Feedback is not the same as a no

Ask the client to choose: approve, request changes, or kill it. "I have thoughts" is not on the list. Thoughts can live in a comment after they pick a status. The status tells your team whether to edit or to stop.

Killing a post is allowed. It is cheaper than polishing an idea the client will never stand behind. Praise them for a clear no. It saves the week.

Request changes should produce a new version with those notes addressed, not a debate about whether the notes were fair. Fairness can be discussed once. Then someone decides and the file moves.

If the notes contradict each other, stop and ask the named approver which note wins. Do not average them into a muddy third design.

Approve is not "approve the direction." Direction was last week. Approve means this crop, this caption, this date. If they like the direction and hate the crop, that is a change request.

Teach this in the first month. Clients use words loosely until you show them the buttons mean different work.

Do not recode silence as a soft yes unless the contract says so. Leave the post in waiting. The calendar should show waiting, so the team does not assume it is done because nobody complained.

A week of waiting is a management problem. A mislabeled approval is a trust problem. Take the first one.