How to Stop Work Getting Stuck Waiting for Internal Approval
A job is ready to move.
Except somebody needs approval.
So they send a message.
The manager is busy.
A few hours pass.
Then a day.
Eventually someone asks:
“Did you approve that yet?”
Nothing is technically wrong with the job.
It is just waiting for a person.
If that happens often enough, internal approvals can quietly become one of the biggest bottlenecks in the business.
Not Every Decision Needs the Same Approval
One of the easiest ways to create delay is sending every decision to the same person.
A $100 purchase.
A $5,000 purchase.
A small schedule change.
A major scope change.
They all end up waiting on the owner or manager.
A better system uses approval rules.
For example:
Purchase under $500 → automatic approval
$500–$2,000 → supervisor approval
Over $2,000 → manager approval
Now senior staff only see the decisions that actually need them.
Give Approvals a Clear Status
Approval should be visible inside the workflow.
For example:
Draft
Awaiting Approval
Approved
Rejected
Changes Requested
Anyone looking at the job can immediately see what is happening.
They do not need to search through messages to find out whether someone replied.
Route the Request Automatically
The system should know who needs to approve what.
For example:
Purchasing exception → Operations Manager
Large discount → Sales Manager
Overtime request → Supervisor
High-value variation → Director
Supplier change → Purchasing Manager
Once the condition is triggered, the request goes to the correct person automatically.
Give the Approver the Information They Need
Approvals get delayed when the manager has to investigate before deciding.
A good approval request should include enough context to make the decision quickly.
That might include:
- job number,
- customer,
- amount,
- reason,
- requested action,
- supporting documents,
- and any impact on schedule or margin.
The approver should not have to ask:
“What is this for?”
before they can respond.
Use Reminders Without Creating Noise
If an approval is still waiting, the system can follow up.
For example:
Approval requested → notify approver
No action after one day → reminder
Still waiting after two days → escalate
That keeps important work moving without staff manually chasing managers.
But not every approval needs repeated notifications.
The rules should reflect how urgent the decision actually is.
Let Approval Trigger the Next Step
The useful part of approval automation is what happens afterwards.
For example:
Purchase approved → create PO
Variation approved → update job value
Overtime approved → update timesheet
Discount approved → send revised quote
Schedule change approved → notify customer
The decision immediately moves the workflow forward.
No second manual handoff is required.
Track Where Approvals Are Slowing the Business
Once approvals are visible, management can see patterns.
Maybe:
- purchasing approvals take two days,
- one manager has too many requests,
- small decisions are being over-escalated,
- or certain approval types happen dozens of times a week.
That information can help simplify the process further.
Managers Should Handle Exceptions
The goal is not to remove management oversight.
It is to stop management becoming the operating system.
Routine decisions should follow rules.
Unusual, expensive or risky decisions should go to a person.
That allows managers to spend more time making important decisions and less time clicking approve on predictable ones.
Start With the Approval Everyone Chases
Ask your team:
“What are we always waiting for someone to approve?”
Then ask:
- Who currently approves it?
- Does every case really need approval?
- What information does the approver need?
- How long should it reasonably take?
- What should happen immediately after approval?
Those answers give you the workflow.
At 5M Consulting, we help businesses build approval processes that keep control where it matters without making managers a bottleneck for every small operational decision.
If work regularly stops while everyone waits for the boss, the approval process probably needs better rules.