Approval steps should take one click, not a meeting

Approval steps exist to catch problems before something goes out, but if approving something takes real effort, people start skipping the step entirely just to save a little time. A good approval process should take seconds, not a scheduled conversation between two busy people. I test my own approval steps by timing how long saying yes actually takes.

Design your approval moments to be as light as possible. A quick review of a draft message with a simple yes or send-it-back option beats a full meeting every time. The lighter the step, the more consistently it actually gets used instead of quietly getting skipped when things get busy.

This matters most for the messages you decided earlier always need a human check. If that check is heavy, it will get skipped exactly when you need it most, which defeats the whole point of having it at all.

Try this today: look at one approval step in your process and find a way to make saying yes take less effort than it currently does.