Take the decision out of their hands

If the approval process is taking forever.

If it’s preventing forward motion and causing project creep.

If you’ve gone through multiple rounds of making requested changes and there appears to be no more updates to be made.

Then I would suggest taking a different tact.

Instead of saying ‘can you please approve this?’ again, take the decision out of their hands and say ‘I’m scheduling the attached now, if you want it to change please contact me by 5pm’.

It’s surprisingly effective and it’s an approach that has worked many times for me in the past.

But users warning!

It should only be used if the 3 conditions outlined at the start of this post have been met and the approval delay is getting farcical.

Jumping the gun and stating ‘I’m scheduling this now’ too early in the process would probably be seen as rude, forceful and unaccommodating.

I think the reason behind this tactic’s effectiveness is that it alleviates responsibility and allows more room for deniability.

If the worst should happen the approver could technically say that they never actually explicitly signed it off.

It’s a lot easier to avoid a decision than to make a decision.

It’s a lot scarier to say ‘Approved’ than to comply through silence.

Putting your head on the chopping block, exposing yourself to blame and taking responsibility is an act that should not be underestimated.