One thing that I've found is that sometimes you just have to do things regardless of whether you have permission. But keep in mind that it's your ass if you fuck up.
Case in point, my boss has been out on leave for a few months already, in the meantime I've had a free hand to do whatever the fuck I want with some things. In that time I've completely overhauled several systems. With my boss around it would have been a teeth-pullingly laborious process that probably would have dragged on for weeks, been interrupted by other tasks in the meantime, or compromised in so many aspects to "reduce risk" that it might have ultimately been useless. As it was I did everything and migrated critical running systems over to the new stuff in only a few days of work spread out over about 2 weeks.
That generally applies to everything in the workplace as well. The best way to change your job is to slowly but surely start changing what you do while official recognition catches up.
Case in point, my boss has been out on leave for a few months already, in the meantime I've had a free hand to do whatever the fuck I want with some things. In that time I've completely overhauled several systems. With my boss around it would have been a teeth-pullingly laborious process that probably would have dragged on for weeks, been interrupted by other tasks in the meantime, or compromised in so many aspects to "reduce risk" that it might have ultimately been useless. As it was I did everything and migrated critical running systems over to the new stuff in only a few days of work spread out over about 2 weeks.
That generally applies to everything in the workplace as well. The best way to change your job is to slowly but surely start changing what you do while official recognition catches up.