read time, completion, and questions raised.

When should you adopt lean internal comms?

• If your employees miss critical updates because they’re buried in noise.
• If approvals take longer than writing.
• If frontline teams can’t access channel-heavy comms mid-shift.
• If you can’t link comms to outcomes like adoption, compliance, or revenue.

What problems does it solve?

• Content overload: Too many messages across too many channels.
• Fragmented sources: People don’t know where the “latest” lives.
• Slow cycles: Weeks of edits for a message employees skim in 10 seconds.
• Low trust: Announcements don’t match what people experience.
• Poor measurement: Output stats without behaviour change data.

Essential building blocks

• Channel charter: Define the job of each channel (email, chat, intranet, town hall, digital signage). Say what lives where.
• Message taxonomy: Classify by risk and urgency (critical, action, FYI, inspiration). Set SLAs per class.
• Content design system: Reusable templates, tone rules, and visual patterns.
• Governance: Clear owners, approvers, and delegates with time-boxed steps.
• Measurement framework: A shared scorecard tied to business metrics.

How to implement lean internal comms

1) Baseline the current state

• Audit messages from the last 90 days: volume, channels, owners, read rates, actions completed.
• Map the approval path for three message types; time each step.
• Identify top-10 business-critical message types (safety, compliance, outage, payroll, benefits, product release, incident, facilities, leadership, change).

2) Define value and outcomes

• Tie each critical message type to a business goal (e.g., “90% policy acknowledgement in 7 days”).
• Write a simple decision rule: “If the message doesn’t change a decision, behaviour, or result, don’t send it.”

3) Standardise formats

• Critical alert: Headline, who’s impacted, what to do now, deadline, link to source-of-truth, contact.
• Policy update: What changed, why it matters, who’s affected, action required, due date, link.
• Product release: Value to customer, what’s new, how to demo, where to find enablement, CTA.
• Town hall follow-up: 3 decisions, 3 actions, recordings, next steps.

4) Simplify channels

• Assign one “home” per message type. Example: critical alerts in SMS or push; policy updates in email with intranet canonical page; daily chatter in chat; evergreen reference on the intranet.
• Kill duplicates. If two channels do the same job, retire one.
• Publish “Where to find what” on the intranet and pin it in chat.

5) Shorten approvals

• Set a two-tier model: low-risk messages ship with comms + owner sign-off in <12 hours; high-risk use a 24–48-hour path with pre-named deputies.
• Use checklists. Replace redline marathons with “meets/doesn’t meet” checks on accuracy, clarity, and risk.

6) Measure and iterate weekly

• Review dashboards in a 30-minute stand-up: what shipped, what worked, what blocked, what to try next.
• Run one experiment per week (subject line format, CTA style, send time, channel mix).
• Archive learnings in a one-page playbook and share changes openly.

The lean comms brief (copy/paste template)

• Audience: Who exactly needs this (roles, locations, languages)?
• Purpose: What decision or behaviour must change?
• Action: What must they do? By when?
• Risk: What goes wrong if they miss this?
• Source of truth: Where does this live permanently?
• Owner: Who answers questions and funds the work?
• Measure: What outcome proves success this week?

Message anatomy that drives action

• Subject line: Outcome first. Example: “Action by 31 Oct: New expense policy.”
• First line: State the ask and deadline. “Submit receipts in Tool X by 31 Oct to get reimbursed.”
• Why: One sentence on impact or compliance risk.
• How: 2–3 bullets with steps.
• CTA: One button or link. Avoid multiple CTAs.
• Support: Contact or office hours. No-noise footer.

Channel choices that fit the job

• Critical, time-sensitive: SMS, mobile push, or on-shift supervisor brief; back up with email.
• Action with a deadline: Email with clear CTA and intranet source-of-truth page.
• Evergreen reference: Intranet or knowledge base with short URLs and search optimised titles.
• Dialogue and Q&A: Team chat channels with named moderators and office hours.
• Leadership narrative: Live town halls with replay; share 3 decisions and 3 next steps within 24 hours.
• Frontline, kiosk-only: Digital signage, printed one-pagers, and daily huddles.

Governance without gridlock

• Role clarity: Requester owns accuracy; comms owns clarity and channel; legal/compliance sets guardrails, not wordsmithing.
• SLAs: Set response times by message class; auto-escalate after time-outs.
• Deputies: Always list alternates to keep flow during holidays or illness.
• Version control: One canonical page per policy; link to it, don’t paste duplications.

How to measure lean internal comms

• Reach: Percentage of the target audience that actually received the message across channels.
• Read time and depth: Median time-on-message; scroll depth on intranet.
• Action completion: Percentage completing the task by deadline.
• Time-to-publish: Hours from brief to send.
• Feedback loop time: Hours from send to first question answered or fix shipped.
• Noise ratio: Messages sent per employee per week; aim to decrease without missing actions.
• Channel mix: Share of messages by channel; watch over-reliance on email.
• Content half-life: Time until a message drops below 25% of its week-one engagement.
• Employee sentiment: eNPS or pulse score following major campaigns.

Benchmarks and targets

• Critical alerts: >90% reach in 2 hours; >80% action within 24 hours.
• Policy acknowledgements: >85% in 7 days; escalate at day 5.
• Product enablement: >70% of target roles complete the module in 14 days.
• Time-to-publish: Low-risk <12 hours; high-risk <48 hours.
• Inbox volume: Reduce total sends per employee by 20–30% over a quarter.

Tactics to cut noise immediately

• Consolidate: Replace weekly digests with a single, well-structured roundup with anchor links.
• Kill FYIs: If there’s no action, post to an opt-in channel or the intranet and link once.
• Ban attachments for living docs: Link to the canonical page to avoid version drift.
• Write for mobile: Front-load the ask in the first 2 lines; use 16–18 px fonts and short paragraphs.
• Use structured Q&A: Pre-answer likely questions; direct follow-ups to a single thread.

Design patterns that work

• Action bar: Place a bold, single CTA near the top. Repeat once at the end.
• Chunking: Break content into 2–4 short blocks with clear subheads.
• Data labels, not lore: If a change saves time or reduces risk, quantify it (“Save 10 minutes per claim”).
• Progressive disclosure: Put essentials up top; link to details for those who need them.

Segmenting for relevance

• Role and job family.
• Location and site access.
• Language and shift pattern.
• Tenure or lifecycle stage (new starter, manager, returning from leave).
• System licences (send tool updates only to licensed users).

Automation and triggers

• Lifecycle drips: Day 1 orientation checklist; week 2 benefits; day 30 check-in.
• Compliance dates: Auto-remind 14, 7, and 2 days pre-deadline; pause after completion.
• Incident playbooks: Templates that fill variables (location, system, outage window) and route by impact.

Lean comms for frontline and deskless teams

• Use manager huddles and one-minute briefs; give laminated cards for critical SOPs.
• Push alerts to shared devices or SMS; follow with posters or QR codes linking to canonical content.
• Translate short summaries into top languages; avoid long PDFs that are unreadable on small screens.

Leadership communications, the lean way

• Say the decision, then the rationale. Avoid long narratives without an action or implication.
• Publish a short “Here’s what this means for you” section for each major function.
• Close feedback loops: Post what you heard and what changed within one week of a town hall.

How to run approvals without delays

• Pre-approve templates for recurring messages. Only the variables change.
• Time-box reviews. Give approvers 2 hours for critical, 24 hours for standard items.
• Default to ship: If no show-stopper feedback arrives in the window, publish and log changes.

Handling risk and compliance

• Maintain a risk matrix by message class; define when legal must review.
• Keep an audit trail: brief, versions, approvals, send logs, and links to canonical content.
• Train comms and requesters on regulated claims and disclosures; include boilerplate blocks.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

• Mistaking brevity for clarity: Short isn’t helpful if it hides the action. Lead with the ask.
• Over-segmentation: Too many tiny audiences create routing drag. Start with 4–6 key segments.
• Channel sprawl: New tools don’t fix messy habits. Retire a channel when you add one.
• Vanity metrics: Opens and clicks matter only if actions follow. Track completion.

Worked micro-examples

• Expense policy change:

  Subject: Action by 31 Oct: New expense policy

  First line: Submit receipts in App X within 7 days of travel from 1 Nov.

  Why: Faster reimbursements; audit risk reduced.

  CTA: Read the 2-minute summary and click Acknowledge.

• Safety alert for Site B:

  Headline: Stop work now at Site B: Electrical hazard in Bay 3

  Action: Evacuate Bay 3; supervisors confirm headcount within 10 minutes.

  Support: Call Safety on ext. 4422; updates every 30 minutes on the intranet banner.

Bringing IT and HR into the flow

• HR owns lifecycle triggers and policy content accuracy.
• IT owns channel reliability, identity groups, and mobile access.
• Comms owns clarity, sequencing, and measurement.
• Share one backlog and prioritisation rule so trade-offs are visible.

Making the intranet a source of truth

• Canonical pages: One page per policy or programme. Version and date-stamp visibly.
• Short URLs: Use human-readable slugs and QR codes for posters and slides.
• Search-first design: Clear titles (“Travel expenses policy, 2025”) and FAQs on-page.
• Sunsetting: Archive pages with a banner and redirect to the current version.

Accessibility and inclusion

• Plain language: Short sentences; define jargon once.
• Readable formats: High contrast, alt text for images, keyboard navigation.
• Language access: Translate summaries and CTAs for the top languages.
• Time-zone friendly: Repeat sends and schedule live events across major time zones; always offer replays.

Cadence and rituals

• Weekly: 30-minute comms stand-up; review metrics and blockers.
• Fortnightly: Content planning with HR/IT/Operations; align on upcoming changes.
• Monthly: Channel health check; retire or adjust.
• Quarterly: Employee feedback pulse; test message comprehension and channel satisfaction.

What to stop doing this week

• Stop sending FYI-only emails to all staff. Post to the intranet and link once in a digest.
• Stop attaching PDFs for living documents. Link to canonical pages.
• Stop open-ended approvals. Time-box and auto-ship if silent.
• Stop multi-CTA messages. Give one action.

What to start doing this week

• Ship with a one-page brief for every message.
• Use a three-sentence opening: action, deadline, why.
• Tag each send with a message class (critical, action, FYI) and track outcomes.
• Set up a weekly experiment and record the learning.

Toolkit starters

• Templates: Alert, policy, release, event, digest.
• Checklists: Accuracy, clarity, risk, accessibility.
• Playbooks: Incident, outage, recall, crisis, leadership change.
• Dashboards: Reach, read time, action completion, noise ratio, time-to-publish.

FAQ

Is lean just “shorter emails”?

No. Lean is about flow, relevance, and outcomes. Short messages are a by-product of clearer thinking and tighter processes.

Can lean work in regulated industries?

Yes. Pre-approved templates, risk-based reviews, and audit trails keep you compliant while cutting delays.

How do we deal with leaders who like long narratives?

Offer a two-layer approach: a 100–150-word action summary at the top, then link to full context.

What if our workforce is mostly frontline?

Use manager huddles, SMS or push for critical updates, posters with QR codes, and translated summaries. Keep messages action-first.

How fast is “lean fast”?

Aim for <12 hours from brief to publish for low-risk updates and 24–48 hours for high-risk, with deputies to prevent stalls.

Glossary of lean internal comms terms

• Action completion: The share of the target audience that did the required task by the deadline.
• Canonical page: The single, authoritative source for a policy or process; all messages link back here.
• Channel charter: A short agreement on what each channel is for, who owns it, and what “good” looks like.
• Content half-life: How long it takes for engagement with a message to drop below 25% of its week-one level.
• Feedback loop time: Time between sending a message and responding to the first question or fixing the first issue it surfaces.
• Message class: A label for risk and urgency (critical, action, FYI) that sets routing and SLAs.
• Noise ratio: The volume of messages per employee per week, used as a signal of clutter.
• Pull scheduling: Triggering messages based on employee need or events rather than a fixed calendar.
• Value stream: The steps that take a request from idea to employee action; used to spot and remove waste.

Lean internal comms checklist

• Is there a clear action and deadline?
• Does the subject line state the outcome?
• Is there exactly one CTA linked to a canonical page?
• Is the message targeted to only those affected?
• Is the language plain and scannable on mobile?
• Is the approval path time-boxed and delegated?
• Will we measure action completion, not just opens?
• Have we planned where questions will be answered?
• Do we know when to archive or update this content?

A simple maturity path

• Level 1: Ad hoc. Many channels, slow approvals, no shared metrics.
• Level 2: Defined. Templates, a channel charter, basic dashboards.
• Level 3: Managed. Triggered sends, segmentation, outcome metrics.
• Level 4: Optimised. Continuous experiments, automated workflows, visible ROI.

Return on effort

Lean internal comms pays back through fewer messages, faster actions, and fewer errors. Most teams see a 20–30% reduction in sends within a quarter, faster policy acknowledgements, and cleaner audit trails. Start by trimming one channel, standardising one message type, and measuring one outcome. Then keep iterating.