How to design approval workflows that prevent delays

Most approval requests should be empowered decisions. Require approvals only for: high-risk decisions, significant financial commitments, regulatory/compliance requirements, cross-functional impacts. Define clear approval thresholds: dollar amounts, customer impact levels, data access levels. Push approval authority to lowest appropriate level. Every approval layer adds delay and signals distrust. Question each approval requirement: Is this really necessary?

Approvers need criteria, not arbitrary judgment calls. Document: what gets approved/rejected and why, edge cases and how to handle them, escalation path for ambiguous cases. Criteria enable delegation and consistency. Without criteria, only one person can approve and becomes bottleneck. Good criteria: "Approve marketing spend under $10K if ROI projection >3x." Clear beats vague.

Every approval type needs designated approver plus backup for vacations/absences. No approval should have single point of failure. Document approval authorities in accessible place. Train backups on approval criteria. Auto-routing to backup if primary doesn''t respond within SLA prevents "waiting for Jane to return from vacation" delays. Redundancy enables speed.

Set response time commitments: standard approvals within 24 hours, urgent within 4 hours. If approver doesn''t respond within SLA, auto-escalate to backup or manager. Make SLAs visible. Track compliance. Approvals sitting in someone''s inbox for days kill momentum. SLAs plus automation prevent approvals from becoming black holes. Accountability drives responsiveness.

Approvers need information to decide quickly: what''s being requested, business justification, cost/impact, alternatives considered, recommendation. Incomplete requests cause back-and-forth delay. Use templates or forms to ensure complete submissions. Good request enables 2-minute approval; incomplete request starts email tennis match. Make approving easy.

Manual approval routing via email creates: lost requests, unclear status, no accountability. Use workflow tools that: route to right approver based on rules, track status, send reminders, provide audit trail, enable mobile approval. Automation eliminates manual routing overhead and provides visibility. What gets tracked gets completed.

Quarterly review: Which approval steps could be eliminated? Which thresholds could increase? Where can we delegate more? Approvals accumulate over time through risk aversion and organizational inertia. Regular pruning prevents bureaucracy buildup. Question sacred cows. Best approval is one you don''t need. Optimize for speed while managing risk.