Approval workflows that don’t kill momentum (and still stay compliant)

Approvals fail because feedback is messy and ownership is unclear. Fix the system.

The three approval patterns

A) Lightweight (SME / fast-moving)

• One approver (business owner)
• One review round
• Deadline enforced (“silence = approved” where appropriate)

B) Regulated (health/finance/claims)

• Separate brand and compliance checks
• Pre-approved components (legal lines, claims, disclaimers)
• Evidence logged for claims

C) Enterprise (many stakeholders)

• One approval owner aggregates feedback
• Comments must be tagged: must change vs nice to have
• Clear cut-off time, then publish

The rules

• One source of truth (one link, not 12 PDFs)
• One owner (they herd cats, not you)
• Two rounds max (otherwise you’re re-briefing)

Next step

Pair this with a better brief: /templates/creative-brief-template/