Lean Management and Communication – What’s It All About?

This blog explores the foundations of lean thinking: what it is, what it aims to achieve, and why its principles offer real value when applied to communication management.

What Do Lean and Communication Have in Common? 

More than you might think. 
Lean thinking, which has guided business leaders since the 1940s, is increasingly being adopted as a practical tool in communication management. When applied to communication, lean principles improve both effectiveness and impact. Lean helps to make communication more visible, focused, and strategic, bringing clarity to the big picture and enabling greater management and proactivity. 

What Exactly Is Lean? 

Lean is a management philosophy focused on building systematic problem-solving skills. It was developed at Toyota car manufacturing plant in post-war Japan to optimise production. Today, lean is widely used to lead knowledge work and expert teams. 

At the core of lean is continuous improvement, routinely reviewing and refining the way work is done. It aligns with the idea of the learning organisation. Progress isn’t measured in speed but in steady, purposeful movement toward clear goals. In lean, rushing—even with the best of intentions—can easily derail results. 

What’s the Goal of Lean in Communication? 

Lean management is all about ensuring a smooth flow of work. This is achieved by eliminating waste. However, reducing waste is merely a means to an end, not the ultimate goal. Lean is therefore about creating the conditions where work flows as smoothly as possible. 

The big picture of organisational communication is often unclear. Without that overview, it’s hard to understand how work flows, or where it gets stuck. Communication teams often serving both internal and external clients, have limited control over their own priorities and processes. And when strategic goals and metrics for influence are missing, planning becomes difficult. Sometimes, even the comms team lacks a clear view, let alone leadership. Lean offers a different lens: less about rigid process control, more about a mindset of continuous, incremental improvement in how communication is led, managed and offered. 

Why Does Lean Thinking Matter in Communication? 

Lean is about creating value for the client, but that doesn’t mean doing whatever they ask. In many organisations, internal clients come to comms with ready-made solutions. At first, it sounds ideal: fast response, happy client. But in practice, these requests often miss the mark, because the real problem hasn’t been identified, or it’s been misunderstood. 

Most communication professionals recognise this: a request comes in for a printed ad, a social media campaign, or a new web page, with no mention of the target audience or intended outcome. That’s where Steve Jobs’ advice is worth remembering: 
“Don’t give the customer what they ask for, give them what they need.” 

Lean provides a framework for managing and leading communication from a value-creating perspective. The comms professional’s task is to help their customers identify their true needs in terms of impactful communication.