TL;DR
- Getting sh*t done means cutting through red tape, politics, and endless approval layers with empathy, not ego.
- Trust cuts through red tape, and that’s established when you’ve built relationships, earned credibility, and followed through quietly and consistently.
- The org chart doesn’t show who actually gets things done. Always build toward deeper strategic relationships because Influence is earned through consistency, not granted through a title.
- Don’t wait to be included. Show up early, offer insight, and build value before anyone asks. It’s not about barging in, it’s about belonging because you’ve done the work.
- Be real because vulnerability builds more trust than pretending to have all the answers. So ask questions and collaborate authentically.
How Communicators Get Sh*t Done
Enterprise life is hard, whether you’re on the client side or the agency side. And not just the normal hard. I’m talking about approval-maze, matrixed-team, “can you make a deck for that” kind of hard.
We work in environments where teams are siloed, the organizational chart is less a chart and more of a choose-your-own-adventure novel, and there’s enough red tape to stretch from the boardroom to the breakroom.
And yet…
Some people still manage to get sh*t done.
They move through the system without breaking it. They gain trust without demanding authority. They don’t wait for permission. They deliver value quietly and consistently, building a reputation for making things happen, not making things harder.
Here’s what I’ve learned over the years: the biggest barrier isn’t the bureaucracy itself. It’s the mindset we bring to it.
I’ll admit that I have struggled with this in significant ways throughout my career. Too many talented professionals wait for permission, stay in their swim lanes, or burn out trying to force change through sheer will. Again, guilty as charged.
But the high performers navigate complexity with empathy, they build relationships strategically, and they play the long game.
And that’s what I want to help you with, so if you’ll indulge me, let’s look at how to cut through that red tape to get sh*t done!
Start With Less Ego And More Empathy…And Being Helpful
When I walk into a meeting or begin working with a new team, I remind myself that my job isn’t just to push an initiative forward. Yes, it’s that, but my job is also to make their jobs easier. That simple shift in mindset has helped me create real results in some of the most red-tape-heavy, approval-layered organizations I’ve ever worked in.
It starts by ditching the idea that our job is to prove our worth in every interaction, or that we have to show up with answers, take control, or convince others to bend to our strategy. Instead, I walk in thinking, “How do I help this person succeed today?”
This sometimes means listening more than talking, and it means being mindful of the pressures your colleagues face. Maybe they’re dealing with KPIs you don’t see or political landmines you don’t know about. Maybe they’ve been burned by past cross-functional projects, or maybe they don’t actually have the decision-making power their title implies. The simple truth is, most of the time, you just don’t know what others are facing.
So I ask myself, “What would make this easier for them?” Not in a performative way, and certainly not because I’m trying to manipulate the outcome. But because when I help them win, we all win.
This also means integrating into their workflows instead of creating new ones. And that can take simple forms, like adopting their language, anticipating their concerns, and when you do present problems (let’s face it, sometimes you have to), you bring solutions right alongside them.
That’s how you become a trusted partner, not just another person adding noise to their inbox or tasks to their to-do lists.
Trust is the Shortcut, But You Have to Earn It
The thing about red tape is that it doesn’t significantly slow down the people who are already trusted. Trust is the great equalizer. If you’ve ever watched someone get approvals in hours while you’re stuck in a weeks-long review cycle, this is probably why.
But trust isn’t a given, and it’s certainly not tied to your job title or how long you’ve been there. It’s earned over time, through consistent and honest relationship building. In my experience, trust is built when you follow through without being reminded, when you advocate for someone else’s success instead of angling for your own, and when you choose not to take credit for something you played a role in, simply because you know the bigger win is the relationship.
Think of it like a bank account. Every action you take is either a deposit or a withdrawal. If you constantly ask for favors, jump the line, or spotlight your own contributions at the expense of others, you’re overdrafting. But when you show up, do the work, and make your collaborators and your team look good in the process, you’re making deposits that build equity over time.
I’ve reached out to people I didn’t know just to say, “I’m really interested in how your team approaches this. Mind if I sit in on a meeting to learn more?”
I don’t go in with an agenda. I go in with curiosity. Over time, that curiosity turns into credibility, and credibility turns into invitations. But only if you lead with value, not ego.
Here’s the nuance, though: you don’t build trust so you can use it as currency later. You build trust because it makes everything smoother, better, and faster for everyone involved. But yes, sometimes you will need to make a withdrawal—a favor, a quick approval, a second chance. That’s when all those deposits matter.
Titles Don’t Get Things Done, People With Influence Do
One of the most underused skills in a communicator’s toolkit is influence mapping. We’re so focused on our message and our metrics that we forget to analyze the internal landscape we’re operating in.
I’ll put this as clearly as possible: the organizational chart doesn’t tell you who really makes decisions, or where those critical relationships are found. It only tells you who reports to whom. That’s very useful information, but it’s not enough.
What you really need to understand is who opens doors, who slows things down, who has the ear of the executives, and who gets things done, regardless of title.
I approach this the same way I would a segmentation strategy for a brand campaign. I look at motivations, pain points, influence levels, and communication preferences. And I build relationships at all levels, not just the leadership team.
Some of my most amazing internal allies have been mid-level professionals who understand the undercurrents of the organization and who also have a great reputation among their colleagues, coworkers, and leadership teams.
These are the people who can help you navigate internal politics, flag roadblocks before they hit, invite you to that important meeting, and champion your ideas when you’re not in the room.
If you’re only building relationships with leadership, you’re missing the people who actually keep the machine running.
Don’t Wait for an Invitation, Show Up with Value
This is one of my biggest professional pet peeves. As strategic communicators and marketers, waiting for something to happen runs counter to everything our roles demand. We’re supposed to lead through bringing ideas forward, building connections, solving problems, and getting sh*t done.
If you’re waiting to be invited to meetings, to brainstorms, and to strategy sessions, you’re missing opportunities to contribute meaningfully and early. You’re also missing the chance to do everything we’ve discussed so far—fostering relationships, showing value, and earning trust. Plus, by the time you’re invited, the decisions have likely already been made, and your chance to positively influence has passed you by.
But the key is not to force your way into spaces; it’s to earn your way in by consistently showing up with value. In a corporate setting, this means doing your homework, understanding what a team is working on, what their goals are, and how your work intersects with theirs.
Showing up early in the process isn’t just about being helpful; it’s about being effective. The earlier you’re in the room, the more context you have, and the more context you have, the better your ideas, your recommendations, and your outcomes.
It’s not enough to say, “I want to be included.”
You have to demonstrate why your inclusion helps them. Once you’ve done that, asking the question, “Should I be in that meeting?” comes with an obvious answer…YES!
Know the Corporate Speak, But Don’t Lose Your Voice
Every organization has its language. Sometimes it’s full of acronyms, there are always a ton of buzzwords, and sometimes it’s just vague strategy speak that can make your head spin.
I heard a theory recently about why these persist, and while I won’t go into it, I will say that the theory is grounded in the idea that most people hate corporate speak.
So, you don’t have to love it, but you do have to understand it if you want to be effective.
When I present a strategy, provide insight, give my opinion, or outline a recommendation, I try to frame it in terms my audiences care about. It can be about ROI, operational efficiency, customer retention, brand equity, or even impressions or engagement. It really just depends, but it’s always with my audiences in mind.
But here’s the important part—I have expertise that should be shared, so I don’t water down my voice to fit the mold. This is especially true when we’re working across PESO channels where we’re constantly rubbing up against other departments’ swim lanes.
The goal isn’t to compete for space; it’s to collaborate and integrate in a way that respects the expertise of each team. That starts by showing them how your work complements theirs, not challenges it, and it requires that you speak their language while staying grounded in your own.
We talk a lot about swim lanes (it’s more of that corporate speak), and this is one of my favorite sayings—if you want someone to share the lane, show them it leads to the same finish line and how you can get there together!
The Courage to Be the Opposing Voice
You build relationships, understand motivations, integrate into workflows, speak the language, and everything else perfectly, but you’ll still face moments when the right thing to do is to say the hard thing. It’s not easy to be the one who raises a flag, challenges a direction, or names the elephant in the room.
That takes courage because in highly matrixed, political, red-tape-filled organizations, being the opposing voice can be risky. You don’t want to ruffle feathers, be labeled “difficult,” derail a project, or get shut out of the next conversation.
So let me be clear about something: this isn’t about being antagonistic or being a contrarian for the sake of speaking up in a meeting. This is about being strategic, using the trust you’ve earned, the empathy you’ve built, and the clarity you’ve gained to say what others might be thinking, but aren’t saying.
You can speak up because you’ve listened, because you’ve done the work behind the scenes, and because your goal is still to make others’ jobs easier, not harder. When you lead with value, and when you’ve shown up consistently over time, you’ve built the credibility to say, “I see something we might want to consider differently.”
Sometimes, being the opposing voice means offering a new way of thinking, sometimes it means challenging your team or a relationship, sometimes it means asking a hard question, and sometimes it means simply pressing pause to reorient toward the actual goal.
It takes confidence in your role, belief in your value, and the humility to remember that it’s not about being right, it’s about supporting the larger team and larger goals. You don’t need to be the loudest or the most senior person; you just need to be the person who cares enough to say, “This matters, so let’s take another look.”
Getting Sh*t Done Is About Influence, Not Power
Look, power is positional. It’s tied to your title, your reporting line, and even your budget.
But, influence? That’s earned.
As weird as it sounds, bureaucracies aren’t necessarily broken; they’re just slow-moving and surrounded in red tape with political landmines everywhere you turn. Ok, that sounds broken.
But you don’t have to burn the whole thing down to get results. You just have to know how to move within it, with intention, empathy, and strategic clarity.
When you do that consistently, you become more than someone who “gets things done.” You become someone people want to work with and someone they trust to move the work forward.
Someone who gets sh*t done, without losing your soul in the process.
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