Absentee leaders and Zombie Managers: Hidden, Harmful and in need of Help

Flicking through The Psychologist Magazine the other day, I unexpectedly came across the phrase ‘absentee leader.’ [i] Although it was new to me, it immediately resonated, and I was intrigued to find out more. As I did, I realised the phenomena could just as well apply to some managers.

What is the absentee leader?

A 2015[ii] survey of 1,000 working adults that showed that eight of the top nine complaints about leaders concerned behaviours that were absent; that is, employees were most concerned about what their bosses weren’t doing. The complaints weren’t about actively bad leadership behaviour, rather they were about unmet expectations of what leaders should be doing.

Absentee Leadership[iii] has been defined as leadership that fails to lift off; where individuals occupy leadership positions (and enjoy their attending privileges) but neglect to fulfil many of leadership’s core responsibilities. It’s when people occupy leadership roles but fail to be present in them, are psychologically absent (if not also physically absent!). In this way they avoid meaningful engagement with their team.

What are the effects of absentee leaders?

Working for an absentee leader is associated with role ambiguity, health complaints, intra-team bullying and has negative effects on job satisfaction. Unsurprisingly it saps motivation and team and organisational loyalty. It creates employee stress and a talent drain that, in time, affects the organization’s bottom line. That’s to say, zombie management and absentee leadership is bad for people in their orbit and for the whole organization.

Why isn’t it dealt with by the organization?

The research answer to this question this speaks volumes. It appears that organisational capacity is so taken up dealing with other manifestations of leadership malfeasance such as sexual harassment and abuse, bullying, theft, excessive drinking, illicit drugtaking and other maladaptive coping behaviours, that a passive issue like absentee leadership doesn’t even register as a problem.

Absentee leaders and zombie managers despite being much more common and more toxic to both group and individual functioning than the misbehaving leaders described above, are often invisible to those in power. Unlike the highly visible, attention-grabbing stress responses exhibited by some leaders, coping by psychologically disappearing is sustainable over a long period before coming to light. And indeed, such leaders and managers have been described as ‘silent organisation killers.’ [iv]

Why does it happen?

Research suggests some possible reasons[v].

• People promoted from ‘being a good worker’ to management or leadership struggle with the different nature of leadership challenges

• Excessive work stress

• Too many responsibilities

• Role overload

• Too many direct reports

• No support in their role

In other words, being psychologically absent can be viewed as a highly adaptive way of escaping or avoiding a difficult environment which someone has neither the skill nor the resources to cope with.

What can be done?

Bring the issue into the light

The issue has to be brought into the light. The clues should be there: churn, sickness, performance, team difficulties and other data. Alternatively, a staff survey might indicate any problem areas. It’s important to note that such operators might be very good at appearing ‘on it’ in the presence of those senior to them, this is partly how they remain undisturbed. It’s the staff who will be able to identify the zombies at large in the organisation.

Consider the context

There is the big picture to consider. How well does the organization prepare and look after its leaders? Is improvement needed in systems and processes that support leadership? If the organization has produced a toxic working culture, everyone will be trying to cope in their own particular way. Sometimes what is needed is a change in organisational culture.

Team Dynamics

Leadership is a relational activity. Creating psychological safety, building connectivity and encouraging honest contracting around staff expectations of their leader might act to reconnect, energise and motivate a disaffected leader, and team. It helps to bear in mind that most people want to do a good job and that, with skilled help, relationships can be repaired and reset. However, there will be those wholly unsuited for the role, promoted beyond their comfort or competency, or just in the wrong situation. They need help to return to a place they can once again be productive.

Help the individual

Sometimes, its just that someone hasn’t made the transition to being a leader or manager. They don’t understand the expectations of them. They don’t know how to lead a team, manage conflict, delegate or how to develop staff. In this case leadership development or personal coaching can help.

For a great toolkit to support leadership development see our Leadership Development Essentials Bundle

[i] In this article by Dr Laura McHale (2023). McHale, L., 2023, Corporate gaslighting, absentee leaders and the emotions of work. The Psychologist. December. pp 34-37

[ii] This is in Gregory, S., 2018, The most common type of incompetent leader. Harvard Business Review

[iii] This definition comes from this article Heifetz, R. A., Grashow, A., & Linsky, M. (2009). The practice of adaptive leadership: Tools and tactics for changing your organization and the world. Harvard business press.

[iv] (Gregory, 2018) again

[v] McHale, L ,2022 Where’s the boss? Korn Ferry. Thought Leadership Paper.

See also

Hogan, R., Kaiser, R.B., Sherman, R.A. & Harms, P.D. (2021). Twenty years on the dark side: six lessons about bad leadership. Consulting Psychology Journal, 73, 199-213.

A very good short article by C. Brad entitled: The Phantom Menace: Absentee leadership and its silent destruction on Linkedin. 21.11.2023

Other Resources

Sarah Lewis is the owner and principal psychologist of Appreciating Change. She is author of ‘Co-Creating Planning Teams For Dialogic OD’, published by BMI Publishing, ‘Positive Psychology in Business’, published by Pavillion, ‘Positive Psychology at Work’ and ‘Positive Psychology and Change’ both published by Wiley. She is also the lead author of 'Appreciative Inquiry for Change Management', published by Kogan Page.

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